ATHENS – Ohio took advantage of four Marshall turnovers and won the Battle for the Bell for the third straight year, downing the Thundering Herd, 34-31, on Saturday night at Peden Stadium.

"It means a lot to the university, the coaching staff, players and campus as a whole,” Ohio tight end Troy Hill said. “We put in effort and hard work. People thought the streak was going to end tonight, but it didn't. It shows that we were the underdog once again and it felt good to prove everybody wrong."

Marshall’s final giveaway, a Rakeem Cato interception by Devin Bass, set up a 29-yard Matt Green field goal with 2:46 remaining to put the Bobcats up 10. Cato scored on a 1-yard run with 29 seconds left, but the onside kick attempt went out of bounds, the Bobcats took a knee and time expired.

"It seems to always come down to the wire with these guys and that's why it's a rivalry,” Bass said. “I'm just lucky enough to be in that position to make that play and do it in any way I can."

The Thundering Herd (2-1) outgained the Bobcats, 482-339, but the Bobcats (2-1) had no turnovers and scored 17 points off of their opponents’ mistakes.

Cato was 30 of 45 for 366 yards and a touchdown, while Ohio’s Tyler Tettleton went 25 of 38 for 266 yards and a score.

Despite fumbling on their first two possessions, the Thundering Herd trailed just 10-7 after Green’s 32-yard field goal with 5:15 remaining in the first half. It was set up by a 48-yard Travis Carrie punt return.

Steward Butler bobbled the ensuing kickoff and in trying to recover the ball instead kicked it backward. Toran Davis was able to dive on it just before it went through the end zone to make it 17-7.

"It was kind of wild and a mad scramble and for us to get that was huge,” Bass said. “It was a huge momentum boost. I've never seen anything like that before."

Ohio had a chance to add to its lead, getting good field position after a fair catch interference call against Marshall, but ended up punting and downing the ball at the 1-yard line. The Thundering Herd, though, converted two third downs, including a 33-yard pass to Devon Smith down to the 6-yard line with five seconds left, resulting in a 22-yard Justin Haig field goal that made it 17-10 at the break.

Tettleton and the Ohio offense came to life in the second half, scoring on a 3-yard Beau Blankenship run on the opening possession to build a 14-point lead. After Marshall capped off a 15-play drive with a 3-yard Essray Taliafferro run, the Bobcats went back up by 14 with an 18-play drive that culminated with a 2-yard Blankenship run with 12:02 remaining.

"It came down to just feeling more comfortable about what they were doing,” Tettleton said. “We kind of had an idea about what they were doing in the second half and things started clicking."

Marshall answered back quickly, needing only five plays to get back within seven when Gator Hoskins got wide open for a 38-yard touchdown catch.

Ohio’s next drive stalled across midfield, giving Marshall a chance for a game-tying drive, but on the first play, a receiver fell down and Bass was able to pick off Cato at the Thundering Herd 33-yard line. The Bobcats ran the clock down from 7:04 to 2:46 went Green connected to make it a two-possession game.

Troy Hill caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Tettleton on third-and-goal – his third catch of the drive – as the Bobcats took an early 7-0 lead by taking advantage of a short field created by a Taliaferro fumble forced by Xavier Hughes and recovered by Brandon Purdum.

Nathan Carpenter forced another Marshall fumble on Marshall’s next play from scrimmage and it was recovered by Watson Tautuiaki. Ohio turned it into no points, though, when Green missed a 45-yard field goal try.

Kevin Grooms tied the game on the next possession with a 1-yard touchdown run to cap off a 10-play, 72-yard drive.

Neither team established much of a run game. Blankenship led Ohio with 36 yards on 16 carries. Grooms had 15 attempts for 35 yards.

Donte Foster had eight catches for 80 yards for Ohio, while Matt Waters made six receptions for 83 yards. Tommy Shuler finished with nine grabs for 95 yards for Marshall.

Bass led the Bobcats defensively with 11 tackles. Ben Russell had 10 tackles, including his second sack of the year. The Thundering Herd’s James Rouse had a pair of sacks.

Ohio is back in action at 2 p.m. Saturday against Austin Peay at Peden Stadium.