The 2011 Beef 'O'Brady's Bowl, the fourth edition of the game formerly known as the St. Petersburg Bowl, 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.

On December 3, 2011, Florida International University accepted an invitation to play in the bowl game, as the Big East Conference did not have enough bowl-eligible teams to send a representative to St. Petersburg.^[2] The following day, Marshall University accepted an invitation to play in the bowl game.^[3]

Both teams were making their first appearance in the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl. The bowl game marked the first ever meeting between the two schools.

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.^[6][7][8]

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 T. Y. Hilton.^[6][7][8]