Ohio State AD Gene Smith was not happy with replay official in Fiesta Bowl

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith voiced his displeasure of the Fiesta Bowl replay booth to a couple high-profile media members.

Taking all things aside, there’s no denying the fact that the 2019 Fiesta Bowl was a highly entertaining one. Ohio State raced out to a 16-0 lead, then Clemson reeled things back in before a back-and-forth nip and tuck affair. In the end, the defending national champions made one more play than Ohio State, but it was must-watch television.

But about that controversy …

By now, you know about the targeting penalty that removed a key player from Ohio State’s secondary. You also know about the overturned fumble TD return that took a touchdown off the board for the Buckeyes. Both were questionable, and both were a result of a replay official’s judgement call and had a big hand in costing Ohio State the victory in the desert night Saturday.

Sure, the Buckeyes could have made less mistakes and taken more advantage of their opportunities, but there’s no denying the impact of the decisions made in the booth.

Apparently Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith wasn’t happy about what he called an “overreach” by the replay official in the booth. He talked to not one, but two high-profile members of the media to voice his displeasure shortly after the game.

First we saw this from FOX analyst Joel Klatt.

That’s a softer tone than what we saw from Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports.

Now, Smith may feel this way, as do several Ohio State fans and even neutral observers that watched the game. And yeah, he is right to some degree, but to voice displeasure in the media is not a good look and sounds a little like sour grapes.

Smith did at least end things with a positive note to the team.

My guess is that Smith probably wishes he handled it a little bit differently, but he’s not the only one that felt like the world was against Ohio State Saturday night.