OXFORD – Second chances do not always come around, but Josiah Yazdani made the most of his.

After missing less than two minutes earlier from 42 yards, Yazdani kicked a game-winning 28-yard field goal as time expired to rally the Bobcats from a 21-point deficit and to a 24-21 victory against rival Miami on Tuesday night at Yager Stadium.

It was the third game-winning field goal of the year for Yazdani, with the Bobcats beginning and ending the regular season on go-ahead kicks as the clock ran out. It makes Ohio (6-6, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) bowl eligible for the fifth straight year and the eighth time overall under coach Frank Solich and gives the Bobcats their eighth win in the last nine meetings against the RedHawks.

“I think a team can find itself all of a sudden giving up if you want to use that terms, which I never use. But there are teams that would,” coach Frank Solich said. “This team obviously refused to do that.”

The Bobcats turned things around after a terrible first half in which the only saving grace was Kylan Nelson’s 84-yard kick return for a touchdown after the RedHawks (2-10, 2-6 MAC) scored the game’s first 21 points.

Benched briefly in the middle of the game, Derius Vick had a strong second half and connected with Brendan Cope on a diving catch for 38 yards to the Miami 11-yard line with about 15 seconds left. Solich called the team’s final timeout with two seconds to go, and Yazdani’s kick was good from the left hash.

The Ohio defense shut out Miami in the final 34 1/2 minutes and got a huge stop late to give the Bobcats a second chance at the game-winning drive. RedHawks quarterback Andrew Hendrix ran 14 yards on a draw and then threw a 16-yard completion to tight end Alex Welch on a deflection that nearly was intercepted, moving to the Ohio 45-yard line.

Hendrix, who finished just 15-of-38 passing, threw incomplete on three straight plays, and that left Ohio 1:08 to work with.

Vick got 7 yards on a draw and 18 yards on a completion to Chase Cochran just across midfield before Cope’s big catch.

Ohio’s game-tying touchdown came early in the fourth quarter with the aid of Miami penalties on back-to-back plays on third-and-goal from the 1. It appeared the Bobcats had false started but the RedHawks were called for a penalty because a player was faking the snap count. Then Vick was brought down for a loss of 8 yards on a scramble, but it was nullified by a facemask penalty.

After the Bobcats false started, Vick threw to Jordan Reid for a 5-yard touchdown pass that made it 21-all with 11:28 to go.

Miami threatened to regain the lead, moving to just shy of midfield before being forced to punt. A.J. Ouellette, who finished with 18 carries for 96 yards, and Vick, who ran 18 times for 61 yards, moved the ball up the field on the ground, and the Bobcats benefited from a pass interference penalty. Ouellette was stopped a yard short on third-and-2, though, and Yazdani missed wide left.

Nelson’s return down the left sideline was the start of the turnaround, though a pair of J.D. Sprague interceptions did not allow the Bobcats to cash in after they finally began moving the ball. He was picked off with Ohio at the Miami 38-yard line late in the first half and again on a second-and-goal play from the 7-yard line early in the second half.

Hendrix was off the mark on a lateral, and Kendric Smith picked it up and returned it to the Miami 14. Two players later, Ouellette got wide open for a 13-yard pass from Vick to get the Bobcats within one score with 8:30 left in the third quarter.

Ohio’s game-tying drive also was set up by a turnover, a Brett Layton interception of Hendrix at the Miami 41-yard line.

Vick, who was 10-of-18 passing for 121 yards, had an interception returned 27 yards for a score by Quinten Rollins at the 10:42 mark in the second quarter, making it 14-0. The lead was pushed to 21 on a 13-yard pass from Hendrix to Dawan Scott.

Miami’s first score came on its first possession on a 3-yard Hendrix run. It came after a 17-yard Fred McRae run, but the RedHawks’ running backs had only five other carries in the game, good for just 12 yards.

Hendrix accounted for all but 29 of Miami’s 317 yards. In addition to his 218 yards passing, he had 19 rushes for 70 yards. Jared Murphy gained 91 yards on four catches.

The Bobcats finished with 353 yards of offense.

Rollins’ two interceptions give him a MAC-leading seven in his only year playing football following four seasons of basketball.

Once again, Ohio finishes its regular season without knowing if it is the end, awaiting to see if it will get a bowl bid. While a 6-6 record in the MAC often has not been good enough in the past, the league’s increased bowl affiliations and the ever-growing number of postseason games gives the Bobcats a realistic shot.

It likely will be a long wait to find out. Though some decisions are announced ahead of time, most of the bowl lineup does not come out until Dec. 7.