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The Falcons racked up 581 yards of offense and converted those yards into points, hitting for multiple big plays. The beat-up Bobcats hung tough into the third quarter, but although they nearly matched their opponent in yardage with 543, they could not finish drives to match in points.

Matt Johnson went 26-of-35 passing for 365 yards and four touchdowns, and Travis Green scored three touchdowns and had 106 yards rushing on just 13 attempts, becoming the Falcons’ second all-time leading rusher.

Bowling Green (7-2, 5-0 Mid-American Conference) won for the fourth straight time against Ohio and for the 17th straight time against MAC East foes. They eliminated the Bobcats (5-4, 2-3 MAC) from the division race and all but locked up a spot in the conference championship game. It was Ohio’s third straight loss, all by 24 or more points.

"We’re not a consistent football team on either side of the ball,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “That’s a problem we haven’t been able to get solved in the past three weeks. We’re not the same team we were earlier in the year. There are several things that have got us where we’re at. You could start naming them on both sides of the ball, really.”

Ohio’s defense started strong, getting a sack from Tarrell Basham of Johnson on third-and-10 to force a punt, but Bowling Green bounced back to score on nine of 11 drives after that. And as was the case throughout much of the game, the Bobcats on offense did not finish a drive, with Daz’mond Patterson getting stuffed on a fourth-and-1 from the Falcons 31-yard line.

Roger Lewis might a 44-yard reception to set up Greene’s first touchdown, an 11-yard run. Ohio answered with a 7-yard A.J. Ouellette rushing touchdown to make it 7-7.

Bowling Green scored on a third-and-3 play, with Greene taking it in from 10 yards out, and the Bobcats came back again with a countering score, with Patterson scoring from 4 yards out with 10:03 left in the second quarter.

The Bobcats did not score another touchdown, though, until the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, the Falcons continued to find the end zone, beginning with a 48-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Ronnie Moore. Johnson eluded multiple potential sackers before making the pass on third-and-13, and Moore did the rest, reversing field and diving in for the final go-ahead score. The extra point failed.

Ohio went three-and-out, and Scott Miller deflected Mitch Bonstetter’s punt, which went only 13 yards, setting up the Falcons at the Bobcats’ 43-yard line. Bowling Green struck quickly, scoring on a 10-yard pass from Johnson to Gehrig Dieter, making it 27-17.

The Bobcats showed promise on their next drive, but an offensive pass interference call stalled them. Ohio’s defense forced three straight incompletions, though, to get the offense another chance before halftime.

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Vick then was injured on the second play of the first half, and was replaced by JD Sprague, who completed a third-and-9 pass for a first down but majorly overthrew a pair of open receivers as the drive continued.

After a punt, the Falcons scored on the third play, getting a 75-yard completion to Dieter, who bobbled it a few times after it was deflected by Ohio cornerback Bret Layton. If it was not over then, it was shortly after. Sprague used his running ability to move the Bobcats to Bowling Green’s 24-yard line, but his pass to the sideline was read by Denard Turner, who intercepted it and had no one between him and the end zone on the way to an 85-yard return, making it 41-14.

The Bobcats again moved the ball on their next drive, but settled for a 25-yard Josiah Yazdani field goal, and the Falcons again got a touchdown on a 19-yard reception by Roger Lewis. Ohio’s next drive was stopped in Bowling Green territory, and Yazdani badly missed a 46-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.

Greene broke a 43-yard touchdown run to make it 55-17, and Maleek Irons bowled over several defenders on his way to a 44-yard run for the Bobcats. Bowling Green backup quarterback James Knapke threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Teo Redding for the game’s final points, and Ohio third-string quarterback Greg Windham was intercepted to stop another drive in Bowling Green territory.

Vick was 11-of-15 passing for 82 yards and showed an ability to run the ball after seemingly avoiding it the last few weeks before he re-injured his ankle. He totaled 54 yards on 15 carries.

As a team, the Bobcats ran the ball as well as they have in months, finishing with 299 yards. Irons finished with four carries for 58 yards, Patterson had 57 yards on 11 attempts, and Sprague ran 11 times for 50 yards, but he was just 10-of-24 passing for 162 yards.

Smith had the majority of his 10 catches for 84 yards in the first half. Dieter had nine catches for 136 yards, and Lewis came up with 102 yards on six catches for Bowling Green.

Kurt Laseak led Ohio’s defense with eight tackles, while Layton had seven.

The Bobcats played without top defensive players Quentin Poling and Devin Bass, and Jovon Johnson and Nathan Carpenter played through injuries. Offensive lineman Nick Gibbons limped off the field late in the game, and safety Aaron Macer also suffered an injury.

Still needing a win to become bowl eligible, Ohio has a quick turnaround, hosting Kent State at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Peden Stadium. The game will be on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.