Smith Calls Referee ‘Wimpy’ : Football: USC coach says the official should not have consulted coaches about shortening game. However, rule book says both teams must consent.

Before allowing USC’s rain-shortened victory over Ohio State to fade into history, Trojan Coach Larry Smith Tuesday called the referee “wimpy” and said the controversy surrounding the game’s ending could have been avoided with cooperation from ABC-TV.

Referee Ron Winter ended Saturday’s nationally televised game at Columbus, Ohio, with 2:36 left and USC leading, 35-26, and in possession of the ball.

After Ohio State scored with 2:38 remaining to pull within the final margin, Smith and Ohio State Coach John Cooper met with Winter at midfield, agreeing that if the Buckeyes couldn’t regain possession on an onside kick, the game would be halted.

A severe thunderstorm hit the area, drenching the players and a crowd of 89,422 in Ohio Stadium. So, when USC’s Bruce Luizzi fell on the kick, the game was ended.

Smith said that Winter, a Big Ten official since 1976 and line judge in USC’s 20-17 victory over Ohio State in the 1985 Rose Bowl game, was wrong to meet with the coaches before ending the game. Cooper has been criticized for agreeing to allow the game to be stopped.

“That’s not a coach’s call,” Smith said. “When something like that hits, the referee is in charge of the game. He’s in charge of the safety of the players, the coaches and the fans, and that’s his decision.

“And I’m going to be perfectly honest with you: He was wimpy about it. That’s the best way I can say it. I’ll probably get reprimanded, but I don’t give a damn because they were Big Ten (officials) and they can’t bring anything on me. I hope. You never know.

“You’re worried about what you say in the newspaper about officials, but I still stick by what I say. It was wimpy. It was a wimpy decision all the way through.

“That’s their responsibility. It says it right in the book. Coaches have nothing to do with it.”

But according to the 1990 NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations Manual, the referee does not have the authority to end a game without consulting the coaches.

According to the rule book: “The referee may temporarily suspend the game when conditions warrant such action. . . .

“It shall be terminated . . . only by mutual consent of both teams.”

Said Mark Rudner, director of communications for the Big Ten: “The rule book is quite clear.”

Smith said he was unaware of the rule.

Smith said that about 45 minutes before the game was ended, officials informed both teams that a severe storm was going to hit the area and that when it did, a decision would be made as to ending or suspending the game.

“Well, to me, the TV people should have been told, and the commercials should have been knocked out in the fourth quarter,” Smith said. “If we’d done that, we’d have finished 15 minutes before the (most severe) storm hit. Real simple. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure that baby out.

“And then they could have run all their damn commercials at the end, when they (showed) the rain.”

Rudner said that ABC-TV was aware of the impending storm.

“They reported that during the broadcast,” Rudner said. “In fact, they even had a scene from the blimp; they showed the radar on the blimp showing the storms that were approaching.”

But “as long as the game was going on, ABC had every right to its commercial time,” Rudner said. “They’re permitted three 90-second commercials in each quarter.”

Said an ABC-TV spokesperson, asking not to be identified: “We’re not in a position (to) cancel commercials. Nobody knew exactly when the storm was going to hit.”