The 2012 Outback Bowl was a post-season American college football

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 Subdivi ...

, held on January 2, 2012, at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida that 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 program. The s ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city'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 the seat of Hillsborough C ...

, as part of the 2011–12 NCAA Bowl season. It was the 26th edition of the

Outback Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, usually on New Year's Day. The event has been formerly called the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 to ...

, and was telecast at 1:00 p.m. ET to a national audience on ABC. It featured the

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

from the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) versus the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and whi ...

from the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conferen ...

. Michigan State won, 33–30, in the third overtime period.

Teams

The Spartans and Bulldogs had met two times before. Georgia held a 2–0 all-time record against Michigan State coming into the game.

Georgia

Georgia entered the game with a 10–3 record as the SEC East Division champion. In the

2011 SEC Championship Game The 2011 SEC Championship Game was played on December 3, 2011, in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, and determined the 2011 football champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game featured the Georgia Bulldogs of the Eastern di ...

, Georgia lost to LSU 10–42. The Bulldog's defense entered the game ranked 3rd in the FBS in totals yards allowed, allowing only 268.5 yards per game.Bartle, Jeff
Michigan St.-Georgia 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. Be ...

. 27 December 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2012.

Michigan State

Michigan State entered the game with a 10–3 record as the Big Ten's Legends Division champion. In the

2011 Big Ten Football Championship Game The 2011 Big Ten Football Championship Game was a college football game. It was played on December 3, 2011, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, to determine the 2011 champion of the Big Ten Conference. The Wisconsin Badgers of the Le ...

, MSU lost to

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

39–42. The Spartan's defense entered the game ranked 5th in the FBS in total yards allowed, allowing only 272.7 yards per game. MSU also entered having lost 5 straight bowl games. The Spartan's last bowl win was the 2001 Silicon Valley Football Classic, where the Spartans beat the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a m ...

44–35.

Game summary

The Bulldogs scored first when Brandon Boykin tackled Keshawn Martin in the end zone for a safety. On the ensuing drive, the Bulldogs drove to MSU's 5-yard line. However, on a 4th-and-1 play at the 5-yard line, UGA's Ken Malcome was stopped for a 1-yard loss, turning the ball over to MSU. The rest of the 1st quarter remained scoreless.Michigan State rallies for three-overtime win at Outback Bowl

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 ...

. 2 January 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012. In the 2nd quarter, UGA scored on an 80-yard touchdown pass to Tavarres King to go up 9-0. On the ensuing drive, the Bulldog defense forced the Spartans to punt. UGA's Brandon Boykin preceded to return the punt 92 yards to go up 16-0 at the end of the half. The Spartans finally got on board in the 3rd quarter on an 8-yard

Le'Veon Bell Le'Veon Andrew Bell Sr. ( ; born February 18, 1992) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He played college football at Michigan State and was drafted 48th overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second round of the 2013 ...

touchdown run to cut the deficit 16-8 after a two-point conversion. MSU closed the gap even further when

Darqueze Dennard Darqueze Derrell Dennard (born October 10, 1991) is an American football cornerback who is a free agent. He played college football at Michigan State and was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft. Dennard wo ...

intercepted Aaron Murray 38 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion attempt failed, making it 16-14 going into the 4th quarter. Taking advantage of an interception, Georgia extended their lead 19-14 in the 4th quarter on a 32-yard field goal from Blair Walsh. The Spartans took the lead on a 7-yard touchdown pass to Keith Nichol to make it 20-19 after a failed two-point conversion. Georgia responded with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Boykin to go up 27-20 after making a two-point conversion. On the ensuing drive, Jonathan Jenkins intercepted

Kirk Cousins Kirk Daniel Cousins (born August 19, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Michigan State and was drafted by the team then known as the Washingto ...

with only 3:56 left in regulation. However, Georgia was unable to run out the game clock and punted the ball away. With 85-yards to go, no timeouts and only 1 minute and 55 seconds left in regulation, Michigan State was able to tie the game 27-27 on a 1-yard touchdown run from Le'Veon Bell with only 14 seconds left in the game, forcing overtime. Michigan State was on offense first in the 1st overtime period. The Spartan's offensive possession end when Kirk Cousins' pass was intercepted by Bacarri Rambo. UGA's Blair Walsh, however, missed a game winning 42-yard field, forcing a 2nd overtime period. Michigan State and Georgia both traded field goals to go into the 3rd overtime period tied 30-30. In the 3rd overtime period, MSU's Dan Conroy kicked a 28-yard field goal to go ahead 33-30. Georgia attempted to force a 4th overtime on a 47-yard field goal attempt from Blair Walsh. However, Walsh's kick was blocked, sealing the victory for Michigan State. Georgia cornerback Brandon Boykin was named game MVP for scoring on offense, defense and special teams.Auman, Greg
Georgia senior cornerback Brandon Boykin named Outback Bowl MVP

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012. Several Outback Bowl records were broken in the 2012 game, including longest punt return for a touchdown (Boykin's 92-yard punt return) and receiving touchdown (Tavarres King's 80-yard touchdown reception).2012 Outback Bowl Records (tied or broken)
. outbackbowl.com. 2 January 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.

Scoring summary

Source.Michigan State Spartans vs. Georgia Bulldogs play by play

. Retrieved 3 January 2012.Michigan State Spartans vs. Georgia Bulldogs box score

. Retrieved 3 January 2012.

Statistics

References

{{College bowl games on ABC ReliaQuest Bowl

21st century in Tampa, Florida Georgia Bulldogs football bowl games Michigan State Spartans football bowl games January 2012 sports events in the United States