2014 Fiesta Bowl: Blake Bortles leads UCF over Baylor, 52-42

It’s no secret that I truly love saying the word Bortles. We all do. There’s something magical about it. In fact, there’s like 45 to 80 things that are magical about it. One of those magical things is that “Bortles” -- BORTLES -- rhymes with “Mortal,” as in, “Mortal Kombat.”

Anyway, Tuesday night Blake Bortles and the UCF Knights romped over Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl in what was, by point spread, the biggest upset in BCS history. Bortles slang for 301 yards and three touchdowns, plus ran for 93 yards and a TD. So we decided to commission @SBNationGIF to make an ode to Blake.

Wisconsin’s final four drives: 21 plays, 88 yards (4.2 per play), three turnovers, and a turnover on downs. Phillips, who did captain the Badgers to the Big Ten title in 2012 after another Stave injury, completed just seven of 12 passes for 37 yards and was picked off twice. A kick return touchdown kept the Badgers in the game, but South Carolina scored with six minutes left to make the score 34-24, and the Badgers had no answer.

There’s nothing saying Wisconsin would have won with Stave -- South Carolina was a much better team in close-and-late situations than Wisconsin in 2013 -- but without him, there was evidently no chance.

Making its first appearance in a BCS bowl game Central Florida upset Baylor, 52-42, in Wednesday night’s Fiesta Bowl. The No. 15 Knights were 17-point underdogs at kickoff, the largest margin ever overcome in a BCS bowl game, yet led the No. 6 Bears by 17 in the fourth quarter until allowing a touchdown with a minute left in the game.

UCF did it behind a pair of stars on offense. Quarterback Blake Bortles’ ran and passed for 394 total yards and four scores, and running back Storm Johnson added 124 yards rushing and three touchdowns of his own. Between the two, they racked up 518 of the Knights’ 556 yards.

Bryce Petty is probably going to be an NFL quarterback after the 2014 season, provided he can be healthy. For now, though, he doesn’t care about that: he’s just going to do very dramatic and dangerous things to help Baylor win the Fiesta Bowl and NO NO NO THIS LOOKS AWESOME BUT OMG YOU CAN GET SO HURT

That TD brought Baylor to within one point of UCF. ESPN did a great job of finding the reactions of two rather important people.

You’re dead now, BCS, so this entire conversation is a little strange and one-sided. You can’t answer for a lot of things you could be accused of creating.

But that’s how eulogies work. As you were in your brief existence, they are unfair by design.

If you like points, the 2014 Fiesta Bowl may be your favorite bowl game of the year.

Here’s all you need to know to watch the game.

Baylor, meanwhile, is rock solid at 15-4 against the spread in its last 19 games as a double-digit favorite. The OddsShark.com computer has projected a final score in lockstep with that 17-point spread (49-32 for Baylor).

UCF (11-1 SU, 7-5 ATS, 4-8 OU) joined the newly minted American Athletic Conference this season and made its presence felt right off the bat with a successful 8-0 run through the conference, including a 38-35 victory over then-No. 8 Louisville in mid-October as a 14-point road underdog. The Knights’ only loss all year was a 28-25 setback to South Carolina as 6.5-point underdogs in Week 5. UCF was 3-3 ATS on the road, as well 3-3 in over/under away from home.

Our Daily Bears took a deeper look at the Knights. Even with UCF not playing a difficult schedule this season, they’re still a very dangerous team regardless.

Despite Baylor and UCF never making a BCS bowl game until now, the demand for tickets is not very high at all.

Baylor and UCF both fell short of selling out their 17,500-ticket allotments to the 2014 Fiesta Bowl. The Bears are returning about 5,000 tickets, according to the Waco Tribune, while the Knights are returning approximately 10,000, per the Orlando Sentinel.

UCF officials said several weeks ago that they would need to sell 13,000 tickets to break even on the trip, and that’s despite a $2.4 million bowl allowance from the AAC to help cover costs. Fiesta Bowl ticket prices aside, the cost of round-trip plane tickets -- more than $700 in some cases -- is no doubt a factor keeping sales low.

Bortles was largely unknown before this season, but Central Florida’s run to an American Athletic Conference title and Fiesta Bowl appearance has put the junior quarterback in the national spotlight. Bortles completed 68 percent of his pass attempts this season, racking up 3,280 yards through the air and throwing 22 touchdowns against just 7 interceptions.

Where Bortles would be drafted remains an open question. On NBC’s Football Night in America last week, Sports Illustrated’s Peter King said Bortles was the “fastest-rising quarterback in the first round,” and the top quarterback of a team that is likely to have a top 10 selection. ESPN’s Todd McShay had Bortles going to Oakland with the third pick in his latest mock draft.

Michigan started the season 4-0, with tight wins over suspect opponents like Akron and Connecticut balancing out a win over a ranked Notre Dame. A four-overtime loss to Penn State ruined the team’s perfect record, and Michigan would end up losing to Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa and Ohio State. The Wolverines will hope to get more consistent play on both sides of the ball against Kansas State.

Well, this isn’t exactly where either of these teams wanted to end up, is it? This is one of those situations where you have to decide whether you want to judge a bowl by its reputation or its matchup, because this is certainly a fun matchup.

With no national championship on the line, this game isn’t for all the Tostitos, but with a huge payout and BCS prestige, it’s definitely worth at least a few Tostitos.

Date and time: Jan. 1, 2014, 8:30 p.m. ET

No. 9 Baylor has won the Big 12 championship by knocking off Texas and will play in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day in Glendale, almost certainly against No. 16 UCF. This will be 11-1 Baylor’s first-ever BCS trip. The Fiesta Bowl announcement is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 8.

The Bears, who were on pace to break national scoring records before a handful of key injuries and a toughened schedule slowed them down, will still take plenty of firepower to Arizona. UCF’s defense currently ranks No. 54 in Football Outsiders’ Defensive F/+ -- Baylor’s offense has ranked either No. 1 or 2 after just about every week this season.