Ohio State turned the ball over four times in the last 20 minutes of the Orange Bowl on Friday night, and the Clemson Tigers held on for a 40-35 victory, as the Buckeyes lost their second straight after a 12-0 start to the 2013 season.

By “right there,” Meyer meant the opportunity to drive for the winning score from the Clemson 48-yard line with 1:27 to play following an interception by OSU safety C.J. Barnett. What followed instead was Braxton Miller’s second interception of the game, as the battered and bruised Buckeye quarterback tried to get the ball to Corey Brown on a deep post, but underthrew the ball badly, and had it picked off by Tigers’ linebacker Stephone Anthony.

- Sun Life Stadium - Miami Gardens, FL

- The Orange Bowl - Clemson vs Ohio State

- 8:30 p.m. ET

- TV: ESPN -

The Bowl Championship Series continues its curtain call Friday night in Miami as the 10-2 Clemson Tigers face off against the 12-1 Ohio State Buckeyes in the Orange Bowl Game. Urban  Meyer and his Buckeyes were a play or two away from a Monday night date instead, but now find themselves in a pretty fair consolation prize. They landed a coveted BCS game berth, with the prime-time spotlight all to themselves Friday night...not to mention a nice trip to Florida.

Playing the second most important bowl game involving a Big Ten team was not what this Ohio State group had in mind after winning 24 straight games over two years, but it does give us our first chance to see how Meyer and his charges come back after a loss. Michigan State’s Rose Bowl victory relieves somewhat the burden Ohio State so often carries into the bowl season...that of proving the respectability of the Big Ten football brand.

In this the last year of the BCS system, Ohio State will wind up with more appearances than any other school. This is the 10th BCS game for the Buckeyes, (Oklahoma is second with nine) and they carry a 6-3 mark into this Orange Bowl matchup, including a 1-2 mark in championship games. The Bucks will be trying to achieve the unprecedented BCS “Slam”, having previously won BCS games in the Rose, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls.

Ohio State’s 24-game winning streak came to an end against the Michigan State Spartans in the Big Ten Championship Game Saturday night, and along with it went their national title aspirations and a little bit of the Urban Meyer mystique. The Buckeyes dug themselves out of an early 17-0 hole to take a 3rd quarter lead of 24-17, but in the end were done in by the inability of their defense to slow down the Spartans’ passing attack. Michigan State came back in the 4th quarter with the game’s final 14 points to earn a 34-24 victory and their first Rose Bowl trip since 1988.

After they fell behind 27-24 early in the 4th quarter, the Buckeyes twice failed to capitalize on great field position following a failed onside kick and a blocked punt. The most prolific offense in Ohio State history did not register a first down in the final quarter, as the Spartans’ defense stepped up when it mattered. A jarring hit broke up a 3rd down catch by OSU receiver Evan Spencer to force a punt on their first possession of the quarter, and then MSU linebacker Denicos Allen stopped Braxton Miller on a 4th and 2 run at the MSU 40, with under six minutes to play.

- Lucas Oil Stadium - Indianapolis, IN

-The Big Ten Championship Game

- Ohio State (12-0) vs Michigan State (11-1)

- 8:00 p.m. ET

- TV: FOX -

The third annual Big Ten Championship Game will match the undefeated and 2nd-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and the 11-1 Michigan State Spartans on Saturday night in Indianapolis. Both teams are trying to earn a January trip to Pasadena, but they have different dates circled on the calendar.

Winning the conference championship trophy would almost assuredly earn Mark Dantonio’s Spartans an invitation to the Rose Bowl classic on New Year’s Day. Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes on the other hand, are eying a chance to play on the same field five days later, when the national championship will be decided on January 6th. But first things first. As of two years ago, there is no such thing as winning “a share” of the Big Ten title, and both coaches are treating this game as far more than one more hurdle on the way to a bowl game.

The Big Ten’s showcase event had the bad timing to debut in 2011, that aberration of a season for the team that had won six straight conference titles coming into that year. Ohio State was rocked by scandal, culminating in a coaching change and a 6-7 record. Last year, a 12-0 OSU team that was clearly the league’s best was banned from postseason play, forcing the Big Ten to admit a five-loss team into its marquee game.

Ohio State had secured a berth in the Big Ten title game even before this one kicked off, but as usual, emotions were running high, and a 2nd quarter brawl marred the spectacle, resulting in the ejections of two OSU players and one from Michigan. Freshman back Dontre Wilson and senior guard Marcus Hall threw punches in the melee, and backup Wolverines linebacker Royce Jenkins-Stone was tossed for ripping off Wilson’s helmet, among other violations.

When the last-minute onsides kick attempt by the Wolverines failed, and victory was assured, the Buckeyes knew their hopes for a shot at the national championship were still alive. Three hours later, when No. 1 Alabama fell to Auburn, the erstwhile No. 3 Buckeyes found themselves in the driver’s seat for a berth in the January 6th title game. After all the angst about multiple unbeatens and who’s jumping whom, the moral of the story turns out to be...win all your games, and the rest will take care of itself.

- Saturday, November 30, 2013

- Michigan Stadium - Ann Arbor, Michigan

- Ohio State (11-0, 7-0) at Michigan (7-4, 3-4)

- 12:00 p.m. ET

- TV: ABC -

They call it “The Game”, because no other football contest packs more history, tradition and intense rivalry than Ohio State-Michigan. This Saturday at the Big House in Ann Arbor, the two schools will square off  for the 110th time, and it will be one of the rare meetings in recent decades in which the Rose Bowl berth and/or the Big Ten championship will not be on the line.

What will be on the line is an undefeated regular season for the Buckeyes, and Urban Meyer has no doubt reminded his players that Michigan has spoiled perfect regular seasons for Ohio State no fewer than five times before, beginning in 1969. The Wolverines have dropped four of their last six games after a 5-0 start, but their wounded pride could be salvaged with victory over the Buckeyes, and the murmuring about Brady Hoke’s status as head coach would be muted, at least for the moment.

Meyer is off to a 1-0 start as OSU head coach against their rival to the north, and like Jim Tressel before him, he came to the job with a clear understanding of the importance of The Game. There are penalties for so much as uttering the M-word around the Ohio State football program, a rule that Meyer applies to himself and his assistants as well as to his players. The Buckeyes are already assured of a spot in the Big Ten championship game next week in Indianapolis, but there will be no looking past the Wolverines...because Urban Meyer gets it.

Braxton Miller and Carlos Hyde once again led the way for OSU’s relentless ground attack, running for two touchdowns apiece as the Buckeyes raced to a 28-0 halftime lead. Hyde ran for 117 yards on 18 carries, going over 1,000 for the season to become the first running back on an Urban Meyer team to hit that mark.

- Saturday, November 23, 2013

- Ohio Stadium - Columbus, Ohio

- Indiana (4-6, 2-4) at Ohio State (10-0, 6-0)

- 3:30 p.m. ET

- TV: ABC (Regional)  or ESPN2 -

The Indiana Hoosiers will provide the opposition as the Buckeyes try to set a school record for consecutive victories with their 23rd straight on Senior Day in Columbus this Saturday. It’s the final home game of the 2013 season, and 18 seniors will be honored for their contributions to Ohio State football, including 10 starters.

Ohio State squeaked by the Hoosiers last year by a 52-49 score, in a game that saw Indiana stage a furious 4th quarter comeback that ended when OSU recovered the second of two onsides kick attempts with just over a minute to play. The Hoosiers are  trying to close out 2013 with two victories to become bowl eligible, but an upset win over Ohio State, in the final career home game for so many Buckeye players, seems like a pipe dream.

Hyde took over in the final period when the Illini got uncomfortably close at 47-35, closing out the scoring with TD runs of 51 and 55 yards in the final four minutes. The senior would finish with a career-best 246 rushing yards, but he wasn’t happy with the way the Buckeyes let the Illini back in it after piling up a 35-7 lead in the 2nd quarter.  “We came out scoring points, but we hit a wall later with a few three-and-outs,” Hyde said afterwards. “Late in the game we started clicking, but we can’t hit that wall.”

The new Browns have been decidedly averse to Ohio State players, for whatever reason seeming to ignore the rich history there, from Groza to Schafrath to DeLeone to Houston to Warfield. The current roster has just one OSU player, rookie tackle Reid Fragel, recently signed off the Bengals waiver wire, although picks from elsewhere in the conference...Joe Thomas comes to mind...haven’t worked out badly.

The Browns have drafted just two OSU players (WR Brian Robiskie, 2nd round, 2009 and TE Darnell Saunders; 6th round, 2002) since Bill Belichick took an inexplicable flyer on Craig Powell on his way out of town in 1995. And there have been a few other high-profile misses by the Browns on Big Ten players. Courtney Brown of Penn State and Michigan’s Braylon Edwards were a No 1 and a No. 3 overall pick respectively. That might have gone better.  Ditto Tom Cousineau.