Texas 24, Ohio State 21. The fourth quarter of this game was miraculous in two specific ways: a) Texas rallied from behind for a dramatic, game-winning two-minute drill, on which it was an inch or so from going home a loser on a key fourth down spot, and b) Ohio State found enough fight on offense to actually make it a game in the first place.

Make no mistake, "miracle" is the most appropriate word to describe the fact that Ohio State led in the final seconds and very nearly won. I sincerely hoped to see a little derring do from an offense with an exceptional athlete coming into his own at quarterback and absolutely nothing to lose. Instead, we got a heavy dose of Todd Boeckman. Once the Longhorns tightened the screws on Beanie Wells in the second quarter, OSU's offense devolved into a flurry of bewildering Boeckman bombs and Pryor hardly throwing at all because he was too busy running for his life. The Buckeyes had no deep passing game with Pryor (I don't think he had a chance to set his feet on a single throw), no horizontal passing game to keep Texas honest in the flats and seemingly no chance once Texas' offense found a little life with time running down in the first half.

During one stretch in the second and third quarters, the Buckeyes gained 10 yards on 11 plays on three straight drives, during which they also fell behind 17-6. Colt McCoy's touchdown pass to Quan Cosby near the end of the third, to cap an 85-yard drive just a few minutes after the Longhorns went ahead on a 15-play, 73-yard march out of the locker room, that was game. Texas finally showed up, Ohio State faded again, the Horn defense was in a position to pin its ears back with a two-score lead, etc. By the looks of things, the Buckeyes had been put out of their misery with 1:04 to play in the third quarter.

Instead, they strung together back-to-back-to-back drives covering 47, 83 and 70 yards (easily more yards than on their previous eight possessions combined), did some ridiculous thing with Boeckman lobbing up a touchdown pass to the suddenly Crabtree-esque Pryor, scored 15 unanswered points and gave themselves a legitimate chance to win. If the side judge spots James Kirkendoll a few inches short of the OSU 40-yard line on a short fourth down completion on Texas' subsequent game-winning drive, the Buckeyes would have won. That, at least, is a step forward for a team that's faded fast and spun out of control when other elite opponents have rallied for two-score leads under similar circumstances. That, and Terrelle Pryor still can still outrun everyone on the field while barely breaking a sweat.

As for Texas, I enjoyed Mack Brown and Colt McCoy's rehearsed "We're No. 1 and we can beat anyone in the country" routine after the game, when they were 16 seconds away from blowing a late double-digit lead to a nine-point underdog. That's more than a little disingenuous -- perfectly understandable, given Kyle Whittingham's politicking following Utah's win in the Sugar Bowl and the open talk of splitting the national championship -- but not exactly sincere under the circumstances of this win. A 12-1 season with three wins over top-20 teams is a 12-1 season with three wins over top-20 teams, though, so if there's a case for the Longhorns to claim a fourth piece of the fractured title picture, I'm more than willing to help them make it. In the morning.