By FRED GOODALL
AP Sports Writer

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Mohamed Sanu was Mr. Everything for
Rutgers, and the Scarlet Knights' string of postseason success
continues.

The multi-threat receiver ran for two touchdowns out of the
wildcat formation and also scored on an 11-yard reception from
Tom Savage, another true freshman who threw for a career-best
294 yards in Saturday night's 45-24 victory over Central Florida
in the St. Petersburg Bowl.

Rutgers (9-4) claimed a school-record fourth consecutive bowl
win to finish with at least nine victories for just the sixth
time in 140 years. UCF (8-5) fell to 0-3 in bowl games under
coach George O'Leary.

"That's four straight bowl wins, five straight bowls," said
coach Greg Schiano, who has rebuilt Rutgers from the ground up
over the past nine seasons. "You need to be consistent before
you can be great. We're going to be great someday - someday
soon."

Billy Anderson scored on a 19-yard interception return for
Rutgers, which shut down 1,000-yard rusher Brynn Harvey,
limiting the running back to 32 yards on 13 carries to end his
streak of three consecutive games with at least 129.

"It was real frustrating. We wanted to open the running game up
and things just didn't go our way. Just couldn't get it done,"
Harvey said.

"They close to the ball very fast. We just couldn't sustain
blocks and we couldn't protect our quarterback. It was just hard
for us."

The first Rutgers player since 1993 to run for a TD, throw for a
TD and catch a pass for a TD in the same season, Sanu rushed for
41 yards on 13 carries and had four receptions for 97 yards.

He also set up UCF's first touchdown, fumbling a punt that was
recovered inside the Rutgers 10. Three plays later, Brett Hodges
threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Kamar Aiken for a brief 7-7
tie.

"As the season progressed, we did more and more with the wildcat
because we felt like he earned the touches," Schiano said of
Sanu, the Scarlet Knights' second-leading receiver and rusher.

"We needed to get the ball in his hands, and that's one way we
could guarantee doing that. I think he did a great job."

Tim Brown, whose status had been uncertain because of an ankle
injury, put the Scarlet Knights ahead for good when he caught a
pass over the middle and turned it into a 65-yard TD play.

"We stepped it up. We just kept pounding the ball and just kept
making plays - the plays we needed to make," Sanu said. "We did
our assignment, did our job and got the job done."

UCF won five of six after a 3-3 start to earn its third bowl bid
in six years under O'Leary - a 106-mile ride from Orlando that's
the shortest trip any Football Bowl Subdivision team will make
for a postseason game this year.

Rutgers beat South Florida in mid-November to climb into the Top
25 for the first time this season, but the Scarlet Knights wound
up in St. Petersburg for a pre-Christmas matchup after losing
two of three down the stretch to Syracuse and West Virginia.

Sanu scored on runs of 5 and 1 yards in the first half. His
first reception, a 61-yard gain to the UCF 12 on a pass that was
slightly underthrown, set up his 11-yard TD catch that made it
35-17 early in the third quarter.

Savage completed 14 of 27 passes and was intercepted once.
Hodges was 13 of 28 for 175 yards and two interceptions for UCF
before being hurting his shoulder and being replaced by Rob
Calabrese late in the fourth quarter.

Central Florida had 5 yards net rushing before Calabrese
scrambled for 30 for the big gainer in a 10-play, 75-yard march
that Jonathan Davis finished with a 2-yard TD run.

Hoping for a chance to pull closer than 38-24, UCF tried an
onside kick that Rutgers' Damaso Munoz returned 35 yards for the
Scarlet Knights' final touchdown with 2:18 remaining.

The linebacker did a somersault into the end zone, drawing a
penalty but also putting an exclamation point on the victory and
setting off a celebration among Rutgers fans in the announced
crowd of 29,673.

With the game being played so close to Orlando, more than half
the tickets were sold by UCF.

"As I told the players, I was embarrased for the team that we
didn't go out and do a better job as far as for the fan base,"
O'Leary said.

"Our offense never really got on track the whole day. ...
Rutgers defense was much better than our offense. I thought that
was the difference, really, in the game."