Ohio State football: Urban Meyer's record after a loss is excellent

Urban Meyer is a winner. His overall career win percentage of .842 places him at the top of all active coaches at major programs within the NCAA. That win percentage is also good for fourth all-time, behind Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy and George Woodruff. Meyer was actually ahead of Woodruff, and third on the all-time list, prior to the Big Ten Championship loss to Michigan State.

Meyer has a total of 24 losses on his record dating back to his first season as a NCAA head coach, at Bowling Green in 2001. Just four of those losses have occurred immediately after another loss.

Meyer's Falcons lost back to back games at Bowling Green in 2002. Bowling Green lost to Northern Illinois, and then to the University of South Florida the following week. The Falcons played the Northern Illinois Huskies on the road, and lost 26-17. Northern Illinois would finish the season 8-5, with a 7-1 record in conference play.

The Falcons also played the South Florida Bulls on the road, losing 29-7 in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium. The Bulls finished the 2002 season with a 9-2 record, losing only to Arkansas and Oklahoma, ranked second in the nation, that season. The Falcons finished the season 9-3, and 6-2 in conference play.

Meyer did not suffer consecutive losses again until he was at the University of Florida in 2007. Meyer's Gators lost to the Auburn Tigers in week five of the 2007 season, and the following week they lost to the LSU Tigers. Auburn finished the season with a record of 9-4, ranked 15th in the nation, and LSU was the top ranked team in the country. LSU would go on to win the SEC Championship as well as the BCS National Championship that season.

Meyer's Gators suffered back-to-back losses in the 2010 season as well, a season in which the Gators were ranked fourth in the nation to start the season, and finished the season unranked with five losses. The Gators lost in week five to top-ranked (at the time) Alabama, a 31-6 rout of the Gators in Tuscaloosa. The following week, Florida welcomed the LSU Tigers to Gainesville, and lost a close one to the Tigers, 29-33.

The 2010 Gators added one more consecutive loss the following week, a loss to unranked Mississippi State at home. Florida lost 10-7, and the defeat knocked the Gators out of the top 25 for the first time that season.

Meyer has a limited track record with losing a conference championship, having lost the SEC Championship only once in three appearances. In 2009, the Crimson Tide, ranked second in the nation, defeated the top-ranked Florida Gators in the SEC Championship game, a crushing defeat for a Gators team with their sights set on a national title. Sound familiar?

Meyer's Gators were paired off with the Cincinnati Bearcats, who were undefeated in the regular season and ranked third in the BCS rankings going into the Sugar Bowl matchup against Florida that season. The Gators won decisively, defeating the Bearcats 51-24.

Meyer's postseason win/loss record is also outstanding, with just one loss in eight bowl appearances.