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Ohio State AD Gene Smith ‘pissed off’ with officiating in Fiesta Bowl loss

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith isn’t staying quiet on the subject of the Buckeyes’ 29-23 loss to Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday night. He’s unhappy with some of the calls that went against Ohio State, and he wasn’t afraid to express that.

Following the game, Yahoo! reporter Pete Thamel tweeted out that he received a text from Smith expressing his outrage over some of the calls in the Fiesta Bowl. The one that seemed to bother the AD the most was the scoop-and-score the Buckeyes got that was later wiped off the board and ruled an incomplete pass for Clemson.

“Terry McAulay is 100-percent correct!!! Unreal!!” Smith said, according to Thamel. “Feel free to share how pissed I am.”

McAulay is one of the most respected voices in football officiating and is a veteran NFL official. After the play was ruled an incompletion, McAulay weighed in on Twitter, saying “There is absolutely no way replay should have reversed. ‘Indisputable video evidence’ is simply not there.”

The call was overturned and Clemson retained possession, wiping a touchdown off the board for the Buckeyes.

https://twitter.com/snfrules/status/1211137879218380800?s=21

That was just one call Ohio State fans were not happy with on Saturday night. There was also a targeting call on Shaun Wade that proved to be a huge momentum-swinging call in the game.

Smith didn’t elaborate much on his comments Saturday night, but he certainly wasn’t pleased with at least one call in the Fiesta Bowl.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB