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UCF QB Blake Bortles grows up in win

Central Florida quarterback Blake Bortles showed some growth at the position in the Knight's 40-20 victory over the East Carolina Pirates.

By Tim Blank
Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

In Thursday's 40-20 victory over the East Carolina Pirates, Central Florida Knights' quarterback Blake Bortles showed a lot of improvement. After struggling the previous week against the Missouri Tigers, Bortles completed 15-of-21 passes for 269 yards and a touchdown. He also ran six times for 62 yards and another touchdown.

UCF head coach George O'Leary had changed some strategy around after their loss to Missouri. Bortles operated more under center rather than in the shotgun formation. In an interview with Paul Tenorio of the Orlando Sentinel, O'Leary said he made that change to help Bortles with his motions:

"I think that keeps him more in his motion a little bit more, where he has to [back]pedal and set himself and do things right."

Bortles also improved his yards per attempt and completion percentage against the Pirates with the coaches deciding to go more vertical with the passing game. He averaged 12.8 yards per attempt against the Pirates compared to 5.9 against Missouri and 17.9 yards per completion compared to 9.2 the game prior.

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.