An Urban Meyer team did something Urban Meyer teams rarely do Saturday night: it surrendered a double-digit second half lead. Worse yet: It was the only time in Meyer's career that one of his teams lost it's grip on a double-digit fourth quarter lead.
Leading just 12-7 at the half, Meyer's Buckeyes scored early in the third when Curtis Samuel ran 74 yards untouched to make it a 19-7 game. Four plays later, a high snap sailed over Penn State punter Blake Gillikin's head, leading to a safety and a 21-7 lead for Ohio State.
Meyer's team was up 14 points midway through the third quarter and looked to be in control of the game, on the verge of putting a pesky Nittany Lion team away.
Then the Lions roared. Penn State scored the final 17 points of the game – all in the fourth quarter – for the stunning upset.
It was the first time an Urban Meyer-coached team had lost a game they were winning by 10 or more in the second half since 2008, when an unranked Ole Miss rallied from a 17-7 third quarter deficit to shock Meyer's No. 4 Florida Gators.
In fact, Saturday night marked only the fifth time in Meyer's 188 games as a head coach that one of his teams had coughed up a double-digit second half lead. The others:
- Ole Miss 31, #4 Florida 30, 09/28/2008: Ole Miss outscored one of Meyer's best teams 24-13 in the second half to claim a victory in the Swamp.
- #1 LSU 28, #9 Florida 24, 10/7/2007: Meyer's Gators were up 17-7 at the half on top-ranked LSU in their house, but 2007 was the year of wild LSU comebacks and the Tigers outscored the Gators 21-7 in the second half for the comeback victory.
- Toledo 42, Bowling Green 24, 11/30/2002: The Toledo Rockets handed Meyer's second Bowling Green team a shocking loss in the final game of the 2002 regular season after rallying from a 24-14 halftime deficit.
- Marshall 37, Bowling Green 31, 09/29/2001: Meyer's Falcons jumped out to a 31-20 lead early in the third quarter before Marshall answered with 17-straight for the home win.
Five times in 188 games. The first time a Meyer team had ever squandered a double-digit fourth quarter lead. That's how shocking Penn State's comeback Saturday night was.
That's brutal if you're an Ohio State fan.
If you're looking for a silver lining, however, the last time Meyer's team surrendered a double-digit second half lead, they responded by winning their final 10 games on the way to capturing a national championship.
