Beef O'Brady's Bowl 2012: Ball State and UCF Gamebreakers to Keep an Eye On

The 2012 Beef O'Brady's Bowl won’t be short on explosion.

The University of Central Florida and Ball State are proof that small schools have speed, too.

Both teams are ranked in the top 30 in the nation in scoring, so Saturday night’s showdown should be a shootout. Here are three players to pay attention to when they get their hands on the football because this trio only needs one play to take it to the house.

3. RB Latavius Murray, UCF

A 6’3”, 220-pound halfback is not supposed to be as fast as Murray.

As you can imagine, for a back his size, Murray is capable of carrying a workload. He rushed for 1,035 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season as the Knights’ primary source of offense.

Murray racked up those yards on an impressive 5.8 yards a pop. In four different games this season, he broke out in runs of 40 yards or longer, including an 83-yarder against Memphis.

2. RB Horactio Banks, Ball State

Banks is the dash to Jahwan Edwards’ smash.

The 5’10”, 230-pound Edwards is the Cardinals’ feature running back and will receive most of the carries against UCF. The 5’10, 177-pound Banks still averages about 11 touches a game, though, so he’ll still get more than enough opportunities to hit a home run.

Three of Banks' four touchdowns this season have come outside the red zone, including a 54-yarder against Clemson.

1. WR Quincy McDuffie, UCF

McDuffie is a fan of the number three.

The UCF senior playmaker is capable of sucking the life out of an opposing team in three different ways:

He can score as a receiver, which he’s done three times this season. He can score as a runner, which he’s also done three times this season. And he can score as a returner, which he’s done—you guessed it—three times this season.

Simply put, McDuffie is the ultimate X-factor.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

Follow @TheRealDDaniels