Bortles leads UCF to bowl win

Blake Bortles threw for three touchdowns and ran for another to lead Central Florida to a 38-17 victory over Ball State in the Beef ‘ O’ Brady’s Bowl on Friday night at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Bortles threw first-half touchdown passes of seven and five yards to Latavius Murray, who also scored on a two-yard run to help the Knights (10-4) build a 21point halftime lead and coast to victory in their final game as a member of Conference USA.

Bortles had a six-yard touchdown run and threw for 272 yards to become Central Florida’s first 3,000-yard passer since 2002. He also led the Knights in rushing with a career-best 80 yards in nine carries.

Ball State (9-4) was hoping to finish with at least 10 wins for the third time in school history; however, its high-powered offense sputtered while being held to a season-low point total.

Keith Wenning threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Willie Snead early in the second quarter, but the Cardinals didn’t get into the end zone again until Snead scored on a 16-yard reception with 5 minutes remain- ing in the game.

Bortles completed 22 of 33 passes without an interception, and his three touchdown passes were a career best and tied the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl record. Wenning was 22 of 34 for 217 yards and two touchdowns for Ball State, which had a six-game winning streak ended before an announced crowd of 21,759.

Stanford’s Stephens ineligible for bowl

Stanford defensive lineman Terrence Stephens has been declared ineligible for the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin because of a secondary violation of NCAA rules related to his rental of offcampus housing.

The school declared Stephens ineligible Friday. The senior missed victories in the regular-season finale and the Pac-12 championship game against UCLA for what Cardinal Coach David Shaw called a “personal problem.”

The 6-foot-2, 305-pound nose guard anchors the Stanford defensive line’s run package, handling double teams to free up teammates to fill the gaps.

Stephens has 10 tackles, one sack and one forced fumble this season.

Chris O’meara Associated Press BALL STATE tight end Dylan Curry is upended by Central Florida linebacker Jonathan Davis during the first quarter of the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl. Central Florida won, 38-17.