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Blake Bortles had a very good night for UFC in the Fiesta Bowl. Rick Scuteri/AP/Press Association Images
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Croke Park bound UCF Knights claim Fiesta Bowl

The University of Central Florida’s next meaningful game will be in Ireland.

DESPITE GOING INTO the game as 17-point underdogs, the University of Central Florida (UCF) Knights, emerged victorious in Wednesday night’s Fiesta Bowl, running out 52-42 winners over Baylor, the sixth-ranked team in college football.

The win, the largest by an underdog in Bowl Championship Series (BCS) history, was due in large part to NFL-bound quarterback Blake Bortles who threw for 301 yards, ran for another 93 and accounted for four total touchdowns.

The brilliantly named Storm Johnson added 124 yards and three touchdowns of his own meaning that, between the pair, they accounted for 518 of UCF’s 556 yards.

The Knights, who will play Penn State in the Croke Park Classic on August 30 this year, jumped into an early 14-0 lead. Despite Baylor levelling the game at 28 early in the second half, UCF were able to extend their lead to 14 points early in fourth quarter thanks to a touchdown grab by Breshad Perriman and a run by Bortles; scores from which Baylor never recovered.

Winning the Fiesta Bowl — one of the most prestigious games in the BCS — is a remarkable achievement for UCF  as they only became a Division I/FBS team in 1996 and joined an automatic qualifier conference (the American Athletic Conference) for the first time this year.

It’s a victory that’s all the more impressive as Baylor were tipped by some to compete for college football’s biggest prize — the BCS National Championship Game — earlier this season and the 52-42 scoreline is the highest combined score in a BCS bowl game ever.

See some of highlights of the game here:

YouTube: brahmanknight

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