The 2011 Drake Bulldogs football team represented

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. Hi ...

as member of the

Pioneer Football League The Pioneer Football League (PFL) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a football-only conference. It has member s ...

(PFL) during the

2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season The 2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, was organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football ...

. Led by fourth-year head coach

Chris Creighton Christopher William Creighton (born February 7, 1969) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Eastern Michigan University, a position he has held since the 2014 season. Creighton has served as the head ...

, the Bulldogs compiled and overall record of 9–2 with a mark of 7–1 in conference play, sharing the PFL title with

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. The team played home games at

Drake Stadium Drake Stadium may refer to: * Drake Stadium (1904), a defunct outdoor multiuse sports field at Drake University used from 1904 to 1925 * Drake Stadium (Drake University), an outdoor multiuse sports field at Drake University used from 1925 to present ...

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

Schedule

Previous season and Kilimanjaro Bowl

The Bulldogs finished third in 2010

. On May 21, 2011, Drake participated in the 2011 Global Kilimanjaro Bowl against CONADEIP, a Mexican College Football all-star team. The game, which took place at

Sheikh Amri Abeid Memorial Stadium Sheikh Amri Abeid Memorial Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Kaloleni ward of Arusha, Tanzania. It is currently used mostly for football matches and serves as the home venue for Arusha FC. The stadium was the host of the 2011 Kilimanjaro ...

Arusha Arusha City is a Tanzanian city and the regional capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 416,442 plus 323,198 in the surrounding Arusha District Council (2012 census). Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern bran ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

, was the first

American Football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

and first

College Football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

game ever played in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. Drake won the game 17–7. The team finished with an 8–4 record in the 2010–11 season, which included their first bowl victory since 1949.

2011 season summary

Drake continued their success during the 2011 season after the victory in the Kilimanjaro Bowl. The Bulldogs shared the

title. Coach Creighton and his team were honored with the NCAS Giant Steps Award for their charity work in Africa. They were also featured in a documentary by

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

for their work in Africa. After an opening loss to

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

, Drake compiled five victories in a row before losing a close contest to

. The loss would be their last, as the Bulldogs won their final four games of the season. Notable games included Marist (played in a snow storm),

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

(a last second touchdown victory), and

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

(the conference title clincher).

References

{{Pioneer Football League champions

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

Drake Bulldogs football seasons Pioneer Football League champion seasons

Drake Bulldogs football The Drake Bulldogs are an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision non-scholarship college football program representing Drake University. They currently compete in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League and have been charter member ...