2011 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas
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| 2011 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 31, 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Reliant Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Houston, Texas | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Ryan Tannehill | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Texas A&M by 9[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Matt Loeffler (MWC) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 68,395 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$1.7 million per team | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Bob Wischusen (Play-by-Play) Brian Griese (Analyst) Eamon McAnaney (Sidelines) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 2.69 | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2011 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, the sixth edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on December 31, 2011, at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, as part of the 2011–12 NCAA Bowl season.
This was the first year the game was known as the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas. The game was previously known as the Texas Bowl in 2010 and is not to be confused with the previous Meineke Car Care Bowl held in North Carolina which is now called the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
The game, which was telecast at 11:00 a.m. CT on ESPN and available for streaming online via ESPN3, featured the Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Ten Conference versus the Texas A&M Aggies of the Big 12 Conference.[2]
Texas A&M won the game 33–22. It was the Aggies’ first bowl victory since they won the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl in the Astrodome in the same city of Houston, Texas in 2001. The win broke a string of 5 consecutive bowl losses for the Aggies.
The game MVP was Aggie quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who went 27 of 40 in passing with 329 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. Tannehill also added 10 rushing yards.
Aggie offensive lineman Joseph Villavisencio was killed in an automobile accident on December 22, 2011, after leaving a Texas A&M team charity event and heading home for the Christmas holiday. The Aggies and Wildcats both honored Villavisencio by wearing black and white helmet decals bearing the words “Joey V” and his number 67.
The Aggies dedicated the game to Villavisencio and former head coach Mike Sherman, who was fired on December 1, 2011, after the conclusion of the regular season.
The Aggies were led by interim head coach Tim DeRuyter. Coach DeRuyter would receive his first win as a head coach before heading to Fresno State to take over the head coaching duties there. New Aggies’ head coach Kevin Sumlin was present at the game and watched from the press box. Coach Sumlin was interviewed by the ESPN announcers during the course of the third quarter where Coach Sumlin discussed the excitement surrounding Texas A&M’s move to the Southeastern Conference in 2012.
The Aggies were playing in their final game as a member of the Big 12 Conference, and gave the Big 12 its only victory in four attempts in the Texas Bowl. Beginning in the 2012 season, the Aggies joined the Southeastern Conference.
Northwestern lost its ninth consecutive bowl game after winning its only bowl in the 1949 Rose Bowl.