The 2011 Outback Bowl, a

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 ...

, matched the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) against the Penn State Nittany Lions of the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

. The 25th edition of the

Outback Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Tampa, Florida. The event was known as the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 to 2022. It was held at Tampa Stadium from 1986 until 1999, when it ...

, it was played at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. The game kicked off at 1 p.m. EST on January 1, 2011, and was telecast on ABC. The Florida Gators won with a final score of 37–24.

Teams

Florida

The Gators also entered the bowl with an identical 7–5 record to their opponents. This was set to be head coach Urban Meyer's final game at Florida as he retired for health reasons. The offense especially sputtered toward season's end, turning the ball over six times and averaging 251.0 yards in Florida's last two games against FBS opponents, losses to

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 ...

and

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

by a combined 67–21. Florida was without starters cornerback Janoris Jenkins (right shoulder), right tackle Maurice Hurt (right knee), defensive tackles Lawrence Marsh (right hip) and Terron Sanders (right shoulder) who had surgeries.

Penn State

The Nittany Lions entered the contest with a 7–5 record in coach

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

's 45th year at the helm. Paterno looked to add to his record 24 postseason victories. Penn State, finished ninth in the Big Ten in points per game (24.6). Freshman Rob Bolden threw five touchdowns in seven games before being replaced by sophomore Matt McGloin, who tossed 13 TDs the rest of the way. The Nittany Lions had played in three previous Outback Bowls having won all of them. They attempted to be the first team in bowl history with 4 Outback Bowl victories.

Game Notes

This was the third time that the two squads have met in school history. Florida currently leads the matchup 3–0. Both prior meetings were also in bowl games, the 1962

Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, usually contested on or around New Year's Day. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first televise ...

and the 1998 Citrus Bowl. The game drew a national television rating of 7.1, the fourth highest among all 2010/2011 Bowl Games.

Game summary

Scoring summary

First Quarter * 9:08 PSU TD Matt McGloin passed to Derek Moye to the left for 5-yard gain (Collin Wagner made PAT) 7–0 PSU Second Quarter * 13:00 FLA TD Omarius Hines rushed to the left for 16-yard gain ( Chas Henry made PAT) 7–7 tied * 6:58 FLA TD Florida blocked punt attempt by Anthony Fera. Lerentee McCray returned for 27 yards (Chas Henry made PAT) 14–7 FLA * 4:15 PSU TD Michael Zordich rushed up the middle for 1-yard gain (Collin Wagner made PAT) 14–14 tied * 0:49 PSU FG Collin Wagner kicked a 20-yard field goal 17–14 PSU Third Quarter * 9:13 FLA FG Chas Henry kicked a 30-yard field goal 17–17 tied * 4:50 PSU TD Matthew McGloin rushed to the right for 2-yard gain (Collin Wagner made PAT) 24–17 PSU * 2:50 FLA FG Chas Henry kicked a 47-yard field goal 24–20 PSU Fourth Quarter * 13:10 FLA TD Mike Gillislee rushed to the left for 1-yard gain (Chas Henry made PAT) 27–24 FLA * 7:36 FLA FG Chas Henry kicked a 20-yard field goal 30–24 FLA * 1:11 FLA TD Ahmad Black intercepted Matthew McGloin for 80 yards (Chas Henry made PAT) 37–24 FLA

Statistics

Florida

*QB Jordan Reed, 8/13, 60 yds, 24 rush, 68 yds *QB John Brantley, 6/13, 41 yds, 1 Int *RB Mike Gillislee, 4 rush, 10 yds, 1 TD *WR Chris Rainey, 6 rush, 66 yds, 3 rec, 18 yds *WR Omarius Hines, 2 rush, 31 yds, 1 TD, 2 rec, 27 yds *S Ahmad Black, 2 Int, 129 yds, 1 TD

Penn State

*QB Matthew McGloin, 17/41, 211 yds, 2 TD (1 passing, 1 rushing), 5 Int *RB Evan Royster, 20 rush, 98 yds, 4 rec, 51 yds *FB Michael Zordich, 3 rush, 5 yds, 1 TD *WR Derek Moye, 5 rec, 79 yds, 1 TD

References

{{College bowl games on ABC ReliaQuest Bowl

2010s in Tampa, Florida Florida Gators football bowl games Penn State Nittany Lions football bowl games January 2011 sports events in the United States