Thundering Heard, USC Wins : Weather: Ohio State players are unhappy with the way game ended and also with the way they played defense against USC.

COLUMBUS, Ohio —  With Ohio State fans screaming “Forfeit!” and more colorful expressions as they left Ohio Stadium Saturday, Ohio State linebacker Steve Tovar and his teammates stood on the sideline and let the officials’ announcement sink in with the water in their red shoes.

Game called on account of weather conditions. Final score: USC 35, Ohio State 26.

Reaction from Ohio State players: raw deal.

“It was an ugly way to finish,” Tovar said later, “very ugly. I guess they were looking out for the fans’ safety, but that was just an ugly way to finish the game.”

Officials stopped the game with 2:36 remaining and USC owning the ball after an unsuccessful onside kick attempt by Ohio State.

With a torrential rain beating down and lightning in the vicinity of the sold-out stadium, USC Coach Larry Smith and Ohio State’s John Cooper had agreed with officials before the onside kick that the game would be halted if the Buckeyes, who had just put a touchdown and two-point conversion on the board, couldn’t maintain possession. And so, when the Trojans’ Bruce Luizzi came up with the ball, the game was over.

Recounting the meeting with officials before the kickoff, Cooper said: “The referee said the game should be suspended. I said, ‘Let’s work out a deal. We’re going to (attempt an) onside kick. If we get the ball, we keep going. If they get it, just go ahead and suspend the game.’ ”

Smith, naturally, had no objection, although he said later that he thought it was “kind of strange” that the officials would care what the USC coaches thought at that point.

Cooper said he had no objection to the way the game ended.

“I think the referee made a wise decision to suspend the ballgame,” he said.

His players, however, did not feel the same way.

“I’m really upset,” nose guard Greg Smith said. “Chances are, nothing would have happened (to allow the Buckeyes to come back). But I play for 60 minutes, and what’s the harm of playing a few more? Playing 58 minutes, that’s not right.

“The rain wasn’t having much of an effect on anything. For them to suspend the game--well, there was really no reason. I know the game was pretty much over, but there was just no reason. You still want to get in there and play. I just don’t think it was necessary.”

Said linebacker Jason Simmons: “I’ve never seen a game end like that in my life. I mean, with two minutes left, you never know what can happen--freak plays, dropped balls, interceptions, fumbles.”

On a day when the Trojans stuffed the Buckeyes’ heralded freshman tailback, Robert Smith, and the Ohio State running game, the OSU offense had, in fact, found a late spark behind quarterback Greg Frey.

Frey took the decision to halt the game with a shrug.

“In a close game like that, no way you want off the field,” he said. “Yeah, sure, it bothered me. But if somebody gets hit by lightning, what then? You’ve got to do it (call the game).”

Perhaps if nothing else, the decision added insult to injury for the Buckeyes, who had come into the game with hopes of erasing the sting of last year’s 42-3 loss to the Trojans in Los Angeles.

“They just ran right through our arms,” Simmons said of Saturday’s loss.

Of Ervins, Tovar said: “The guy showed a lot of speed, showed definite talent. But we have to play well against guys like that if we want to be anywhere in the rankings.”

One of the Buckeyes’ emerging stars, Tovar, a sophomore, took the loss particularly hard.

“We thought we had a lot to prove this week,” he said. “Texas Tech and Boston College (teams the Buckeyes had beaten in their two previous games), they’re good teams. But a game like this tells you if you’re really good or not.

“(USC linebacker) Scott Ross, if he wants to call USC Linebacker U. now, he can. I have to play in big games. . . . We can’t be losing games to Southern Cal. I don’t care if they’re No. 18 or 15 or whatever.

“This is two years in a row we tried to prove we’re better and didn’t do it. We wanted to prove as a defense that we could shoot down a legitimate team, a (national championship) contender, and we didn’t do it. That’s what hacks me off.”

Not to mention the way the game ended.