2012 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl

2012 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl
Ball State Cardinals UCF Knights (9–3) (9–4) 17 38 Head coach:  Pete Lembo Head coach:  George O'Leary AP Coaches BCS NR NR NR AP Coaches BCS NR NR NR
1 2 3 4 Total Ball State 0 7 3 7 17 UCF 13 15 7 3 38
Date	December 21, 2012
Season	2012
Stadium	Tropicana Field
Location	St. Petersburg, Florida
MVP	Blake Bortles
Favorite	UCF by 7[1]
Referee	Tony Backert (Sun Belt)
Attendance	21,759
Payout	US$1 million per team
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Dave Neal Desmond Howard Andre Ware Cara Capuano

The 2012 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, the fifth edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on December 21, 2012 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida as part of the 2012–13 NCAA Bowl season.

The game, which commenced at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, featured the UCF Knights from Conference USA and Ball State Cardinals from the Mid-American Conference. It was the final game of the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season for both teams. The Knights advanced to the game after losing to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in the Conference USA Championship Game.

Teams

Since the game's inception in 2008, the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl has had its current setup with a team from Conference USA playing a team from the Big East Conference. Ball State was chosen as a replacement for the potential Big East team, because the conference did not have enough bowl-eligible teams to send a representative to St. Petersburg.

This was the fourth meeting between these two teams. The all-time record is tied 2-2. The last time they played was in 2004, when UCF was with Ball State in the MAC (UCF was a football-only member of the MAC).

UCF

Initially, the Knights were ineligible for the postseason because of recruiting violations in both football and basketball under previous athletic director Keith Tribble.^[2] Almost immediately afterwards, the university appealed; because its hearing was delayed until 2013, the Knights were bowl-eligible for 2012.^[3] Finishing as C-USA East Division Champions with a 7–1 conference record, the Knights would go on to the Conference USA Championship Game for the fourth time in eight years. After losing to Tulsa 33–27 in overtime, the Knights advanced to the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl per the C-USA's bowl contingency plan.^[4]

This will be the Knights' second Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, they had previously played in the 2009 game, losing to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights by a score of 45–24. It was also the Knights' final game as a member of Conference USA before they move to the American Athletic Conference in 2013.^[5]

Ball State

Ball State entered the game with 9–3 record, losing only to Clemson, Kent State and BCS-buster Northern Illinois. It was the Cardinals first bowl game since the 2009 GMAC Bowl.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP Ball State UCF 1 7:27 13 78 7:33 UCF Latavius Murray 7-yard touchdown reception from Blake Bortles, Shawn Moffitt kick good 0 7 1 3:59 7 58 2:34 UCF Latavius Murray 2-yard touchdown run, Shawn Moffitt kick no good (blocked) 0 13 2 10:41 10 82 4:19 Ball St. Willie Snead IV 7-yard touchdown reception from Keith Wenning, Steven Schott kick good 7 13 2 5:50 9 75 4:51 UCF Blake Bortles 6-yard touchdown run, 2-point pass good 7 21 2 0:05 6 80 0:55 UCF Latavius Murray 5-yard touchdown reception from Blake Bortles, Shawn Moffitt kick good 7 28 3 7:54 10 49 4:14 Ball St. 45-yard field goal by Steven Schott 10 28 3 4:23 7 50 3:31 UCF J.J. Worton 7-yard touchdown reception from Blake Bortles, Shawn Moffitt kick good 10 35 4 10:12 12 72 5:26 UCF 25-yard field goal by Shawn Moffitt 10 38 4 5:26 11 76 4:46 Ball St. Willie Snead IV 16-yard touchdown reception from Keith Wenning, Steven Schott kick good 17 38 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 17 38

Statistics

Statistics	BALL	UCF
First Downs	22	29
Total offense, plays - yards	59-286	74-495
Rushes-yards (net)	24-68	42-224
Passing yards (net)	218	271
Passes, Comp-Att-Int	22-35-0	22-32-0
Time of Possession	24:26	35:34

References

1. Bowl Schedule, Los Angeles Times, December 4, 2012
2. "NCAA adds 1-year postseason bans to UCF penalties". WESH-TV Orlando. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
3. "UCF asks NCAA for expedited appeal". ESPN. August 15, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
4. "C-USA Announces Bowl Contingency Plan". Conference USA. November 26, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
5. "It's Official! UCF Joins BIG EAST Conference". University of Central Florida. 2011-12-07. Retrieved 2012-12-01.