The Nevada football team's Christmas wishes were answered last night at the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl.

Quarterback Jeff Rowe's 4-yard touchdown run in overtime sparked the Wolf Pack past Central Florida, 49-48, and capped a brilliant season for the Western Athletic Conference co-champions.

"Everything came true," said Nevada receiver and 2003 Kamehameha Schools graduate Caleb Spencer, who finished with a team-high 11 catches for 114 yards. "We had a wonderful season, we won the WAC, we got accepted to the Hawai'i Bowl, and we won the Hawai'i Bowl. That was all of our goals."

An Aloha Stadium crowd of 16,134 watched the game that was missing the hometown University of Hawai'i for the first time in the four-year history of the bowl.

However, Nevada (9-3) and Central Florida (8-5) provided more than enough excitement, combining for 1,178 yards of total offense, and setting or tying six Hawai'i Bowl offensive records.

"We love to do stuff in dramatic fashion," said Nevada running back B.J. Mitchell, who ran for 178 yards and scored two touchdowns, and was named the Wolf Pack's MVP. "I'm elated. I'm on Cloud Nine. Whatever euphemisms you want to use for being happy."

Kevin Smith's 19-yard touchdown run in overtime — his third of the game — pulled Central Florida to 49-48, but Matt Prater's ensuing point-after kick sailed wide right, sealing Nevada's first bowl victory in nine seasons.

"You never want to win on somebody else's bad play," Rowe said. "That's one hell of a team. We were fortunate to win. It could have gone either way."

Central Florida holder John Brown said the snap was low on the PAT. Prater had no comment.

"I scooped it off the ground, put it down, and the next thing I know, I looked up and it sailed wide right," Brown said.

"We just fell short," said Central Florida's Smith, who finished with a Hawai'i Bowl record 202 rushing yards. "It's nobody's fault. I don't blame anybody. We play together. We lose together."

Central Florida, the Conference USA runner-up, rallied from a 42-32 fourth-quarter deficit by scoring 10 points in the final 1:32 of regulation to send the game into overtime tied at 42.

Prater kicked a 46-yard field goal, and Central Florida recovered an on-side kick on the Nevada 48. Four plays later, quarterback Steven Moffett found receiver Brandon Marshall cutting across the middle for a 16-yard touchdown with 55 seconds left in regulation.

Marshall finished with 11 catches for 210 yards and three touchdowns. He was named UCF's MVP.

In overtime, in which each team begins its possession at the opponent's 25, Nevada drove to a first-and-goal at the 4. That's where Rowe faked a handoff to Mitchell, and scored on a naked bootleg to the left side.

"We probably had three or four of those this year," Rowe said of the play. "We just set it up, and at that time of the game, it popped open. We just took it."

Nevada won its first bowl game since the 1996 Las Vegas Bowl, an 18-15 victory over Ball State. Nevada shared the WAC title with Boise State, and completed its first winning season since it went 6-5 in 1998.

"We thought with having Caleb on our side, and playing in Hawai'i, we had the local people on our side," Rowe said of the crowd. "We enjoyed that. We're glad to come here and represent the WAC."

Central Florida scored on its fourth play from scrimmage when Marshall made a juggling, one-handed, 51-yard catch from Moffett.

On the Golden Knights' next possession, Smith sprinted around right end for a 78-yard touchdown. It was the second-longest run in UCF history behind Elgin Davis' 79-yarder in 1986.

Nevada answered with Robert Hubbard's 4-yard scoring run only to see Prater boot a 47-yard field goal to increase the Golden Knights' lead to 17-7.

Nevada scored 21 unanswered points in the second quarter on a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs by Mitchell, and Hubbard's 24-yard touchdown burst to go ahead 28-17.

Prater's 38-yard field goal pulled Central Florida to 28-20 at intermission.

On its first possession of the second half, Central Florida cut the deficit to 28-26 on Marshall's 29-yard touchdown catch. A two-point conversion pass fell incomplete.

The Golden Knights regained the lead, 32-28, on Smith's 3-yard run. Again, a two-point conversion pass fell incomplete.

In the fourth quarter, Hubbard's 5-yard touchdown run — his third score of the game — and tight end Travis Branzell's 7-yard touchdown catch gave Nevada a 42-32 lead. It was Branzell's second catch of the season.

NOTES:

Six Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl records were set or tied last night: longest field goal (UCF's Matt Prater, 47); most yards rushing (UCF's Kevin Smith, 202); longest run (Smith, 78); most receptions (Nevada's Caleb Spencer, and UCF's Brandon Marshall, 11, tied); most receiving yards (UCF's Marshall, 210) and most yards rushing by team (Nevada, 369).

Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com.