ATHENS – Xavier Hughes’ interception with 1:02 remaining clinched a 27-21 Ohio victory in its home opener against North Texas on Saturday night at Peden Stadium.

Matt Green’s 22-yard field goal with 1:23 remaining gave the Bobcats a six-point edge that meant the Mean Green needed a touchdown to win. On a second-and-19 play, Josh Kristoff deflected a Derek Thompson pass and Hughes was able to hold onto it, allowing Ohio to run out the clock.

North Texas started its final possession from its own 16-yard line after stumbling on the kick return. Brandon Purdum made a stop for a four-yard loss on a first-down screen pass, forcing the Mean Green to burn one of their final two remaining timeouts, and a false start pushed North Texas back five more yards before Hughes’ pick on the next play.

Green, who missed two field goals in the opener against Louisville and one earlier Saturday, connected on a 38-yard try with 8:08 remaining to give the Bobcats a 24-21 advantage. It came after the Mean Green rallied to tie the game at 21 after falling behind 21-7 at halftime.

Ohio’s defense surrendered just one first down before forcing a punt and the offense took over with 7:07 to go. The Bobcats converted a third-and-3 with a 23-yard pass from Tyler Tettleton to Chase Cochran, who also hooked up for a 75-yard touchdown on the game’s first play from scrimmage.

North Texas stopped Ryan Boykin two yards shy of a first down and only four yards short of the end zone on a later third down play, and the Bobcats elected to take the field goal to go up by six.

The Mean Green knotted the game at 7 late in the first quarter on a 3-yard run by Antoinne Jimmerson, but Boykin carried the load on a Bobcats scoring drive that followed and capped it off by taking a third-and-8 screen pass into the end zone for a 14-7 Ohio lead.

Only 38 seconds later, Jovon Johnson returned an interception 42 yards for a touchdown to give the Bobcats a 14-point advantage.

Ohio had a chance to add to its lead late in the half but a 40-yard field goal try by Green was wide right.

Thompson and the Mean Green beat a Bobcats blitz on a third-and-4 play and a missed tackle allowed Carlos Harris to reach the end zone on a 31-yard pass play at the 4:25 mark in the third quarter.

Tettleton was intercepted on the second possession in a row – the first one went back to Ohio’s possession after a North Texas fumble on the return – and that set up the Mean Green’s tying touchdown, a 6-yard pass from Thompson to Darnell Smith with 12:51 to go.

Cochran finished the game with six catches for 103 yards. Donte Foster also had six grabs for 59 yards. Tettleton was 19 of 30 for 239 yards, while Boykin carried 19 times for 93 yards and Beau Blankenship finished with 14 carries for 83 yards.

Thomspon was 19 of 29 for 195 yards for North Texas. Smith was his primary target, making nine grabs for 89 yards. The Mean Green were limited to 104 yards rushing on 38 attempts and were outgained 442-299.

Kristoff led Ohio’s defense with 10 tackles. Ben Russell had nine tackles, including a sack.

The Bobcats host Marshall at 8 p.m. next Saturday in game to be shown on ESPNews.