ATHENS, Ohio? A homecoming crowd of 19,938 got more than they bargained for at Peden Stadium on Saturday afternoon, as Ohio produced the game's final three scores to pull away for a 51-31 win.

The Keydets (2-2) cut the Ohio advantage to 34-31 midway through the third quarter on a one-yard scoring plunge by Tim Maypray, following a 51-yard rush by the Madisonville, Ky. native. The Bobcats (1-4) answered immediately, as L.J. Flintall took the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown to push the advantage back to ten points. The hosts tacked on a field goal and a 37-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Jones to Steven Goulet to provide the final deficit.

A well-balanced Ohio attack accrued a season-high 575 yards of total offense on the afternoon. Junior quarterback Boo Jackson accounted for 287 yards passing, going 16-of-23 for two touchdowns through the air while adding in 33 yards rushing on eight attempts. Redshirt freshman running back Donte Harden rushed for 142 yards on 20 carries, including a 67-yard scoring scamper in the second quarter.

VMI entered the contest as the FCS' leading rushing team, averaging 399.0 yards per contest. The Keydets approached that number against their only FBS opponent of the season, running up 339 yards on the ground, with another 97 through the air. Maypray posted his third 100-yard rushing game of the season with a 130-yard performance, while junior back Howard Abegesah accounted for 88 yards and a touchdown on just ten carries. Maypray and Kyle Hughes each tossed touchdown passes in the first quarter, as two of VMI's first three passing attempts went for scores.

Greg Stevens capped an 11-play, 71-yard opening drive for the Keydets, booting through a 26-yard field goal to open the game's scoring. The Bobcats responded on their opening drive, as Jackson connected with Taylor Price for a 43-yard hookup to take a 7-3 lead with 8:27 remaining in the first period.

The Keydets wasted little time in answering. On the ensuing possession, Abegesah rumbled for 37 yards before fumbling at the Ohio 36. Cam Jones responded by pouncing on the loose football for the Keydets. Maypray then attempted his lone pass of the contest, finding Michael Rainey-Wiles for his second touchdown in as many weeks to take wrestle away Ohio's lead after just 28 seconds.

The Bobcats responded even quicker. On the first play of the next drive, Harden dashed for a career-long 67-yard touchdown, regaining the lead just 15 seconds following the Keydet score.

The big-play Keydet offense struck again after the two teams traded punts. Pinned back deep in their own territory, VMI needed only four plays to cover 86 yards, as Hughes hit Mario Scott for a 46-yard touchdown pass to give the Keydets a 17-14 advantage through the end of 15 minutes of play.

An Ohio 23-yard field goal knotted the score at 17 early in the second quarter, as Barrett Way, who transferred to Ohio from VMI prior to the 2007 season, connected for the first of his three field goals in the game.

The ensuing possession produced VMI's second 11-play scoring drive of the game. With Kyle Hughes in at quarterback, the Keydets marched 71 yards before Abegesah scored from a yard out to take a 24-17 lead, the team's largest of the afternoon, with 8:32 remaining in the second quarter.

The lead was once again short-lived. The Keydet defense forced a turnover on downs, stuffing the Bobcats on the VMI 25 on a 4th-and-6 play. On the next play, VMI executed an option pass, as Maypray, lined up at wideout, received the ball from the quarterback Hughes, then attempted to lateral back to Hughes. Maypray's toss hit the ground before reaching Hughes, allowing the Ohio defense to reach the quarterback. Hughes then fumbled at the VMI 9, where Michael Brown scooped up the ball and dashed in for a touchdown, as the extra point moved the contest back square at 24-24.

The Bobcats took a 31-24 advantage at the 1:37 mark of the second quarter, when LaVon Brazill caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from Jackson, capping the first half scoring.

Each team accounted for 300 yards of total offense in the first half alone, with Ohio boasting 196 yards rushing and 198 on the ground in the game's opening stanza. In the first half, VMI rushed for 203 yards and collected all of the 97 passing yards that they posted in the game.

With the opening possession in the second half, Ohio marched down to the VMI 5 before having to settle for a 22-yard Way field goal on 4th-and-3. The Keydets then needed only two plays to cut the lead to 34-31, with Maypray rushing for all 52 yards following a 36-yard kickoff return by Rajah Jenkins. Maypray's 51-yard rush on the drive's opening play marked the fourth consecutive game that he has posted a 50+ yard rush.

The momentum quickly shifted to the other sideline, however, as Flintall's kickoff return touchdown pushed the score beyond the Keydets' reach.

Emilio Calvin paced the Keydet defense with a career-best nine tackles. Kyle Nikmard and Josh Wine each totaled eight tackles and a half-tackle-for-loss on the afternoon, while senior Andy Viola posted VMI's only sack on the day, taking down Jackson for a 14-yard loss in the fourth quarter.

The meeting was the second all-time meeting between the two schools. Ohio scored a 42-14 win over VMI on Sept. 4, 2004 in Athens.

VMI returns to action on Saturday afternoon, hosting in-state rival Richmond at 1:30 p.m. at Foster Stadium. The Bobcats travel to Kalamazoo, Mich. to take on Western Michigan next Saturday at 2 p.m.

HEAD COACH SPARKY WOODS- "First of all, I'd like to congratulate Coach Solich and Ohio's football team. They've got a good team. They've had a chance to win all year long, and they put it together today and beat us. I thought that we did some good things offensively, but we've still got too many times where we don't play good on back-to-back downs on defense, and we still have huge errors in the kicking game. Good teams take advantage of that and Ohio did today. Two big plays stick out in my mind. As well as we did on offense, we turned the ball over for a touchdown when we were ahead, that was a big killer for us at that end of the field. Then the other one was the kickoff return for a touchdown. Those were two things that eliminated whatever chance we had of making it a really good game toward the end.

"I think that we're going to see a lot of really good things that we did. We moved the ball against what I think is a pretty stubborn defense. Then we got down there and kicked most of our field goals. We missed that one, but we kicked it hard and kicked it at it. The biggest disappointment, I think, was our inability to get off the field with our defense, and the big plays we gave up. The three personal fouls we got called for, the long touchdown on 3rd and 8. Overall, I think that we're playing hard, everybody's trying, but we just have to play better together."

JUNIOR TIM MAYPRAY- “We definitely came in as the underdogs, and we wanted to prove to everybody that we could play. The scoreboard doesn't exactly prove what happened, but I think that we definitely played with them today.

On mindset entering halftime
“We fought really well going into halftime. We wanted to come back out and continue the things that were working well in the first half. Keep trying to run the ball, run the triple (option) and see how things went.”

On what was working well offensively
“It was just our base play that was going for us. We were really moving the ball and everyone was confident. Things were going great for us.”

On the passing game
“When they come down like that, you definitely have to hit them with a lot of passing and play action to make them step back so that we can keep running the option."