EL PASO, Texas — Blake Bortles ran for two touchdowns and threw for another, and Latavius Murray rushed for a touchdown to break a fourth-quarter tie as UCF defeated Texas-El Paso 31-24 Saturday night.
Bortles scored on 2-yard and 10-yard runs, and he threw a 46-yard pass to Jeff Godfrey for a touchdown. Murray's 46-yard touchdown run gave UCF (8-2, 6-0 Conference USA) the lead for good. The senior finished with 23 carries for 117 yards.
The Knights defense forced four turnovers as UCF won its sixth in a row. The Knights are one win away from securing the C-USA East Division title and a berth in the conference championship game.
Bortles was 16-of-27 for 214 yards, and he was sacked three times.
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 at 24 in the fourth quarter. Blaire Sullivan was 5-of-11 for 79 yards for the Miners.
Early on, Murray had trouble finding running room behind the offensive line, but after UTEP erased a two-touchdown deficit to tie the score at 24, Murray took an inside handoff, bounced between tacklers, found some room in the middle and outraced the last defender for a 46-yard touchdown with 5:25 remaining.
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