ATHENS – Replay reversed a fumble call and ended Ohio’s attempted drive for a touchdown to tie the game, and the Bobcats fell 21-14 to Northern Illinois in single-digit wind chill temperatures Tuesday night at Peden Stadium.

The loss leaves the Bobcats (5-6, 3-4 Mid-American Conference) still one win short of bowl eligibility and keeps the Huskies (9-2, 6-1 MAC) in position to win the MAC West.

“It’s certainly a disappointing loss for our players,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “I feel badly for them. I thought they prepared hard for this football game. I thought they played hard. Obviously we needed to do things a little bit better all the way across the board.”

Landon Smith caught a pass from Derrius Vick for 10 yards to the Northern Illinois 32-yard line with 1:57 remaining, and the ball came free as he was going down. Officials blew the play dead, and one ruled the pass incomplete, but others overruled him, saying Smith caught the ball and was down. A replay official, however, ruled the ball was beginning to come free before Smith was down and awarded the ball to Northern Illinois.

"I thought he caught the ball, and that he was actually down,” Solich said. “It didn’t even cross my mind that it was an outright fumble. In talking to the one official, he said that both he and another official had him down. That one official had him as either an incomplete pass or a fumble. So, the review came down as it did.”

The Huskies converted a third-and-1 that allowed them to run out the remainder of the clock.

"We made plays when we had to,” Northern Illinois coach Rod Carey said. “I mean, it was that simple. The offense didn’t play particularly well. The defense played great all night except for one drive there in the first half. The defense came up with some big stops.”

Ohio was trying to answer Northern Illinoi’s scores at it had twice before. The Huskies went to a hurry-up offense that produced an eight-play, 70-yard drive that culminated with a Chad Beebe 18-yard touchdown pass from Drew Hare for a 21-14 advantage with 6:00 remaining.

A.J. Ouellette, who rushed for 127 yards on 25 carries and had both Ohio touchdowns, converted a fourth-and-1 with a direct-snap 4-yard run from the Bobcats’ own 31-yard line. Smith caught an 11-yard pass for a first down near midfield, and Vick ran for 10 yards on a draw to the Northern Illinois 42-yard line before Smith’s catch and fumble.

The Bobcats had tied the score at 14 on the possession prior to the Huskies’ go-ahead touchdown, getting 29 yards on a Vick scramble, a pass interference call for 15 yards and an Ouellette 17-yard run that eventually set up an Ouellette 9-yard reception for a touchdown on a third-and-6 play.

Northern Illinois scored points off of Ohio’s first turnover, which came early in the third quarter and put it ahead 14-7.

On the next play after Ian Wells forced a Cameron Stingily fumble recovered by Casey Sayles near midfield, Vick was intercepted by Anthony Brooks. He lost the ball at the end of the return to the Huskies’ 44-yard line and Vick recovered, but replay clearly showed Brooks was down and the call was overturned.

“We played a complete game besides maybe three plays coming in right after the half where we made them fumble, then I threw that pick,” Vick said. “I think that was a big drive for them because they obviously got points off of that drive. We can’t have turnovers, obviously, and that’s why we lost the game.”

Despite a holding call on one first down and a personal foul on another, the Huskies were able to move down the field. Similarly, they converted after being faced with first-and-25 on their go-ahead drive.

In this case, Hare got 14 yards on a third-and-7 draw play, and Northern Illinois scored on a 32-yard screen pass to Akeem Daniels on a second-and-20 play.

The Huskies took a 7-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter, with Stingily plowing into the end zone from 2 yards out after Da’Ron Brown had catches on three straight plays for 14, 16 and 17 yards.

On the next possession, the Bobcats tied the game. They got 15 yards on a pass interference call, before Ouellette had runs of 15 and 13 yards on consecutive plays. He eventually scored on a 12-yard touchdown run to the right side.

Josiah Yazdani missed a pair of 46-yard field goals short – first with the game scoreless in the first quarter and then in the third quarter with the Bobcats trailing 14-7. Ouellette also was stuffed for no gain on consecutive third- and fourth-down carries at the Northern Illinois 29-yard line early in the fourth quarter – the second coming up perhaps an inch shy of the marker upon measurement.

“There were a couple of reads I wish I could have had back on the third-and-shorts,” Ouellette said.

Ohio halted a pair of Northern Illinois drives into Bobcats territory late in the second quarter with third-down stops that forced punts.

The Bobcats outgained the Huskies, 344-325, and held them to 141 yards rushing – 120 below their average. Hare gained 67 yards on 12 attempts and was 15-of-23 passing for 178 yards, but Stingily was limited to 43 yards on 15 attempts.

“That’s what you have to do to those guys in order to be in the game and win the game,” Solich said. “Their passing game hurt us. Two passes, the screen then the corner post move that they scored with on their last touchdown. The passing game came back to haunt us."

Like Hare, Vick put up numbers both through the air and on the ground. He was 19-of-28 passing for 141 yards and carried 12 times for 80 yards.

“Obviously, we would have liked this game,” Vick said. “It was an important game for us and it was the last home game. We’ve been playing well at home but tomorrow it’s on to the next one. We’ll watch film tomorrow and find out what mistakes we made this week and capitalize on them next week. It will be a big rivalry game and they put up a lot of points, so offensively, we’re going to have to be better.

The Bobcats will have to beat rival Miami to have a chance at a bowl for the sixth straight season. They travel to Oxford to face the RedHawks at 7 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN2.