The 2011 AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl, the 36th edition of the

Independence Bowl The Independence Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually each December at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Independence Bow ...

, was a post-season American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

, held on December 26,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Independence Stadium Independence Stadium may also refer to: * Independence Stadium (Bakau) in Gambia * Independence Stadium (Namibia) in Windhoek * Independence Stadium (South Africa) in Mthatha, a List of football stadiums in South Africa, football stadium in South A ...

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

as part of the 2011–12 NCAA bowl season. The game's title sponsor was AdvoCare, an American dietary supplement company. The game, telecast at 4:00 p.m. CT on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

, featured the

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia" who, in 1864, protected Columbia ...

from the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

versus the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

from the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

. This marked Missouri's third appearance in the Independence Bowl in the previous nine seasons, all under head coach

Gary Pinkel Gary Robin Pinkel (born April 27, 1952) is an American former college football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 1991 to 2000 and the University of Missouri from 2001 to 2015, compiling career record o ...

, while North Carolina made its first appearance in this bowl.

Teams

The two teams had previously met twice with Missouri winning both games, in 1973 (27–14 in Chapel Hill) and 1976 (24–3 in Columbia). It marked North Carolina’s first game against a member of the

Big 12 conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

since a 52–21 loss to Texas in Chapel Hill in 2002.

North Carolina

The Tar Heels had a 14–14 bowl game record after the previous year's defeat of

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

in the

2010 Music City Bowl The 2010 Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl was the 13th edition of the college football bowl game and was played at LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee. The game was played on Thursday, December 30, 2010. The game was notable for its endi ...

. The team was led by freshman tailback

Giovani Bernard Giovani Govan Bernard (born November 22, 1991) is an American former professional football running back who played ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels, and was selected ...

, who had 1,222 yards that season (sixth in school history) and by senior wide receiver Dwight Jones, who had 1,119 yards (second in school receiving yards). Sophomore quarterback

Bryn Renner Bryn Renner (born January 22, 1990) is an American football coach and former quarterback who was most recently the quarterbacks coach at FIU in 2021 and the quarterbacks coach at La Jolla High School from 2022 to 2023. He played college footbal ...

was a starter that year, who tied the school record with 23 touchdown passes.

Missouri

This game marked Mizzou’s third appearance in the game since 2003, winning over

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

(38–31) and losing a

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

contest to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

(27–14). The Tigers, playing in their final football game as a member of the Big 12, were led by sophomore quarterback James Franklin, who ranked 15th in the NCAA in total offense (298.25 yards per game), had thrown for 200 yards or more six times during the season, and had run 839 yards and 13 rushing TDs. Missouri was ranked highly in the country in rushing offense (235.67 yards per game) and in total offense (472.42 yards per game).

Scoring Summary

SourceMissouri Tigers vs. North Carolina Tar Heels box score

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. Retrieved 30 December 2011.

Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Independence Bowl, 2011 2011–12 NCAA football bowl games

December 2011 sports events in the United States 2011 in sports in Louisiana