Ball State blown out in Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- All season long Ball State had been a dangerous team when it came to scoring points in the third quarter.

But in Friday night's 38-17 loss to Central Florida in the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, Ball State started off the third quarter in a nightmare fashion when running back Jahwan Edwards fumbled.

That single play summarized how the bowl game went for Ball State.

"I don't think it was anything they did, it was more us," linebacker Travis Freeman said after the game. "We had a lot of missed opportunities."

Perhaps the biggest missed opportunity Ball State had the entire night was late in the second quarter. Trailing 21-7, Ball State used a 27-yard run by Edwards to get into the red zone. The offense would get down to the Central Florida seven-yard line before a sack forced a field goal attempt.

Kicker Steven Schott missed the 35-yard try wide left and Ball State was left with a missed opportunity.

"That was critical," coach Pete Lembo said. "That was a good drive. We converted some third downs and stayed alive. Absolutely would have loved to come away with a touchdown there but a minimum you have to come away with three."

Lembo said that drive wasn't the deciding point of the game, but it made the game that much tougher when Central Florida responded by scoring a fourth touchdown 50 seconds later to end the first half.

And Ball State never got any closer than 18 points the rest of the game.

Running back Latavius Murray was the focal point of Central Florida's offense the entire season, but it was quarterback Blake Bortles that led his team its second bowl win in school history.

Bortles handled Ball State's defense easily throughout the entire game. He consistently had plenty of time to go sit in the pocket, evaded Ball State's blitzes and extended the plays that resulted in touchdowns. He finished the game with 272 passing yards and three touchdowns.

He also ran for a touchdown in the second quarter, bowling over Freeman for the final two yards into the end zone.

"It became a problem with [Bortles] scrambling around and making plays," Freeman said. "But I think it was a lack of detail. When you don't do that, things like that are going to happen on the football field."

Ball State will head back to Muncie still without the program's first bowl victory. But the loss in the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl won't take away what the team was able to accomplish in the 2012 season.

The team won nine games on the season, the most since 2008 and boasted a 1,000-yard running back for the first time since that season as well.

As Edwards put it after the game, the future for Ball State football is bright.

"I think we'll be pretty decent next year," he said.