ATHENS, Ohio – Boo Jackson made up for four first-half interceptions with three second-half touchdowns, and Ohio held on for its fifth straight victory Saturday, 38-31, against Louisiana-Lafayette at Peden Stadium.

“I think we were inconsistent,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “It wasn’t one of our better games as far as execution but we won and that’s the important thing.”

Steven Goulet had five catches for 126 yards, and his 56-yard reception led to Ryan Boykin’s 20-yard touchdown run with 3:43 remaining to put the Bobcats ahead 38-24.

But the Rajin’ Cajuns right back with backup quarterback Brad McGuire throwing a three-yard touchdown pass to Ladrius Green with 1:36 to go.

After recovering an onside kick, Louisiana (2-6) reached the Ohio 22-yard line with just less than a minute remaining.

The Bobcats (6-3) forced two straight incompletions, and a third-down pass left the Ragin’ Cajuns three yards short of a first down at the 15-yard line with 45 seconds remaining.

Pressure got to McGuire, and he was sacked and fumbled, turning the ball over on downs to seal the Ohio win. It was third sack for Stafford Gatling, and Ohio had six in the game.

“I tried to key the ball, so I could get a quick get-off,” Gatling said. “Luckily it was a sprint and the other side of the defense pulled up so it helped me get there quicker and helped cause the fumble.”

McGuire entered for injured starter Chris Masson in the first quarter and finished with 384 yards passing and two touchdowns with one interception, but it was not quite enough.

Jackson was 16 of 22 for Ohio for 240 yards and also led the team with 74 rushing yards on 11 carries.

His seven-yard touchdown run on the Bobcats’ first possession gave them an early lead, but the next four Ohio possessions ended with interceptions.

Louisiana tied the game at 7 early in the second quarter on a 20-yard touchdown run by Aaron Spikes and took the lead by taking advantage of a short field with a seven-yard Spikes run with 7:07 left on the first-half clock.

The Bobcats managed a 34-yard Matt Weller field goal before halftime.

Opening the second half, the Ragin’ Cajuns recovered an onside kick and earned a first down at the Ohio four-yard line, but they had to settle for a 20-yard Brett Baer field goal to increase their lead to 17-10.

Jordan Thompson caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Jackson, but a bad snap on the extra point left the Bobcats down, 17-16. The touchdown was aided by a first-down run by punter Paul Hershey on a fake punt.

A short punt led to Ohio taking over near midfield on its next possession, and a 37-yard completion to Steven Goulet led to a 13-yard touchdown pass to Terrence McCrae. The conversion pass to Riley Dunlop made it 24-17 in favor of the Bobcats early in the fourth quarter.

“It was a weird game a lot of mishaps that went with the theme of Halloween,” McCrae said. “We had a lot of road obstacles. We had to come in the second half and just regroup, refocus and try to execute in the second half. We did a whole lot better than we did in the first.”

Bakari Bussey caught a 24-yard touchdown pass with 9:17 remaining, and it was answered with Spikes’ third touchdown run, a one-yarder with 5:21 left in the game.

Darryl Surgent, a freshman who had two catches for 18 yards on the season, had four for 110 against the Bobcats. Green caught six passes for 107 yards.

“It’s tough, you know,” Louisiana coach Rickey Bustle said. “Brad came in and did a remarkable job. I hate to see anything happen to Chris, but I thought he stepped in and our guys played hard. We probably didn’t play as good of defense in the second half as we should have. But things worked out and we gave ourselves a chance to tie it up.”

For the second time in three games, the Bobcats did not punt.

Ohio has a short turnaround before playing in its final home game of the season, hosting Buffalo at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.