EL PASO, Texas (AP) - Blake Bortles ran for two touchdowns and threw for another, and Latavius Murray rushed for a touchdown to break a fourth-quarter tie as Central Florida defeated UTEP 31-24 on Saturday night.
Bortles scored on 2-yard and 10-yard runs. He threw a 46-yard pass to Jeff Godfrey for a touchdown. Murray rushed 46 yards for a touchdown, breaking a fourth-quarter tie and giving the Knights (8-2, 6-0 Conference USA) the lead for good.
Bortles was 16 of 27 for 214 yards and was sacked three times. Murray had 23 carries for 117 yards.
Shawn Moffitt added a 30-yard field goal.
UTEP (2-8, 1-5) scored on its ground game. Jeffery Nathan rushed for two touchdowns, including a 69-yard run to even the score, 24-24, in the fourth quarter. Blaire Sullivan was 5 of 11 for 79 yards for the Miners. He also ran 2 yards for a touchdown.
Central Florida has won six consecutive games.
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| Scoring Summary |
| UCF | Jeff Godfrey 46 yd pass from Blake Bortles (Shawn Moffitt kick) |
| UTEP | Nathan Jeffery 2 yd run (Steven Valadez kick) |
| UTEP | Steven Valadez 20 yd FG |
| UCF | Blake Bortles 2 yd run (Shawn Moffitt kick) |
| UCF | Shawn Moffitt 30 yd FG |
| UCF | Blake Bortles 10 yd run (Shawn Moffitt kick) |
| UTEP | Blaire Sullivan 2 yd run (Steven Valadez kick) |
| UTEP | Nathan Jeffery 69 yd run (Steven Valadez kick) |
| UCF | Latavius Murray 46 yd run (Shawn Moffitt kick) |
| Team Stats | ||
| UCF | UTEP | |
| First Downs | 20 | 17 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 7-15 | 5-13 |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 1-1 | 0-1 |
| Plays-Net Yards | 69-402 | 64-346 |
| Rushes-Yds | 41-188 | 53-267 |
| Passing Yds | 214 | 79 |
| Kick Return Yds | 7 | 48 |
| Punt Return Yds | -8 | 20 |
| Passes | 16-28-0 | 5-11-1 |
| Punts | 6-218 | 3-134 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 1-1 | 4-3 |
| Penalties-Yds | 2-22 | 2-20 |
| Time of Poss. | 27:52 | 30:12 |
| Individual Stats |
| RUSHING |
| UCF: Latavius Murray 23-117, Blake Bortles 11-39, Rob Calabrese 5-26, Quincy McDuffie 1-8, Team 1--2 |
| UTEP: Nathan Jeffery 24-174, Blaire Sullivan 23-74, Laquintus Dowell 2-11, Jim Jones 1-10, Michael Edwards 2-0, Team 1--2 |
| PASSING |
| UCF: Blake Bortles 16-27-214-0, Team 0-1-0-0 |
| UTEP: Blaire Sullivan 5-11-79-1 |
| RECEIVING |
| UCF: Rannell Hall 3-72, Jeff Godfrey 3-67, Quincy McDuffie 3-25, Latavius Murray 3-12, J.J. Worton 2-20, Justin Tukes 1-11, Breshad Perriman 1-7 |
| UTEP: Jordan Leslie 2-51, Nathan Jeffery 1-14, Michael Edwards 1-9, Craig Wenrick 1-5 |
| Standings | |||
| Team | Standings | Conference | Overall |
| UCF | 2nd Conference USA East | 7-2 | 10-4 |
| Texas-El Paso | 5th Conference USA West | 2-6 | 3-9 |
