Back When: UAB led Urban Meyer’s Ohio State at the Horseshoe

If you were a UAB fan watching college football on September 22, 2012, at some point in the first half you saw it on the ticker at the bottom of your screen: UAB 9, Ohio State 0.

UAB — 0-2, starting a redshirt freshman quarterback, 37-point underdogs — was shutting out the 16th-ranked Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium in front of 105,019 people.

For a program that had been down for years, seeing UAB's name scrolling ahead of Ohio State's on every screen in the country was about as good as it had been in a while. And when the ticker changed to UAB 12, Ohio State 7, you stuck around — because the Blazers were, too.

Urban Meyer was in his first season at Ohio State. He arrived in Columbus with two national championship trophies from Florida — arguably the biggest name in college coaching at that point, on par with Nick Saban. The Buckeyes had opened 3-0. They would finish 12-0 and end the season ranked No. 3 in the country. Two years later, Meyer won a third national title.

Braxton Miller was his quarterback — a player The Plain Dealer's Bill Livingston would describe as "one of the most breathtaking open-field runners Ohio State has ever had."

UAB was supposed to be a tune-up.

Garrick McGee was also in his first season. He came to UAB as a former Broyles Award finalist — the nation's top assistant coach — from Arkansas. His first two games produced a home loss to Troy and a road loss at No. 8 South Carolina.

"To have a stretch at South Carolina, at Ohio State — that's a pretty tough stretch for anybody in college [football]," McGee said after the game.

His team was 0-2 and starting Austin Brown, a redshirt freshman who entered the game in the first quarter and played the final three. But the Blazers came to Columbus with a plan.

Middle linebacker Marvin Burdette spied Miller, shadowing him to neutralize Ohio State's most dangerous weapon. Miller did not carry the ball until the second quarter. UAB kept him from producing the highlight-reel plays that defined his game.

The defense held. The special teams delivered.

Ty Long hit three field goals, including a 54-yarder. Calvin Jones blocked an Ohio State punt. Nick Adams scooped it up at the 20 and returned it for a touchdown. UAB scored 15 points on special teams — every point the Blazers put on the board that afternoon. They piled up more than 400 yards of total offense against a defense that featured future first-round NFL draft pick Ryan Shazier. Offensive tackle Chris Hubbard, who would go on to play 12 NFL seasons for six teams, anchored the line.

UAB led 9-0. Then 12-7. The crowd — 105,019 of them — went quiet.

Miller broke loose in the final two minutes of the second quarter, and Ohio State surged. A late touchdown put the final score at 29-15.

"We always talk about here, it's a process," running back Darrin Reaves said. He would later spend time with the Kansas City Chiefs. "We got to get a win, but you see improvements from game 1 to game 2 (and) game 2 to game 3. Moral victories, that's OK, but we really want to come back with a 'W' next time."

Long went on to punt and placekick in the CFL and for the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers.

"I like where we are," McGee said.

UAB finished 3-9. The next year, 2-10. McGee left to become offensive coordinator at Louisville. That departure set the program on a path nobody saw coming — the hiring of Bill Clark, the shutdown of UAB football by the university president and then The Return, when Clark rebuilt from nothing and led the Blazers to a Conference USA championship in their second year back.