Wednesday night's Tostito's Fiesta Bowl figured to be University of Central Florida quarterback Blake Bortles' opportunity to introduce himself to the mainstream football audience before his selection in the 2014 NFL Draft.
According to ESPN's Todd McShay, Bortles is slotted as the third overall pick, behind Teddy Bridgewater, a quarterback out of Louisville, and Jake Matthews, an offensive tackle out of Texas A&M. Bridgewater had a career game in his bowl game, throwing for 447 yards and four scores against the Miami Hurricanes; Bortles made his own case to go No. 1 against Baylor.
Bortles tossed three touchdowns, and racked up 301 yards while completing 20-of-31 passes. He also took off on the ground eight times for 93 yards and a rushing touchdown. That performance led UCF to a 52-42 win over Baylor, despite ESPN pegging them as inferior by 20 points on a neutral field.
"There's not many outside of us who believe we had a chance, but we did and I think we showed what UCF football is all about," Bortles said.
Bortles flashed his big arm, and is listed at six feet, four inches and 229 lbs., giving him prototypical size for an NFL quarterback. Still, he threw two interceptions in the game and not all are completely sold on him.
Rob Rang of the Sports XChange wrote of Bortles' performance--"He is methodical in his set up and delivery of the ball, and didn't place the ball well in this contest, forcing his receivers to make tough grabs rather than hitting them in stride. Several of Bortles passes were close to being completions but instead fell just out of the reach of his intended targets. It was a hot and cold performance similar to several of Bortles' other games this season, including against South Carolina, Louisville and Penn State."
In a CBSSports.com article, Phil Savage, the executive director of the Senior Bowl, the NFL Advisory Board gave Bortles a second-round grade.
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