ATHENS – Parker Navarro and Ohio bounced back from a bad performance to destroy Buffalo 47-16 on Saturday at Peden Stadium.

Coming off of a 30-20 loss to rival Miami, the Bobcats blew out a Bulls team that came in with wins against Toledo and Northern Illinois.

Coming off a shaky performance against the RedHawks, Navarro went 14-of-19 for 231 yards and two touchdowns and ran 13 times for 81 yards. It also was a big day for Coleman Owen, who caught six passes for 146 yards and two scores and also had a 22-yard rushing touchdown.

As well as it turned out, the Bobcats (5-3, 3-1 Mid-American Conference) and Navarro had some struggles early. Navarro was intercepted by Marquis Cooper on Ohio’s second possession, and a missed 47-yard field goal try from Upton Bellenfant prevented Buffalo (4-4, 2-2 MAC) from taking an early lead.

Ohio settled for a Gianni Spetic 23-yard field goal late in the first quarter, and the Bulls answered with a Messiah Burch 27-yard touchdown run to go in front with 12:47 left in the first half.

That was enough time for Ohio’s offense to produce three touchdowns. Rickey Hunt Jr., carrying the running back load with Anthony Tyus III out with an injury, broke a 46-yard touchdown run that got the Bobcats rolling.

Ohio struck on the second play of its next drive with a 65-yard touchdown pass from Navarro to Owen, and after a Bellenfant 40-yard field goal made it 17-10, Navarro and Owen hooked up again on a 13-yard scoring pass to put the Bobcats up by two touchdowns before halftime.

Buffalo looked to get closer early in the second half, moving into the red zone, but CJ Doggette sacked C.J. Ogbonna and forced him to fumble, with Bralen Henderson recovering for Ohio. A 52-yard hookup between Navarro and Rodney Harris II led to a Nolan McCormick 2-yard rushing touchdown to put the Bobcats in front 31-10.

The Bulls answered back before the end of the third quarter with an Ogbonna 21-yard touchdown pass to Victor Snow. However, they netted only four points because a botched conversion led to a Kadin Schmitz interception and return for two points the other way, making it 33-16.

Ohio added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Owen scored on a 22-yard end-around, and then on the next play from scrimmage, Shay Taylor returned an Ogbonna interception 30 yards to the end zone.

Hunt gained 89 yards on just nine carries to help the Bobcats finish with 258 rushing yards. They finished with 489 yards of total offense.

Ogbonna was 24-of-39 passing for 257 yards, completing five passes for 75 yards to Snow. Al-Jay Henderson had 14 carries for 81 yards. Buffalo finished with 383 yards of offense.

MACtion is next for Ohio with a visit to Kent State at 7 p.m. Nov. 6 on ESPN2 or ESPNU.