| 2011 Gildan New Mexico Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 17, 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | University Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Albuquerque, New Mexico | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | QB Chris Coyer, Temple LB Tahir Whitehead, Temple | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Temple by 7[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Tom Tomczyk (Big East) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 25,762 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$750,000 per team | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Clay Matvick (Play-by-Play) Brian Griese (Analyst) Jessica Mendoza (Sidelines) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 1.54 | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2011 New Mexico Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on December 17, 2011 at University Stadium on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico as part of the 2011-12 NCAA Bowl season.
The game, which was telecast at 12 p.m. MT on ESPN, featured the Wyoming Cowboys from the Mountain West Conference versus the Temple Owls from the Mid-American Conference.
Temple made its first trip to the New Mexico Bowl, becoming the first team from the MAC to appear in the game. The Owls made just their fourth bowl appearance in school history, and their second in the last three years. Wyoming appeared in its second New Mexico Bowl. The Cowboys were 35–28 victors over Fresno State in the 2009 New Mexico Bowl.
The two schools have only previously played each other on one occasion. Wyoming won the 1990 matchup in Laramie, Wyoming by a score of 38–23.
Temple controlled the game from start to finish in a 37-15 win. The Owls were led by running back Bernard Pierce who ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Temple's aggressive defense held Wyoming's spread offense to just 267 yards (127 passing).