Flashback: Ohio State vs. USC, 1990
This week we look back to the last time that the USC Trojans came to Ohio Stadium: 1990. It was a game that most OSU fans of the day will remember, although not for good reasons. And it’s a game that almost perfectly captures the frustration of many fans with the sometimes unusual opinions and decisions of former coach John H. Cooper.
Todd Marinovich: the Robo-QB owned OSUIn 1989, Ohio State played at USC in the first game of a home-and-home series. That year, OSU seemed almost helpless in a 42-3 loss (sound familiar?). USC QB Todd Marinovich threw for 4 touchdowns, including an 87-yard strike to John Jackson. OSU had no offense and headed home with their worst loss since 1946. Certainly, thoughts were focused on making the Trojans pay for that humiliation.
At that point in the season, OSU was 2-0 and coming off of an impressive 31-10 victory at Boston College. On the other hand, Larry Smith’s Trojans were 2-1 and had just been humiliated 31-0 at Washington the previous week. OSU was ranked 15th, but USC had fallen all the way from 5th to 18th after the loss. Still, USC had won the last three meetings between the two teams and they were confident coming in.
It turned out that their confidence was well-founded. USC blocked an OSU punt and returned it for a touchdown to quickly go up 7-0. Then the USC ground game got going. I was in the stadium for that game and all I remember about USC’s offense was “student body left” and “student body right”. USC ran sweep after sweep with Ricky Ervins carrying 28 times for 199 yards and his back-up Mazio Royster carrying 7 times for 70 yards. OSU had no answer for the USC stampede, and they trailed 14-0 after the 1st quarter.
Things didn’t get a lot better in the 2nd quarter, and OSU trailed 21-10 at halftime. But Ohio State fans were not about to leave the stadium. After all, this was basically the same team that had come back from a huge deficit at Minnesota the year before. Greg Frey was still the QB, and he still had WR’s Bobby Olive and Jeff Graham at his disposal. And the addition of stud freshman RB Robert Smith made the attack even more lethal. Playing at home before a partisan crowd that hated USC every bit as much as they did, the team was sure to rally all of their resources for a comeback.
The star of the showIndeed, in the second half Frey got going and led the team back after USC upped the lead to 28-10. But just as the comeback was beginning, a massive thunderstorm arrived and brought a torrent of rain and some spectacular lightning to the stadium. The rain only seemed to inspire the Buckeyes as they scored and converted on the 2-point attempt. USC scored again on the ground, but then Frey and the OSU offense went back to work on a 50-yard drive for another TD. This time Raymont Harris plunged in from one yard out, and Frey passed to Jeff Graham for the 2-point conversion. All of a sudden it was 35-26 with 2:38 left on the clock, and Frey was thinking about another comeback. That’s when OSU fans got a bitter taste of the unexpected.
The lightning had increased and it was now at the point where referee Ron Winter was beginning to get concerned about the safety of players and fans. He conferred with both coaches about suspending the game. Of course, Larry Smith was all for it since he had the lead. But somehow John Cooper went along with it on the condition that if his team could successfully recover an onside kick they would play on. Suffice to say that they did not recover, and the game was suspended. USC players were elated, but the same cannot be said for the Buckeyes. In the post-game interview room, Cooper said “I told him (Winter) we were going to try an onside kick…I told him if USC gets it, it’s all over.” Indeed, it was all over. Ironically, the weather calmed down as soon as the fans left the stadium. But the fans’ anger at Cooper’s decision never did.
Cooper’s 1990 OSU team was long on promise but short on results. They followed the USC defeat by losing again at home to Illinois (Cooper’s 3rd straight loss to the Illini in the middle of a 5 loss slump) and settled for a tie with Indiana in Bloomington the next week (bringing Cooper’s record against Indiana to 1-1-1). Yet somehow they forged an improbable last-second comeback win at Iowa (Frey seemed to specialize in road comebacks) and probably would have beaten Michigan if not for an ill-timed clipping penalty on Jeff Graham (replays clearly showed it to be a legal block).
USC finished 8-4-1, came in 2nd in the Pac-10 and lost to Michigan State in the John Hancock Bowl. OSU wound up 7-4-1 after losing to Michigan and sleep-walking through a dismal loss against Air Force in the Liberty Bowl. Incredibly, John Cooper survived to coach another 10 seasons in Columbus. But despite the glorious triumphs of the mid to late 90’s, he never lived down the decision to suspend the game with time left on the clock. If there are any masochists out there who wish to re-live the sad drama, ESPN Classic will be showing it at 11:00 PM on Friday night. I think I will pass.
Remember it like yesterday. I was at a church picnic, everyone was shocked the next day.
Cooper showed us that day what kind of an idiot he really was… I remember Jimmy Crumm calling for his head on the News that nite… he was right as Cooper should have been fired right after that game–you do not stop playing until the clock says zero. Why not agree to a delay and come back out after the lightning stops???? Assmunch
I was the crazed idiot standing in an empty upper deck screaming obscenities at Cooper long after the rest of the crowd was under cover.
Ah, the early Coop years. I missed out on those due to my Army service. I spent most of my enlistment stationed in CA, so the only OSU news I got was newspaper clippings from my dad. I remember wondering many times how he ever got the job to begin with.
… he beat Michigan in the Rose bowl after the ‘87 season… that’s the ONLY reason he ever got hired. How ironic!
I hate Mark May. He is an idiot!
It was a sad day. Tressel would’ve NEVER called the game off.
We’re gonna kick USC’s ass.
i’m glad somebody hasn’t given up on this team.
who’s really impressed with barkley putting up decent numbers on sjsu?and of those people who have their hands up how many watched his 1st qtr?
I’m not saying we kick their asses, but we win by 7-10 pts.
You can’t be impressed with Barkley’s numbers. Don’t let the 56-3 scare you into thinking USC is untouchable. Navy would beat SJSU 56-3. Barkley was throwing on 1st and goal with 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter up 42-3 for a touchdown, against SJSU. USC didn’t show me anything that makes me afraid of them, I’m just afraid of us. Let’s hope we let the big dogs eat like Tressel used to do in the bigger games. Get the ball in the hands of our speed. make them play 50 yards wide, then have a balanced running game to open up vertical stretching. The game is decided on our offense, and in the turnover column.
Lets Go Bucks!
You’re right southbaybuckeye! People around here actually act as if they hate this team and hope that they do get beat!
FSU is gonna win the ACC and give FLA problems
You think?
Wow! At first I thought that this was some sort of Buckeye basher’s site! Okay, so I think that we are going to get beat because we just aren’t that good. However, I’m not going to take the time to write a long bitter article about it.
For whatever reason, it seems that people actually enjoy these sarcastic bitter remarks journalists make nowadays. I for one am sick of it. You’re job is to write about sports, which is a pretty cool job. So why not act like you actually enjoy it? And if you hate it, do us all a favor and quit!!
For what it’s worth, I’m confident going into Saturday. I think we can win this game. The article was a flashback to the last time USC played here, and I won’t apologize for telling it like it was. I was there, and that is how it was.