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THE BASICS 
The Score: Ohio 21, Marshall 10
Location: Athens, Ohio -- Peden Stadium
Attendance: 25,210 

The Short Story: The Ohio football team emerged victorious in "The Battle for the Bell," defeating Marshall at Peden Stadium.The Bobcat defense held Marshall to 241 yards of offense while forcing four turnovers to give Ohio a 4-3 advantage in its last seven meetings with the Herd.

 HOW WE GOT HERE:
- Ohio opened the scoring with a six play, 62 yard drive which was culminated on a 33-yard touchdown run by senior Daz Patterson.
- Patterson led the Bobcats with 58 yards on the ground on six carries in the first half
- Redshirt senior quarterback Derrius Vick was intercepted by Marshall cornerback Taj Letman in the first quarter to halt Ohio's third drive.
- Vick played the first quarter, going 4-for-7 for 29 yards and one interception.
- After the teams traded punts, Marshall found its way onto the scoreboard with a 73-yard touchdown scamper by running back Devon Johnson at the 10:07 mark of the second quarter.
- In the second quarter, redshirt senior cornerback Ian Wells intercepted Marshall quarterback Michael Birdsong, which set Ohio up at the Marshall 47 yard line.
- The Bobcats capitalized on the interception with redshirt junior quarterback JD Sprague connecting with redshirt junior wide receiver Sebastian Smith for a 37-yard touchdown pass.
- Redshirt junior quarterback JD Sprague played the second quarter, going 6-for-12 with 85 yards and one passing touchdown
- Smith was Ohio's leading receiver in the first, grabbing four balls for 63 yards and a touchdown.
- Sophomore linebacker Quentin Poling recorded Ohio's lone sack of the first half
- Redshirt sophomore linebacker Chad Moore led the Bobcats with 3.5 tackles in the first half.
- As a team, Ohio had 114 passing yards and 148 rushing yards in the first half for a total of 262 yards
- Marshall accumulated 56 yards through the air and 114 on the ground, totaling 170 yards in the opening 30 minutes.
- The Herd opened the second half with a drive to the Ohio 10, but redshirt sophomore linebacker Travis Daugherty stripped Birdsong and junior defensive tackle Casey Sayles recovered the ball at the Ohio 21.
- After three-and-outs by both team, White muffed a punt that was recovered at the Ohio 16.
- Marshall would settle for a 33-yard field goal with 3:44 left in the third quarter.
- Poling stripped Johnson at the Ohio 45 and the fumble was recovered by redshirt senior Nathan Carpenter.
- A 15 play, 85-yard drive that ate 5:53 of the clock and featured a fourth down conversion, was culminated by a 1-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back A.J. Ouellette.
- Carpenter intercepted Birdsong on Marshall's final drive for his second turnover of the game.
- Ouellette would lead the Bobcats with 80 yards on 21 carries.
- Johnson led all rushers with 170 yards on 21 rushes.
- Smith had a game-high 86 yards on six receptions.
- Ohio outgained the Herd by a 363-241 margin.
- Ohio outrushed Marshall 229-157.
- The Bobcats also outgained Marshall through the air 134-84.
- The Bobcats won the turnover battle 4-2.

BIG PLAYS:
- On the first offensive play of the game, a wide receiver reverse run by White gave the Bobcats an 11-yard gain.
- On a third and five from the Marshall 33, the Bobcats ran an inside zone play for Patterson, who broke several tackles en route to the opening score at the 11:45 mark of the first quarter.
- Vick was intercepted by Taj Letman at the Marshall 16 and brought it back 23 yards to the Herd's 39.
- Johnson evened the score for the Herd with a 73-yard run with 10:07 remaining in the first half.
- With 5:02 left in the first half, Wells intercepted Birdsong and returned the ball five yards to the Marshall 47.
- Ohio capitalized on the interception with Sprague hitting Smith along the home sideline for a 37-yard touchdown pass to increase Ohio's lead to 14-7.
- The Bobcats put together a nine play, 42-yard drive at the end of the half, but Yazdani missed a 46-yard field goal wide right as time expired in the second quarter.
- Marshall kick returner Deandre Reaves opened the second half with a kickoff return to the Ohio 49.
- After driving to the Ohio 10, Daugherty hit Birdsong from the blind side, knocking the ball loose for Sayles to recover at the Ohio 21.
- White muffed a punt by Marshall punter Tyler Williams with Matt Cincotta recovering at Ohio's 16.
- Marshall would kick a 33-yard field goal to cut the Ohio lead to 14-10 with 3:44 left in the third quarter.
- A forced fumble by Poling was recovered by Carpenter at the 1:45 mark of the third quarter.
- Sprague rushed for seven yards on a keeper on a third and six from the Ohio 34 in the ladder half of the fourth quarter.
- Redshirt senior tight end Keith Heitzman then hauled in an 11-yard reception on the next play, which paired with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Marshall put the ball at the Herd's 33.
- A fourth and two from Marshall's 25 was converted when Ouellette shed tacklers en route to a six-yard gain.
- Ouellette then punched the ball into the endzone on a direct snap from one yard out with 2:05 left in the contest to increase Ohio's lead to two scores.
- Carpenter jumped a route and grabbed his second interception of the season to seal the win for the Bobcats.

SCORING DRIVES

First Quarter:
11:45  OHIO -- Patterson, 33-yard run (Yazdani Kick), 6-62, 3:15 -- 7-0

Second Quarter:
10:07 MARSHALL -- Johnson (Curraj kick), 4-87, 1:11 -- 7-7
06:15 OHIO -- Smith, 38-yard pass from Sprague (Yazdani Kick), 4-47, 1:29 -- 14-7

Third quarter
03:44 MARSHALL -- Curraj 33-yard field goal, 4-0, 0:51 -- 14-10 

Fourth Quarter
02:05 OHIO -- Ouellette, 1-yard rush (Yazdani kick), 15-85, 5:53 -- 21-10

FINAL STATS:
Sprague: 11-for-21, 127 yards, one touchdown, one interception.
Smith: Six receptions for 86 yards and one touchdown.
Ouellette: 80 yards on 21 carries, one touchdown.
Carpenter: 2.5 tackles, 1 interception, one fumble recovery
Poling: 3.5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble 

QUOTABLE:

"We went ahead in the series and got "The Bell" back. The game means an awful lot to the fans in the community, as well as to the players and the coaches. We just wanted to give a great effort and we thought that if we gave a great effort, we were going to have a shot. And obviously that turned out to be somewhat accurate." -- Head coach Frank Solich

"Ever since last year, this has been marked on the calendar for our team. They embarrassed us pretty bad at their home field last year, especially from a defensive perspective. This year, we had them here at our house. We wanted our defense to step up, hold their offensive points and we obviously wanted our offense to score more points. And we did that." - Safety Nathan Carpenter

UP NEXT:

The Bobcats remain at Peden Stadium when they host Southeast Louisiana for Parent's Weekend. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN3.

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