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Ohio limited Marshall to just 262 yards and forced four turnovers. The offense, solid in the first half, scuttled in the second half but managed a game-clinching drive in the closing minutes.

"We went ahead in the series and got “the Bell” back,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “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."

A year ago, the Thundering Herd burned the Bobcats defense with deep passes, but new starting quarterback Michael Birdsong was frustrated all night, going just 16-of-32 passing for 106 yards and two interceptions.

The Bobcats (2-0) led 14-7 at halftime, but neither team had any success on offense in the second half. The Thundering Herd cut the deficit to 14-10 after recovering a muffed punt by Papi White and kicking a 33-yard field goal with 3:44 left in the third quarter.

Finally, Ohio finished off Marshall (1-1) with a 15-play, 85-yard drive that began with 8:11 remaining and finished with 2:05 to go while forcing the Thundering Herd to burn all of their timeouts.

The Bobcats converted a fourth-and-2 from the 25-yard line with a 6-run by A.J. Ouellette and capped off the drive with a third-and-goal 1-yard run by Ouellette. On that play, quarterback Greg Windham faked a move up to the line of scrimmage to signal and audible and Ouellette took a direct snap, barely reaching the goal line.

Windham entered the game a few plays earlier when J.D. Sprague was banged up on a late hit. Starting quarterback Derius Vick left the game in the first half with an elbow injury.

Despite its struggles in the second half, Ohio’s offense was solid in the first half, beginning with the opening drive when Daz’mond Patterson put the Bobcats up 7-0 with a 33-yard touchdown run.

Marshall’s only touchdown of the came in the second quarter when Devon Johnson broke off a 73-yard run up the middle to tie the game at 7. Johnson finished with 170 yards on 21 carries.

Ohio regained the lead two possessions later after an Ian Wells interception set up the Bobcats across midfield. Sprague completed a deep sideline pass to Sebastian Smith, who made a one-handed grab and stayed on his feet for the final few yards to the end zone. Smith finished with six catches for 86 yards.

The Bobcats had a chance to add to their lead before halftime, but Josiah Yazdani missed a 43-yard field goal try wide right.

Marshall had its most successful sustained drive, at the start of the second half, come to an end when Birdsong was blindsided by Quentin Poling. Birdsong, who had led the Thundering Herd to Ohio’s 10-yard line, lost the ball and it was recovered by Casey Sayles.

The Thundering Herd had crossed Ohio’s 40-yard line when Johnson was stripped of the ball, which was recovered by sixth-year senior Nathan Carpenter, on the final play of the third quarter. Carpenter, who was a turnover-forcing machine in five matchups against Marshall, also picked off Birdsong on the final drive of the game. Carpenter fumbled on that play, then picked it up and returned it for a touchdown, but the score was overturned when replay officials ruled he was down by contact.

Ouellette rushed 21 times for 77 yards, Patterson had 10 carries for 69 yards, and Sprague ran 11 times for 44 yards and completed 11-of-21 passes for 127 yards. Vick was 4-of-7 for 29 yards with an interception.

The Bobcats finished with 21 first downs to only 10 for the Thundering Herd, who were a week removed from scoring 41 points in a win against Purdue. Ohio’s defensive effort came without senior outside linebacker Jovon Johnson, who missed the game with a leg injury suffered in the opener against Idaho.

"Ever since last year, this has been marked on the calendar for our team,” Carpenter said. “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."

Penalty flags littered the field all game long. Marshall was penalized 16 times for 163 yards and Ohio 11 times for 101 yards.

The teams will take a break from the rivalry series before playing again in 2019 at Marshall.

Ohio is home again next Saturday hosting Southeastern Louisiana at 2 p.m. at Peden Stadium.