Ohio State Football: When Will Urban Meyer Lose a Game as Buckeyes' Head Coach?

After finishing 12-0 in his first season with the Ohio State Buckeyes, it’s time to focus on 2013 and when Urban Meyer could lose his first game. With an early Big Ten road game, the first loss may come sooner than expected. 

As you can see below, the 2013 Ohio State schedule begins with four non-conference games against opponents that, through 12 weeks of football in 2012, went a combined 19-27.

Date	Opponent
Aug 31, 2013	vs. Buffalo Bulls
Sep 7, 2013	vs. San Diego State Aztecs
Sep 14, 2013	at Cal Bears
Sep 21, 2013	vs. Florida A&M Rattlers
Sep 28, 2013	vs. Wisconsin Badgers
Oct 5, 2013	at Northwestern Wildcats
Oct 19, 2013	vs. Iowa Hawkeyes
Oct 26, 2013	vs. Penn State Nittany Lions
Nov 2, 2013	at Purdue Boilermakers
Nov 16, 2013	at Illinois Fighting Illini
Nov 23, 2013	vs. Indiana Hoosiers
Nov 30, 2013	at Michigan Wolverines

Since Meyer took over as a head coach at Bowling Green in 2001, he has lost only one non-conference game. That came against Texas A&M by a score of 28-26 in 2003 when Meyer was at Utah. 

The Buckeyes open conference play with Wisconsin, which will be trying to replace running back Montee Ball. The Badgers' offense was in complete disarray in 2012 with Ball. Ohio State fans should expect to see an even worse Wisconsin offense without the talented back in 2013. 

However, the following week against Northwestern, Meyer’s winning streak will come to a close. 

The Wildcats had an amazing 2012 season, finishing with nine wins. However, this team could have easily finished the regular season with a 12-0 record, like Ohio State. 

All three of Northwestern’s losses came in games in which it had leads in the fourth quarter: 28-17 over Penn State, 28-16 over Nebraska and 31-28 over Michigan.

Not to mention that Northwestern’s leading rusher and receiver—Venrick Mark and Christian Jones—are both underclassmen and should be returning next year. 

On top of that, both of the Wildcats' quarterbacks—Trevor Siemian and Kain Colter—will be back for 2013. 

With those three key skill players coming back, Northwestern's offense should be able to average at least the 29.8 points per game it averaged this year.

While Northwestern will see key players coming back on offense, the Buckeyes will be losing two of their  top cornerbacks, Travis Howard and Orhian Johnson, who led the team in interceptions, and its top pass- rusher, John Simon, to the NFL draft. 

While at home in 2012, Ohio State played exceptionally well, blowing out teams with a point differential of plus-149. However, on the road, the Buckeyes only outscoring opponents, 125-102. 

The Buckeyes played only four road games in 2012, all in conference, and three of those four victories saw Ohio State win by seven or fewer points: 17-16 vs. Michigan State, 52-49 vs. Indiana and 21-14 vs. Wisconsin.

After an undefeated season, Ohio State should begin next season ranked in the top five. However, a potential berth in the BCS Championship Game will be threatened when the Wildcats take down the visiting Buckeyes on Oct. 5, 2013. 

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