2012 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl: UCF takes home the glory

7.4. Average yards to go for Ball State on third down. The Cardinals faced 10 or more yards to go 36 percent of the time, and UCF faced four yards or fewer 50 percent of the time (average yards to go for UCF: 5.2). Guess who won?

Bortles killed Ball State with two particular runs. On the third play of the game, UCF faced a third-and-12, and Ball State got decent pressure on Bortles. But he escaped the pocket, extended the play toward the sideline, then found a lane and burst forward for a 19-yard gain. UCF would go on to score on a grueling, seven-minute drive. Then, after Ball State had survived an early surge and cut UCF’s lead to 13-7, he plowed into two Ball State tacklers at the goal line on third-and-goal from the 6, fell forward, and scored. If Ball State makes stops on these two plays, the game plays out in a completely different fashion. But they didn’t.

UCF has been battling for some time now to be called UCF and UCF only on ESPN’s scoreboard and ticker graphics, with Central Florida or C. Florida usually being used instead. It’s been a big thing. And as you can see above, the Knights aren’t takin’ it anymore.

The amazing thing is that we’re debating abbreviations ahead of the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, a thing with so much reckless, stupid punctuation in its name it might actually be called the Beef Tom Brady’s Bowl.

The UCF Knights will essentially be playing a home game when they take on the Ball State Cardinals in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl on Friday night at Tropicana Field.

The Cardinals (9-3) enter the game on a seven-game winning streak and have been a fun team to watch all year, as noted by Matt Sussman of SB Nation’s MAC blog Hustle Belt. Ball State is coming off a 31-24 win over Miami (OH) in their regular season finale.