Florida beats Ohio St 24-17, avoids losing record (AP) - Special teams were Urban Meyer's pet project at Florida, his pride and joy. He coached the units for years, often using them to showcase his most talented players. So he must have smiled when Andre Debose and Chris Rainey made game-changing plays on special teams in the Gator Bowl - even though they came against his future team. Debose returned a kickoff 99 yards - the longest scoring play in bowl history - and Rainey blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown. Those were the difference in Florida's 24-17 victory over Ohio State in Jacksonville on Monday. "We don't want to be remembered as the team that lost, so it was a big game for us," defensive tackle Jaye Howard said. Not only for the seniors, but the program as a whole. It's a building block for next year. Ohio State (6-7) dropped four straight to finish below .500 for the first time since 1988, and lost seven games for the first time since 1897. The Buckeyes can take solace in knowing that Meyer, who officially takes over for interim coach Luke Fickell at Ohio State this week, will make it a priority to improve special teams. "When you have two good teams play each other, it's usually special teams that will make the difference," Ohio State defensive back Tyler Moeller said. That's what it was today. But that victory was vacated as part of NCAA sanctions. Howard and Sharrif Floyd were disruptive all afternoon. Meyer was coaching Florida that night. Just after Ohio State tied the game at 7 on Miller's 5-yard pass to DeVier Posey in the second quarter, Debose took the kickoff, made one cut to the outside and went untouched for his third career kickoff return for a touchdown. "The two touchdowns on the special teams play were tough," Buckeyes center Mike Brewster said. It's demoralizing. It's like a free touchdown. But we had a lot of young guys in there. We had some injured guys who weren't in there, and the people we had in there did the best they could. John Brantley completed 12 of 16 passes for 132 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. Braxton Miller completed 18 of 23 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns, and was sacked six times. The Buckeyes failed to recover an onside kick, and Florida ran out the clock for its sixth bowl victory in the last seven years, including four in a row. Players doused coach Will Muschamp with ice water in the final seconds, but the coach later made it clear his team still has strides to make to get back to national prominence. "We're one game (better than) last year," Muschamp said. Sometimes you've got to put your realistic glasses on (to see) where you are as a program right at this point. It's not where we're going to be very long. I can assure you of that. Moving in the right direction. Ohio State has building blocks, too. Miller, a freshman, gives Meyer an experienced and improving quarterback for next season even though the Buckeyes won't be bowl eligible. "This whole season was a learning process," Miller said. I learned as the season went on. I could have played better. I'm anxious to get going for next year.