GREENSBURG — The win was there for the taking. But Slippery Rock left it behind.

The Rock's No. 14 national ranking and top spot in Super Region 1 likely disappeared, too.

“That's all gone now,” SRU coach George Mihalik said after his team's stunning 41-38 college football loss to Seton Hill at Offut Field Saturday afternoon. “Now we're going to see what we're made of.

“Our character will be tested by how we bounce back from this.”

SRU (3-1, 0-1), the defending PSAC champion, is coming off consecutive NCAA Division II playoff appearances and had won 21 of its last 27 games overall. Seton Hill (2-2, 1-0) had gone 9-69 since the beginning of the 2009 season.

“We knew coming in here that we couldn't give up the big play ... and we gave up the big play,” Mihalik said.

Griffins quarterback Christian Strong threw for 472 yards Saturday — many on deep throws downfield — connecting for four touchdown passes in the game's first 21 minutes as Seton Hill built a 28-14 lead.

But The Rock was pounding on the door by game's end.

SRU trailed 41-31 when Seton Hill's Jesser Boulnemour sent a 35-yard field goal attempt wide left with 5:24 to play. Rock quarterback Dante Nania responded with completions of 20 yards to Cornelius Raye and 49 yards to Taishan Ticker, setting up Julian Durden's 1-yard scoring run with 4:15 left.

Three plays later, Derrick Fulmore intercepted a Strong pass — SRU's third theft of the day — and returned it 10 yards to the Griffins 29. Five plays later, The Rock had a first-and-goal at the 7-yard line with 1:20 remaining.

An incomplete pass was followed by a 2-yard Nania run. On third down, Nania threw incomplete in the end zone.

Mike Wainauskas came on for a 22-yard field goal attempt to force overtime. The kick sailed wide left and Seton Hill had its upset.

“Our defense showed a lot of heart and guts today,” Seton Hill coach Isaac Collins said. “Slippery Rock has a great offense and they moved the ball. We felt like we stopped their running game when we had to.

“We made plays when we had to.”

And The Rock did not.

“We just failed to execute,” Nania said. “We left a lot of points out there. We could have scored 70 today. We had the opportunities.”

In the second half alone:

Durden fumbled the ball away on first-and-goal from the 1-yard line on The Rock's first possession of the third quarter.

Wainauskis kicked the ball wide left on a 33-yard field goal attempt.

The Rock turned the ball over on downs at the Seton Hill 28-yard line.

Wainauskis missed the 22-yard field goal try with one minute left in the game.

“If we don't lose that fumble at the 1-yard line, the whole complexion of this game might have changed,” Mihalik said. “You can look at a lot of things in a loss like this.”

The teams combined for 1,156 yards of offense and 886 yards passing. Nania threw for 414 yards while Durden rushed for 146 yards and three touchdowns. Durden scampered 46 yards for a game-tying touchdown on a fourth-down play with 2:47 left in the first half.

Rock standout running back Shamar Greene did not suit up for the second successive game due to an ankle injury.

Strong has thrown for 794 yards and seven touchdowns in the past two games since taking over for the injured Dan Pietrangelo. He was not sacked in 52 pass attempts Saturday.

“Our offensive line has been banged up, but they did a bang-up job today,” Collins said. “Christian is taking advantage of an opportunity.

“He was our starter coming out of spring ball, but lost the job during summer camp. When Dan was injured, he got another chance and he's making the most of it.”

The Rock had a punt blocked in the first half that led to a Seton Hill touchdown. Wainauskas had a 30-yard field goal attempt blocked in the first half as well.

“Our special teams hurt us today,” Mihalik said. “We had a bad game there.”

Nania threw an interception near midfield that was returned inside The Rock 25 in the third quarter, setting up a Boulnemour field goal.

“We can handle this loss one of two ways,” Nania said. “We can learn from our mistakes and move forward or we can hang our heads and watch the rest of the season go by.

“Myself, I came here to play 16 games, not 11.”

Notes: SRU had defeated Seton Hill by an average margin of 41 points in their five meetings since dropping a 27-20 decision here in 2008. ... Tucker had eight catches for 139 yards for The Rock. ... SRU lost center Joe LoSchiavo to an injury early in the first quarter. Jim Popa, a sophomore, played the rest of the game at center. ... Fulmore's interception was his third of the season. Derek Morgan and Deonte Flemings also picked off passes for SRU. ... Titus Howard, Fulmore and Butler grad Bob Vernick led SRU with seven tackles each. Cornerback Philip Moreland led Seton Hill with 14 tackles.

Seton Hill 41, SRU 38

Slippery Rock 14 14 3 7 — 38

Seton Hill 14 14 10 3 — 41

SRU SH

28 First Downs 16

47-216 Rushes-Yards 27-54

414 Passing Yards 472

28-50-1 Comp.-Att.-Int 29-52-3

630 Total Yards 526

3-1 Fumbles-Lost 0-0

4-43 Penalty Yards 12-92

First Quarter

SRU — Jaimire Dutrieuille 1 pass from Dante Nania (Mike Wainauskis kick), 11:41

SH — Jarvis McClam 6 pass from Christian Strong (Jesser Boulnemour kick), 10:20

SRU — Julian Durden 2 run (Wainauskis kick), 5:44

SH — Ardell Brown 75 pass from Strong (Boulnemour kick), 5:28

Second Quarter

SH — Larry Joshua 21 pass from Strong (Boulnemour kick), 14:35

SH — Eric Brown 30 pass from Strong (Boulnemour kick), 8:52

SRU — Taishan Tucker 58 pass from Nania (Wainauskis kick), 8:31

SRU — Durden 46 run (Wainauskis kick), 2:47

Third Quarter

SRU — Wainauskis 28 field goal, 9:01

SH — Brandon Stout 1 run (Boulnemour kick), 6:08

SH — Boulnemour 39 field goal, 3:57

Fourth Quarter

SH — Boulnemour 22 field goal, 12:17

SRU — Durden 1 run (Wainauskis kick), 4:15

Individual Statistics

Rushing: SRU, Julian Durden 26-146, Dante Nania 13-36, Isiah Neely 8-34. Seton Hill, Brandon Stout 14-21, Patrick Jackson 6-20, Khalil Howard 2-7, Christan Strong 1-5, TEAM 3-3, Jarvis McClam 1-(-2).

Passing: SRU, Dante Nania 28-50-414-1. Seton Hill, Christian Strong 29-52-472-3.

Receiving: SRU, Taishan Tucker 8-139, Jaimire Dutrieuille 6-32, Marcus Carter 5-62, Cornelius Raye 4-92, Drew Scales 3-34, Julian Durden 2-55. Seton Hill, Ardell Brown 6-134, Jarvis McClam 6-46, Eric Brown 4-123, Logan Carns 4-27, Norman Darden 3-40, Larry Joshua 2-76, Patrick Jackson 2-8, Ty George 1-10, Brandon Stout 1-8.