ATHENS – Led by backup quarterback J.D. Sprague, Ohio racked up 607 yards of offense and rolled to a 48-31 victory against Ball State on Tuesday night at Peden Stadium.

Sprague got the start for an injured Derrius Vick and threw three touchdown passes, while Ohio’s ground game dominated for the second straight week. A.J. Ouellette ran 22 times for 121 yards and two scores, and the Bobcats amassed 332 rushing yards.

"I think it’s all of what takes a running game to have a chance to be successful and that’s starting with the O-line,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “And our thing, since we don’t normally run a two-back offense, you’ve got to rely on your quarterback to be a runner also. We were healthy enough to be able to get that done these last three games. That’s huge in point production and yard production."

Ohio (7-4, 4-3 Mid-American Conference) ran out to a 28-3 lead in the first half, and although Ball State (3-8, 2-5 MAC) eventually got its offense going, the Cardinals defense could not get stops.

Daz’mond Patterson put Ohio up with a 15-yard touchdown run, and after a Morgan Hagee field goal for Ball State, Ouellette scored on a 6-yard touchdown run.

Sprague then connected with Jordan Reid on a 60-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter, and with 4:08 left in the half, the two hooked up again, this time on a 7-yard score to make it 28-3.

Quarterback Riley Neal scored Ball State’s first touchdown on a 1-yard sneak, but the rest of the way, the best Ball State could do was exchange scores with Ohio.

Josiah Yazdani hit a 42-yard field goal to begin scoring in the second half, before Neal threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to KeVonn Mabon midway through the quarter, drawing the Cardinals to within 31-17.

Ohio answered with an Ouellette 3-yard touchdown run, and after Neal threw a 33-yard scoring pass to Jordan Williams, Yazdani hit from 41 yards out, making it a 41-24 game near the end of the third quarter.

The Bobcats put the game away by getting a stop and another touchdown – a 7-yard pass from Sprague to Sebastian Smith. Darian Green scored on a 10-yard run for the Cardinals, but Ohio ran out the final 6:38, moving inside the Ball State 5-yard line.

Sprague was 15-of-22 passing for 275 yards and ran 11 times for 46 yards. Reid made four catches for 112 yards, and Smith had seven receptions for 89 yards.

“This is what we’ve been working on through spring practice, through summer and it’s finally coming to play,” Reid said. “The chemistry with all the receivers and all the quarterbacks is coming together. It’s finally starting to show. We’re never satisfied and we always want to continue to grow in that aspect.”

Patterson had 44 yards on four carries before going out with an injury. That gave more carries to the backups, and they looked good, too. Dorian Brown ran for 82 yards on 12 carries, and Maleek Irons had five carries for 32 yards.

Neal hit on some big plays, throwing for 247 yards, but he was just 16-of-34 passing. He added 62 yards rushing on five attempts.

Mabon made 10 catches for 139 yards, and Williams’ three catches were good for 78 yards. Green carried 13 times for 74 yards.

Ohio finished with 30 first downs and had nearly 38 minutes of possession time.

Ball State had the game’s only turnover, with Mabon losing a fumble after a long completion near the end of the first quarter.

Chad Moore led Ohio’s defense with seven tackles.

The Bobcats finish the regular season with one more Tuesday game, playing at 7:30 p.m. next week against Northern Illinois in DeKalb.