The #1-ranked Ohio State football team was in Austin Saturday for a non-conference game against #4 Texas. The Buckeyes led 20-3 at halftime, but the Longhorns scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to come away with a 24-23 victory. Here are our three takeaways from Saturday’s contest:

1.    Ohio State had never lost a game when leading by 17 or more points at halftime – 309 in all. What’s more, the Bucks led by 20, 23-3, going into the fourth quarter. OSU has now lost three of its last four games, with all three of the losses coming to Power 4 opponents (Indiana, Miami, and Texas). 

2.   Even in the loss, wide receiver Jeremiah Smith had a fantastic game. The junior had eight catches for 164 yards and a touchdown. Barring injury, this season should see him take the all-time lead in three major career receiving categories: receptions (179 – Emeka Egbuka leads with 205); receiving yards (2,873 – Michael Jenkins leads with 2,898); and receiving touchdowns (30 – Chris Olave leads with 35).

3.   Should the Buckeyes’ defense have allowed the Longhorns to score a touchdown earlier in their final series to provide adequate time for a drive to kick a game-winning field goal? Head coach Ryan Day said after the game, “We talked about it and decided that we were going to play defense on second down and then when we got that stop right there, we said, ‘All right, we’re going to take our chances, put the ball down for 1 yard and see if we can stop them for two downs and win the game.'”