ATHENS, Ohio – Ohio’s offense will face perhaps its greatest challenge yet when the Bobcats take on Bowling Green in Wednesday night’s “Black Out” game.

The Falcons lead the Mid-American Conference in all four major defensive statistics, allowing only 15.2 points and 290.0 yards per game. Opponents have rushed for just 104.2 yards and passed for 185.8 per game.

“This will be, I think, probably the best defense we’ve played,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “That’s saying a lot. Penn State had a great front seven. But these guys have played Florida very well. If you look at them the last four or five games, they’ve really shut people down. The last two games, I think they’ve given up something like three points. We’re going to have to find a way to move the football, to move it with some consistency.”

Defensive tackle Chris Jones has caused all kinds of problems for opposing offenses, totaling 11.5 sacks among his 16 tackles for loss this season. The Falcons have 25 sacks on the season.

“Just with a three-man, or a four-man rush, he can cause you problems,” Solich said. “You obviously have to be aware of where he’s at. But the problem that you have is the other guys surrounding him are also very quick and good pass rushers. They do enough movement, with their quickness, to cause most offenses problems.”

Linebackers Paul Swan and Gabe Martin lead the Falcons with 52 and 50 tackles, respectively. Martin has eight tackles for loss, including 4.5 sacks.

Bowling Green’s secondary also has caused problems for offenses with nine interceptions. Jude Adjel-Barimah leads the team with three.

“They’re a ball-hawking unit when it comes to getting the ball in the air,” Solich said. “They’re very good in the turnover-margin – right at the top in the conference if you look at just the MAC games alone. They have a great combination of things going for themselves.”

The Falcons (6-3, 4-1 MAC) lost their conference opener to Toledo, 27-15, but they have given up 12 points or less in four league games since.

However, those games have been against opponents who have combined for just three MAC wins so far this year.

Ohio’s offense should give Bowling Green a bigger challenge. The Bobcats rank second in the MAC in points per game (35.6) and third in yards per game (462.2).

“It’s clear you can’t be one-dimensional,” Solich said. “In saying that, though, they have not allowed teams to get things going on the ground. They shut down the run first, but they’ve done a great job of forcing turnovers when you do throw. That’s a huge problem. You’re going to have a few opportunities. When they come you got to take advantage of them.”

With Ryan Boykin at full health, the Bobcats (8-1, 4-1 MAC) have two running backs at their disposal to test the Falcons’ defense. Boykin has 416 rushing yards and is averaging 6.5 yards per carry, while Beau Blankenship has totaled 1,097 rushing yards and eight scores with an average of 4.9 yards per carry.

Tyler Tettleton leads the Bobcats’ passing attack, having completed 61.5 percent of his passes for 1,900 yards and 15 touchdowns with only two interceptions. Donte Foster is his top target with 38 catches for 487 yards and seven scores.

Ohio recently has become thin at wide receiver, having lost Mario Dovell and Landon Smith for the season. Ryan Clark also sat out against Eastern Michigan.

While the Falcons have excelled on defense, their offense ranks in the bottom half of the league. They average just 23.0 points and 383.4 yards per game.

Running back Anthon Samuel has been Bowling Green’s most consistent player offensively, racking up 725 rushing yards and eight touchdowns while averaging 5.7 yards per carry.

Quarterback Matt Schilz has completed 57.5 percent of his passes for 1,752 yards and nine touchdowns with six interceptions. He has spread the ball around, with four different players making between 27 and 31 catches. Shaun Joplin is the leader in receiving yards with 478.

“I think we’ve practiced correctly for the game and there is a challenge in terms of what they’re all about offensively,” Solich said. “Just having a short week and them having an extended week, because of the fact that they run so many different sets, so many gadget or trick plays – That’s probably not the right terminology for it because they do a lot of it and it’s part of their base offense. But they can get you out of alignment pretty easily. When you have a short week, that’s an extra challenge added on to it.”

Ohio’s defense ranks third in points allowed (22.4) and fourth in yards allowed (387.4).

Linebacker Keith Moore leads the defense with 76 tackles. Linebacker Jelani Wosely and defensive tackle Neil Huynh are tied for the team lead with seven tackles for loss, with Huynh leading the team with 2.5 sacks.

Both Bowling Green and Ohio trail Kent State by a game in the MAC standings with both yet to play the Golden Flashes. The loser between the Falcons and Bobcats will not be eliminated from division title contention, but their chances will be reduced to a minimum.

The game is Ohio’s last of the season at Peden Stadium, where attendance has been tops in the MAC. With it being senior night and the Bobcat Blackout, Solich said he hopes for another big crowd that will give his team an advantage.

“This is certainly a big game for us. It’s a big game for the students in terms of their support and how they’ve been,” he said. “I think they want to get involved in this game and that’s great. It’s huge. I don’t think every MAC school has a home-field advantage. We’re building that home-field advantage now. And that’s really important in your steps of moving forward.”

Ohio and Bowling Green kick off at 8 p.m. with the game to be shown on ESPN2.