| 2011–12 NCAA football bowl games | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Regular season | September 1, 2011 – December 10, 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of bowls | 35 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All-star games | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowl games | December 17, 2011 – January 9, 2012(team-competitive) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National Championship | 2012 BCS National Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location of Championship | Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Champions | Alabama Crimson Tide | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowl Challenge Cup winner | (tie)C-USA andMAC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The2011–12 NCAA football bowl games were a series ofcollege footballbowl games. They concluded the2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season, and included 35 team-competitive games and five all-star games. The games began on December 17, 2011, and, aside from the all-star games, concluded with the2012 BCS National Championship Game inNew Orleans, that was played on January 9, 2012.
The total of 35 team-competitive bowls was unchanged from the previous year. While bowl games had been the purview ofonly the very best teams for nearly a century, this was the sixth consecutive year that teams with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games. To fill the 70 available team-competitive bowl slots, a total of 14 teams (20% of all participants) with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games—13 had a .500 (6-6) season and, for the first time ever, a team with a sub-.500 (6-7) season was invited to a bowl game.
In the previous year's bowl cycle, the NCAA scrapped a bylaw which mandated that a school with a non-losing record of 6–6 in regular season play were not eligible unless conferences could not fill out available bowl positions with teams with a winning record of seven (or more) wins. The new rule was stretched further in this 2011–12 bowl season when a team with a losing record, the 6–7UCLA Bruins, were invited to a bowl game. The Bruins, the Pac-12 South Division winners, finished 6–6 but theUSC Trojans (10–2), winners of the division, were barred from postseason play because of theUniversity of Southern California athletics scandal of the mid-2000s, and the resulting two-year ban. The conference and the school applied for a waiver, which the NCAA accepted, based on their bowl eligibility after the sixth win, but having to play in an unmerited conference championship game.[1]
This interpretation of policy ultimately led toWestern Kentucky, with a 7–5 winning record, orBall State, with a 6–6 non-losing record, going uninvited.
Number of bowl berths available: 70
Number of teams assured of bowl eligibility: 71 (72, with 6–7 UCLA becoming bowl-eligible per NCAA waiver)
Western Kentucky (7–5) and Ball State (6–6) were not extended invitations to bowl games.
In March 2011, because of illegal campaign contributions to politicians friendly to theFiesta Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors fired bowl CEO John Junker.[3] The scandal threatened the Fiesta Bowl's status as a BCS game for the 2011–12 season, as the BCS said it might replace the bowl in its lineup if officials could not convince them it should remain.[4][5] In May 2011, the BCS fined the Fiesta Bowl organizationUS $1 million without removing their BCS spot.
Meineke has transferred their sponsorship from the game inCharlotte to theHouston-based game previously known as the Texas Bowl, and was renamed theMeineke Car Care Bowl of Texas.Belk Department Stores assumes the title sponsorship for theNorth Carolina contest, renaming that game theBelk Bowl. TheIdaho Potato Commission takes over as the title sponsor for the Humanitarian Bowl inBoise, Idaho and has been renamed theFamous Idaho Potato Bowl, whileMontreal-basedGildan, a maker of T-shirts, underwear and socks, will begin sponsorship of the previously unsponsoredNew Mexico Bowl this season. All of the bowl games will have apresenting or title sponsor.
The NCAA has placed a three-year moratorium, starting with the 2011–12 bowl season, on any new bowl games. This follows the addition of two new games (Pinstripe Bowl,TicketCity Bowl) for the2010–11 bowl season, bringing the total number of bowl games to 35. The expansion to 70 teams required to fill these 35 bowl games has challenged the ability to actually find enough teams with winning (7–5 or better) records to fill bowl slots. Teams with non-winning (6–6) and losing (6–7) records have participated in bowl games since the expansion to 35 games. By the2012–13 bowl season, with multiple teams ineligible due to sanctions, the NCAA wasforced to anticipate a need to allow teams with even worse (5–7) losing records to fill bowl selection slots in 2012–13.
The official schedule was released June 17, 2011.[6] Though it is traditionally the date for many bowl games to be played, none were held on January 1, 2012, due to that date falling on a Sunday and conflicting with theNational Football League's slate of Sunday games.[7]
Subsequently, the Fiesta Bowl moved from January 5 to January 2, in its traditional spot following the Rose Bowl, after the2011 NFL lockout was settled. The Monday evening spot was held open for a possibleMonday Night Football game.[8]
NOTE: All times areUS EST (UTC −5).
| Date | Game | Site | Television | Teams | Affiliations | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 2 | Rose Bowl | Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA 5:00 pm | ESPN | #10Wisconsin Badgers (11–2) #5Oregon Ducks (11–2) | Big Ten Pac-12 | Wisconsin 38 Oregon 45 |
| Fiesta Bowl | University of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, AZ 8:30 pm | #3Oklahoma State Cowboys (11–1) #4Stanford Cardinal (11–1) | Big 12 Pac-12 | Oklahoma State 41 Stanford 38 (OT) | ||
| Jan. 3 | Sugar Bowl | Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, LA 8:30 pm | #13Michigan Wolverines (10–2) #11Virginia Tech Hokies (11–2) | Big Ten ACC | Michigan 23 Virginia Tech 20 (OT) | |
| Jan. 4 | Orange Bowl | Sun Life Stadium Miami Gardens, FL 8:30 pm | #15Clemson Tigers (10–3) #23West Virginia Mountaineers (9–3) | ACC Big East | Clemson 33 West Virginia 70 | |
| Jan. 9 | BCS National Championship Game | Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, LA 8:30 pm | #1LSU Tigers (13–0) #2Alabama Crimson Tide (11–1) | SEC SEC | LSU 0 Alabama 21 |
| Date | Game | Site | Television | Participants | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 16 | Casino del Sol College All-Star Game | Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium Tucson, AZ 6:00 pm | Fox Sports Arizona andFox College Sports | Stars vs. Stripes | Stripes 24 Stars 21 |
| Jan. 21 | 2012 East–West Shrine Game | Tropicana Field St. Petersburg, FL 4:00 pm | NFL Network | East Team vs. West Team | West 20 East 17 |
| NFLPA Collegiate Bowl | The Home Depot Center Carson, CA 6:00 pm | NBC Sports Network | American vs. National | National 20 American 14 | |
| The Battle of Florida | FAU Stadium Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL 8:00 pm | Fox College Sports | North Florida vs. South Florida | North Florida 51 South Florida 3 | |
| Jan. 28 | 2012 Senior Bowl | Ladd–Peebles Stadium Mobile, AL 4:00 pm | NFL Network | North Team vs. South Team | North 23 South 13 |
Note: The NFLPATexas vs The Nation game was not played in 2012, and the NFLPA instead sponsored the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.