2011 Poinsettia Bowl The 2011 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl , the seventh edition of the game , was a post - season American college football bowl game , held on December 21 , 2011 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego , California as part of the 2011 – 12 NCAA Bowl season . The game was played at 5 : 00 p . m . PT on ESPN , and featured the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs from the Western Athletic Conference ( WAC ) versus the TCU Horned Frogs from the Mountain West Conference . Louisiana Tech accepted a bid to compete in the 2011 edition of the game on November 26 , while TCU accepted a bid to compete on December 4 . The TCU Horned Frogs defeated the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs by a final score of 31 – 24 . Teams . Texas Christian University . On December 4 , 2011 , the TCU Horned Frogs accepted an invite to represent the MWC . The Horned Frogs entered the bowl with a record of 10 – 2 and were the 2011 Mountain West Conference champions . This marked the third appearance in this bowl game for the Horned Frogs and their seventh straight bowl appearance . TCU came into the game averaging 210 . 2 yards on the ground . Louisiana Tech University . On November 26 , 2011 , the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs accepted an invite to represent the WAC . The Bulldogs entered the bowl with a record of 8 – 4 and were the 2011 WAC champions . The team also entered the game on a 7 - game winning streak and were allowing only 122 . 2 rushing yards per game . This marked the first appearance in a bowl game for Louisiana Tech since the 2008 Independence Bowl . Game summary . In the 1st half , the Bulldogs out gained TCU 288 yards to 139 yards . However , TCU forced two turnovers to keep it tied 10 – 10 at the end of the half . Louisiana Tech scored first on a 23 - yard field goal from Matt Nelson . TCU tied the game up in the 2nd quarter with a 25 - yard field goal from Ross Evans . The Bulldogs responded on their next drive with a 2 - yard touchdown pass from Colby Cameron to Quinton Patton to put Louisiana Tech up 10 – 3 . With less than two minutes remaining in the 2nd quarter , Cameron threw an interception that was returned 24 yards to the Louisiana Tech ' s 25 - yard line . Taking advantage of the turnover , the Horned Frogs tied the game 10 – 10 with 26 seconds left in the 1st half on a 7 - yard Ed Wesley touchdown run . On its first possession of the 3rd quarter , TCU took a 17 – 10 lead on a 1 - yard Matthew Tucker rushing touchdown . On their next possession , Louisiana Tech recovered a TCU muffed punt at TCU ' s 12 - yard line . The Bulldogs took advantage of the turnover and tied the game 17 – 17 on a 2 - yard Hunter Lee touchdown run . After trading punts , TCU ' s Casey Pachall threw an interception with 3 : 35 remaining in the 3rd quarter . Colby Cameron capitalized on the interception by throwing a 61 - yard touchdown pass to Myles White to give Louisiana Tech a 24 – 17 lead . On the next drive , TCU went on a 18 play , 72 - yard drive that took 9 minutes and 21 seconds . The drive involved two 4th down conversions and a defensive pass interference call in the end zone on a 3rd - and - goal play to give TCU a 1st down at the 2 - yard line . The long drive was capped off with a 1 - yard Luke Shivers touchdown run to tie the game 24 – 24 with 7 : 49 left in the game . After forcing the Bulldogs to punt , TCU took a 31 – 24 lead on a 42 - yard touchdown pass to Skye Dawson . After forcing Louisiana Tech to punt again with 3 : 33 left on the clock , TCU was able to close out the game to preserve the victory . With the win , TCU coach Gary Patterson picked up his 109th victory , tying Dutch Meyer for the most wins in TCU history . Statistics . Scoring summary . Source .