Terrence McCrae just makes big plays.
With Ohio struggling to do anything but kick field goals, the wide receiver made a spectacular touchdown catch to put the Bobcats up 20-17 with three minutes left in the game.
The 7-yard reception turned out to be the game winner, and Ohio (6-3, 4-1 Mid-American Conference) narrowly escaped Muncie, Ind., with a 20-17 win over Ball State.
He is great at going up and getting the ball
said coach Frank Solich. He does as a good a job as anybody does on that end of it.
The win makes Ohio bowl eligible and keeps it in the hunt in the MAC East but they could easily have five wins instead of six.
On an extremely windy day it took a record-tying day from kicker Matt Weller to keep the Bobcats in the game.
Ohio again struggled to string together drives
and forced Weller to kick five field goals
four of which he made
tying an Ohio single-game record.
It got to the point where Solich wondered if his team was going to make the big play and close out Ball State (1-8
1-4).
I just had an uneasy feeling at the beginning of the game, when we were kicking three field goals that we were setting ourselves up for a problem at the end of the game, Solich said. It worked out that that was the case to a degree.
The picture was bleak for Ohio when Jeremy Hill caught a touchdown pass from Cardinal quarterback Tanner Justice to put Ball State up 17-12 with 5:52 left in the game.
But on the ensuing drive quarterback Theo Scott hit LaVon Brazill for a 34-yard completion. The play brought Ohio to the Ball State 5-yard line
and set up the strike to McCrae
the first and only Ohio touchdown of the day.
Toward the end of the 3rd quarter
Ohio drove the ball down to Ball State's 2-yard line but Sean Baker intercepted a Scott pass at the 1-yard line.
We stopped ourselves, said Scott
who finished 17 for 27 with the touchdown to McCrae and two interceptions.
Ball State began the fourth quarter with a 10-9 lead on its own 1-yard line. Ohio's defense was stout and forced a three-and-out.
Ohio started its next drive at the Ball State 32
