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But once the Broncos got going, they did not stop, especially on the ground. Western Michigan racked up 401 of its 430 rushing yards in the second half and blew away Ohio after the break in a 49-14 win.

Following two straight games of not allowing a touchdown, the Bobcats (5-2, 2-1 MAC) kept the high-scoring Broncos out of the end zone and off the scoreboard until there was 3:33 remaining in the first half. From there, there was no stopping Western Michigan.

“It’s something that I can’t explain other than we’ll have to look at the film to see where the breakdowns were,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “It looked like we made it way too easy for them in the second half, whereas the first half, we made a lot of nice plays.”

The Broncos (3-3, 2-0 MAC) nearly had three 100-yard rushers. LaVante Bellamy gained 149 yards on just nine carries, and on the same number of attempts, Jamauri Bogan finished with 135 yards. Starting running back Jarvion Franklin had 13 carries for 95 yards.

Neither team crossed midfield until Ohio did so midway through the second quarter, but Western Michigan finally took advantage of short fields to score twice in two minutes.

“I thought the first half we did a very good job as a unit,” Ohio defensive end Kurt Laseak said. “We held them to 125 yards in the first half. The second half, I don’t know if they game planned us or what, but they were hitting the right gaps at the right time and they were taking it the distance.”

Things changed immediately following an 11-yard run by Daz’mond Patterson that put Ohio just across the 50-yard line. Facing a fourth-and-1, the Bobcats went for it, and A.J. Ouellette was stuffed for no gain.

Western Michigan went to the air to finally find offensive success in the waning minutes of the first half. Quarterback Zach Terrell completed passes of 11 and 9 yards and scrambled for a gain of 8 yards. Ohio cornerback Ian Wells was called for targeting on the tackle, and the call was upheld upon video review, resulting in his ejection.

Two plays later, Terrell hooked up with Daniel Braverman for a 7-yard touchdown pass at the 3:33 mark. After a three-and-out, Braverman put the Broncos back in business again with a 33-yard punt return to the Ohio 32-yard line. Two plays later, Braverman caught a 27-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0.

Ohio quarterback Derrius Vick orchestrated his only successful drive of the game to keep his team in it before the break. He completed 7-of-8 passes, including a 35-yarder to Sebastian Smith, who was interfered with but made a touchdown grab anyway to make it 14-7 with 17 seconds left before halftime.

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Bogan broke a 67-yard run for a touchdown on the opening possession of the third quarter, and a 41-yard Bellamy run led to a 4-yard Terrell touchdown run on third-and-goal to make it 28-7. Bogan had a 40-yard run the next time Western Michigan had the ball, and on the next play, Franklin scored on a 20-yard run.

Franklin gashed Ohio for a 39-yard run early in the fourth quarter, and on the next play, Terrell hit Corey Davis for a 25-yard touchdown pass. Western Michigan’s final score came as it was trying to run out the clock. Instead, Bellamy busted a 56-yard run up the middle and into the end zone.

While losing Wells was a big deal for the defense, Solich said the bigger loss was middle linebacker Quentin Poling, who went out in the first half with an injury that the coach said likely will cause him to miss a couple of weeks.

“That can hurt you in the passing game especially but Ian is a total football player,” Solich said. “He may have run a few of those long runs down, but you can’t stop those at the line of scrimmage if you’re a corner. Quentin being out, that is not what you’re hoping for because he is most definitely a run stopper. When he’s in there operating a full speed, generally that middle is not as vulnerable as it was today.”

The Bobcats were especially thin at linebacker because Jovon Johnson still is recovering for an injury and could not finish the game, Solich said, and Blair Brown also suffered a minor injury that caused him to sit out part of the second half. Chad Moore played with a cast on one hand.

In addition, running back Papi White suffered a first-half injury that, like Poling, probably will cause him to miss future action, Solich said.

While the Broncos figured out how to get their struggling running game going in the second half, the Bobcats never did. They ran 30 times for 99 yards and found even little success on power runs up the middle.

“We attempted to get into it, but when you’re getting 2, 3 yards a carry, it’s not going to play out to where you’re going to be able to control the ball very much,” Solich said. “If you put yourself into long-yardage situations and all of a sudden it’s long-yardage situations and they know you’re going to pass, it’s not fair to the passing game. You need to have a mixture. The running game, it did not play out the way it needs to.”

Patterson was Ohio’s leading rusher among running backs with just 22 yards on seven attempts. Backup quarterback Greg Windham, who led a late touchdown drive, was the overall leader with six carries for 32 yards.

Vick, who was near the top of the MAC leaderboard in passing efficiency coming into the game, was not as sharp Saturday. He was 18-of-34 passing for 167 yards and a touchdown. He was just 2-of-8 for 35 yards in the second half.

“We just couldn’t get anything going,” Patterson said. “They had pretty good defense, but there were a few times when we shot ourselves in the foot, in the first half specifically.”

Jordan Reid led Ohio’s receivers with 109 yards on seven catches, and Smith had five receptions for 71 yards. Smith appeared to score his second touchdown early in the fourth quarter on an 11-yard pass, but after review, it was determined he did not gain control until he fell down out of bounds.

Vick narrowly overthrew a couple of open receivers on deep balls in the first half. Solich said the struggles were due in part to Western Michigan playing a strong defensive game and in part due to Vick simply not quite having it, but he was not the only one.

“We left some passes on the table on the early part of the game,” Solich said. “There were three or four times we had receivers open that could have helped us on some drives or even score points. … We just seemed to be off our game in so many different areas, and they have a good football team, and if you’re not playing at the top of your game, something like this can snowball on you.”

The Bobcats have a few convincing wins of their own this year, including a series-best 31-point victory against rival Miami. It was a far different experience being on the other end of a blowout only a week later.

“It’s eye opening,” Patterson said. “We were 5-1 coming into this game. When you’re winning, it feels good. You go into the game with confidence, but it lets you know it can happen any week, especially in this conference. You have to come out and play your best.”

Ohio hits the road for its final Saturday game of the season at 3:30 p.m. next week.