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.

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.

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 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.

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