The 2011 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas, the 20th edition of the game, was a postseason American

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 ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, held on December 22, 2011, at

Sam Boyd Stadium Sam Boyd Stadium (formerly the Las Vegas Silver Bowl) is a football stadium in the western United States, located in Whitney, Nevada, an unincorporated community in the Las Vegas Valley. It honors Sam Boyd (1910–1993), a major figure in the hote ...

Whitney, Nevada Whitney (formerly East Las Vegas) is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The population was 38,585 at the 2010 census. Background Stowell E. Whitney, a dairy farmer from Bunkerville, Nevada ...

, as part of the 2011–12 NCAA Bowl season. The game, televised on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, was between the

Arizona State Sun Devils The Arizona State Sun Devils are the athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member o ...

from the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

and the

Boise State Broncos The Boise State Broncos are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Boise State University, located in Boise, Idaho. The Broncos compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Mou ...

from the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

."Boise State To Face Arizona State In 20th Edition Of Bowl"
. lvbowl.com. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.

Teams

Meeting for the second time in history, the Broncos and the Sun Devils had previously met with the then No. 5 Arizona State defeating Boise State 56–7 in Tempe, Arizona, on 5 October 1996. However, Boise State claims a three-game winning streak over Pac-12 teams, winning over Oregon twice and Oregon State in 2010 when all three teams were ranked.

Arizona State

On 4 December 2011, the Arizona State Sun Devils accepted an invitation to represent the Pac-12. The Sun Devils entered the bowl with a 6–6 record. On 28 November, their coach

Dennis Erickson Dennis Brian Erickson (born March 24, 1947) is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football league. He was also the head coach at the University of Idaho ( ...

was fired after the Sun Devils had four consecutive losses following a 6–2 start. However, Erickson was allowed to coach the team at the Las Vegas Bowl. The 2011 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas was ASU's first post-season appearance since the 2007 Holiday Bowl.

Boise State

On 4 December 2011, the Boise State Broncos accepted an invitation to represent the MWC."Boise State and Arizona State to play in 2011 MAACO Bowl Las Vegas"
''

Las Vegas Sun The ''Las Vegas Sun'' is one of the Las Vegas Valley's two daily Subscription business model, subscription newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group. The paper published afternoons on weekdays ...

''. 4 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011. The Broncos entered the bowl ranked #7 in the BCS standings with an 11–1 record, finishing second in the

. The Broncos only loss in the season was against TCU, costing the team a chance at the

BCS National Championship Game The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college fo ...

.Huston, Brett
"Arizona St. Boise St. Preview"
''

Yahoo Sports Yahoo! Sports is a sports news website launched by Yahoo! on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from STATS, Inc. It employs numerous writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American major sport. Bef ...

''. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011. The Broncos had appeared in the Las Vegas Bowl the previous year, winning 26–3 against

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. The 2011 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas was the final college game for

Kellen Moore Kellen Christopher Moore (born July 5, 1988) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played six seasons in the NFL for the ...

, the most successful quarterback in FBS history.Forde, Pat
"It’s the end of a magical era for Boise State"
''Yahoo Sports''. 22 December 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2011.

Game summary

Despite committing three turnovers, the Boise State Broncos easily routed the Arizona State Sun Devils 56–24. The Broncos scored quickly when Doug Martin returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown to make it 7–0 Broncos. Boise State went up 14–0 on a 14-yard touchdown pass to

Tyler Shoemaker Tyler Shoemaker (born September 14, 1988) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football for Boise State, Tyler was a four year stand out player stacking up 2031 yards receiving on 122 catches with 25 touchdowns in colle ...

. The Broncos made it 21–0 in the 2nd quarter on a touchdown pass to wide receiver Matt Miller. The Sun Devils finally scored with a 32-yard Alex Garoutte field goal to cut the deficit to 21–3. Boise State responded with a pass from Matt Miller to Kyle Efaw on a trick play to make the score 28–3 going into the half."Boise St. cruises to easy bowl win in Las Vegas against Arizona St."
''

''. 22 December 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2011. Arizona State scored quickly to begin the 2nd half when

Rashad Ross Rashad Ahmad Ross (born February 2, 1990) is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Arizona State University, and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Tennessee Titans following th ...

returned the kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, making it 28–10. ASU attempted an onside kick but was recovered by BSU. On their next possession, the Broncos turned the ball over on a Kellen Moore interception, but Arizona State turned it back to the Broncos on downs. Broncos then again turned it over on a fumbled snap. The Sun Devils, taking advantage of the turnover, drove to the Broncos' 1-yard line. On a 4th down play,

Brock Osweiler Brock Alan Osweiler (born November 22, 1990) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at Arizona State and was selected by the Denver Broncos in the s ...

's pass was intercepted by Jamar Taylor, who returned it 100-yards for a touchdown to put the Broncos up 35–10. In the 4th quarter, the Broncos scored 2 more touchdowns, including 1 fumble return touchdown, to make it 49–10. ASU finally got its first offensive touchdown of the game on a 21-yard pass from Osweiler to Gerell Robinson to make it 49–17. The two teams then traded touchdowns to end the game with a final score of 56–24. A few records were set at the 2011 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas. The Boise State Broncos became the first FBS team to win 50 games in a 4-year period.Miler, Ted
"Instant analysis: Boise State 56, ASU 24"
''

''. 22 December 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2011. The Broncos also set a bowl record in points scored at 56. ASU's Gerell Robinson had a bowl-record 241-yard receiving, while BSU's Doug Martin finished with 301 all-purpose yards, another Las Vegas Bowl record.

Scoring summary

Source"Arizona State Sun Devils vs. Boise State Broncos box score"
''ESPN''. Retrieved 23 December 2011."Arizona State Sun Devils vs. Boise State Broncos play-by-play"
''ESPN''. Retrieved 23 December 2011.

Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maaco Bowl Las Vegas, 2011 2011–12 NCAA football bowl games

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

December 2011 sports events in the United States 2011 in sports in Nevada 21st century in Las Vegas