'This one hurts': Day's Buckeyes fold in fourth quarter

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  Jake TrotterSep 13, 2026, 01:07 AM ET

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  Jake Trotter is a senior writer at ESPN. Trotter covers college football. He also writes about other college sports, including men's and women's basketball. Trotter resides in the Cleveland area with his wife and three kids and is a fan of his hometown Oklahoma City Thunder. He covered the Cleveland Browns and NFL for ESPN for five years, moving back to college football in 2024. Previously, Trotter worked for the Middletown (Ohio) Journal, Austin American-Statesman and Oklahoman newspapers before joining ESPN in 2011. He's a 2004 graduate of Washington and Lee University. You can reach out to Trotter at jake.trotter@espn.com and follow him on X at @Jake_Trotter.

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Ohio State Buckeyes controlled the game for more than three quarters.

Then they unraveled.

Ohio State blew a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter Saturday night, as Texas stormed back with three straight touchdown drives to stun the Buckeyes, 24-23.

According to ESPN Research, Ohio State became the first AP No. 1 team since 2004 to lose after leading by at least 20 points in the fourth quarter. The Buckeyes had also won 115 consecutive games when holding a 20-point lead, the sixth-longest active streak in the FBS before Saturday.

"This one hurts," Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. "We had them on the ropes and didn't finish.

"Didn't play well enough in the fourth quarter -- that's the bottom line."

Ohio State seemed headed for a third win over the Longhorns in three seasons.

The Buckeyes led 23-3 and had possession after forcing Texas into a three-and-out midway through the third quarter.

To that point, Ohio State star Jeremiah Smith had more receiving yards than Texas did total offense.

But the Buckeyes couldn't capitalize, punting the ball back to Texas. The Longhorns then became the first FBS team in the last 15 years to close a win with three consecutive touchdown drives of 12 or more plays.

Texas punched the final one into the end zone on third-and-goal to go ahead with 25 seconds remaining.

Ohio State, meanwhile, gained just 49 yards in the entire quarter. Joe McGuire also missed a 45-yard field goal that would've put the Buckeyes up by two scores with just over four minutes remaining.

"When you look at not being able to get off the field on defense, when you're really not able to sustain any drives on offense, and then you miss the field goal -- all three phases didn't get it done in the fourth quarter," Day said. "We've got to own everything ... and certainly that starts with me."

The fourth-quarter collapse spoiled Smith's 164-yard standout performance. He moved into second place in Ohio State history with 2,783 career receiving yards and needs just 116 more to break Michael Jenkins' school record.

But Smith didn't catch a pass in the fourth quarter.

"Jeremiah played his heart out tonight, but we weren't efficient enough," Day said. "We never got ourselves in a rhythm in the second half like we should have."

AP No. 1 teams were 197-0 when holding a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter over the last 22 years, according to ESPN Research.

"It freaking hurts," center Carson Hinzman said. "But we've got a lot of football left. We can still do everything we planned on doing this year."