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THE BASICS 
The Score: Ohio 48, Ball State 31
Location: Athens, Ohio â€" Peden Stadium
Attendance: 16,148 

The Short Story: Ohio’s offense honored its seniors with a season-high in points as the Bobcats (7-4, 4-3 MAC) grounded the Cardinals (3-8, 2-5 MAC) by a 48-31 margin on Tuesday (Nov. 17) at Peden Stadium.

 HOW WE GOT HERE:
- After three-and-outs for each team on their opening drives, Ohio struck first on their second possession on a 15-yard touchdown run by senior running back Daz Patterson with 10:21 remaining in the first quarter.
- Ball State would counter as kicker Morgan Hagee knocked a 45-yard field goal through the uprights to cut the Ohio lead to 7-3 at the 8:19 mark of the opening quarter.
- Ohio added to its lead with a six-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back A.J. Ouellette with 2:10 left in the first quarter.
-On the first play of the second quarter, redshirt junior quarterback JD Sprague connected with redshirt junior wide receiver Jordan Reid for a 60-yard touchdown to increase the Ohio advantage to 21-3.
- The Bobcats added another touchdown on a seven-yard connection between Sprague and Reid, increasing the lead to 28-3 with 4:08 left in the half.
- Ball State scored its first touchdown of the game on a one-yard rush by quarterback Riley Neal with 1:49 remaining in the second quarter.
- Ohio tacked on a field goal with a 42-yard kick by redshirt senior kicker Josiah Yazdani to increase Ohio’s lead to 31-10 early in the third quarter.
- The Cardinals answered as wide receiver KeVonn Mabon hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass from Neal to cut the score to 31-17 with 3:12 left in the third quarter.
- Ouellette scored his second touchdown of the game with a three-yard scoring run at the 4:48 mark of the third to boost the Bobcat lead to 38-17.
- Ball State wide receiver Jordan Williams hauled in a 33-yard touchdown pass from Neal with 3:12 remaining in the third quarter.
- Yazdani tacked on his second field goal of the game from 41 yards out with 1:40 left in the third quarter.
- Redshirt junior wide receiver Sebastian Smith hauled in a 7-yard touchdown reception at the 8:49 mark in the fourth quarter to boost the Bobcat lead to 48-24.
- The Cardinals scored their second rushing touchdown of the game on a 10-yard scamper by running back Darian Green.
- Ohio outgained Ball State 607-421.
- The Bobcats rushed for 332 yards and passed for 275.

BIG PLAYS:
- After hauling in a six-yard catch on third and five on the previous play, Reid hauled in a 39-yard gain to put Ohio at the Ball State 15. On the following play, Patterson took an end-around and sped past the Ball State defense for a touchdown.
- A 24-yard run by Patterson opened the following drive, but after driving to the Ball State four, a pass-interference penalty pushed Ohio to the 19. Redshirt junior wide receiver Sebastian Smith then hauled in a 13-yard reception, which was followed up by Ouellette’s 6-yard touchdown run.
- Redshirt senior safety Devin Jones couldn’t stop Ball State receiver from hauling in 36-yard gain, but did strip the ball and redshirt senior cornerback Brett Layton fell on the ball at the Ohio 33.
- After an 11-yard run by redshirt sophomore Dorian Brown and a 10-yard run by Sprague that ended the first quarter, Ohio opened up the second quarter with Sprague hitting Reid in stride for a 60-yard touchdown pass.
- After gaining 47 yards on the ground and another 15 on a pass interference penalty on the Cardinals, Reid hauled in his second touchdown of the game on a slant over the middle.
- A 42-yard connection between Sprague and Smith, followed by a 15-yard run by Ouellette set up the sophomore running back for his second rushing touchdown of the game from three yards out in the third quarter.
- Ouellette put together a 34-yard run followed by a 22-yard rush to put the Bobcats in position to hit Smith for a 7-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

SCORING DRIVES
First Quarter:
10:21 OHIO â€" Patterson, 15-yard run (Yazdani kick), 5-65, 2:48 -- 7-0
08:19 BALL STATE â€" Hagee, 45-yard field goal, 6-16, 1:52 -- 7-3
02:10 OHIO â€" Ouellette, 6-yard run, 12-75, 6:09 -- 14-3

Second quarter
14:51 OHIO â€" Reid, 60-yard reception, 4-67, 1:24 -- 21-3
04:08 OHIO â€" Reid, 7-yard reception, 9-69, 4:37 -- 28-3
01:49 BALL STATE â€" Neal, 1-yard run (Hagee kick), 7-62, 2:12 -- 28-10

Third Quarter
10:50 OHIO â€" Yazdani, 42 -yard field goal, 8-37, 2:58 -- 31-10
07:44 BALL STATE â€" Mabon, 20-yard reception (Hagee kick), 7-52, 2:58 -- 31-17
04:48 OHIO â€" Ouellette, 3-yard run (Yazdani kick), 7-71, 2:49 -- 38-17
03:12 BALL STATE â€" Williams, 33-yard reception (Hagee kick), 5-75, 1:30 â€" 38-24
01:40 OHIO â€" Yazdani, 41-yard field goal, 5-41, 1:32 â€" 41-24

Fourth Quarter
08:49 OHIO â€" Smith, 7-yard reception (Yazdani kick), 6-70, 3:20 -- 48-24
06:38 BALL STATE â€" Green, 10-yard run (Hagee kick), 6-58, 2:04 â€" 48-31

FINAL STATS:
Sprague: 15-for-22, 275 yards and three touchdowns. 11 rushes for 46 yards.
Smith: 87 yards and one touchdown on seven receptions.
Reid: 112 yards and two touchdowns on four receptions.
Ouellette: 121 yards and two touchdowns on 22 rushes.
Patterson: 44 yards and one touchdown on four rushes.

QUOTABLE:
"I think it’s all of what takes a running game to have a chance to be successful and that’s starting with the O-line. And our thing, since we don’t normally run a two-back offense, you’ve got to rely on your quarterback to be a runner also. We were healthy enough to be able to get that done these last three games. That’s huge in point production and yard production." -- Head coach Frank Solich

“This is what we’ve been working on through spring practice, through summer and it’s finally coming to play. The chemistry with all the receivers and all the quarterbacks is coming together. It’s finally starting to show. We’re never satisfied and we always want to continue to grow in that aspect.” â€" Redshirt Junior Wide Receiver Jordan Reid

UP NEXT:
The Bobcats close out the regular season on the road with a matchup against the Northern Illinois next Tuesday (Nov. 24). Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm. ET and the game can be seen on either ESPNU or ESPN3.

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