2011 Beef ' O ' Brady ' s Bowl The 2011 Beef O ' Brady ' s Bowl St . Petersburg , the fourth edition of the game , was a post - season American college football bowl game , held on December 20 , 2011 at Tropicana Field in St . Petersburg , Florida , and telecast at 8 : 00 p . m . ET on ESPN as part of the 2011 – 12 NCAA Bowl season . Marshall defeated Florida International 20 – 10 for their 7th victory of the season . The final standings are Marshall 7 – 6 and Florida International 8 – 5 . On December 3 , 2011 , Florida International University accepted an invitation to play in the bowl game , replacing the potential Big East team , who did not have enough bowl - eligible teams to send a representative to St . Petersburg . The following day Marshall University accepted an invitation to play in the bowl game . Teams . Both teams are making their first appearance in the Beef O ' Brady ' s Bowl . The bowl game marks the first ever meeting between the two schools . FIU . The FIU Golden Panthers entered the bowl 8 – 4 , finishing 4th in the Sun Belt Conference . The 2011 season was the best season yet for the team . FIU also had the best regular season record among all the FBS teams in Florida . The 2011 Beef ' O ' Brady ' s Bowl marked the 2nd bowl appearance in a row for the Golden Panthers and the 2nd bowl game ever for FIU . The team was led by sophomore running back Kedrick Rhodes with 1 , 121 rushing yards in a season , which ranked second in school history . Rhodes also caught 26 passes for 248 yards in the passing game . Marshall . Marshall entered the bowl with a 6 – 6 record , finishing 2nd in the C - USA - East division . Marshall only became bowl eligible in the final game of the season , in a 34 – 27 overtime victory over East Carolina . This was the first bowl appearance for Marshall since the 2009 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl , where they beat Ohio 21 – 17 . Marshall has a 6 – 3 record in bowl games coming into the game . Defensively , the Thundering Heard created 28 turnovers , ranking 2nd in C - USA . The defense was led by Vinny Curry , the 2011 C - USA Defensive Player of the Year , who six forced fumbles , 1 tackles for loss and 11 sacks . Game summary . Marshall scored first with a 37 - yard field goal from Tyler Warner . FIU responded with 10 unanswered points before Marshall tied the game 10 – 10 with 23 seconds left in the half on a 31 - yard touchdown to wide receiver Aaron Dobson pass from quarterback Rakeem Cato . The third quarter was a defensive struggle between the two teams , and the game was still tied 10 – 10 entering the 4th quarter . With less than 8 minutes left regulation , Marshall was able to block a FIU punt near the goal line . However , Marshall penalties backed up the Thundering Herd to the FIU 23 - yard line . Despite the penalties , Marshall was still able to score on a 39 - yard field goal from Tyler Warner , giving the Thundering Herd a 13 – 10 lead with only 5 : 16 left . FIU fumbled on its next possession with 4 : 24 left in regulation to give the ball back to Marshall . Marshall sealed the victory on a 4th down , 35 - yard touchdown pass again to Dobson from Cato to put Marshall up 20 – 10 with 30 seconds left in the game . Dobson was named the MVP of the bowl game after recording 7 catches for 81 yards and the only two Marshall touchdowns . Dobson ' s performance out shined the performance of FIU ' s highly touted receiver TY Hilton . Scoring Summary . Source .