The 2011 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, the 15th edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game that was held on December 27, 2011 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan as part of the 2011–12 NCAA bowl season.

The game, which was telecast at 4:30 pm ET on ESPN, featured the Western Michigan Broncos from the Mid-American Conference versus the Purdue Boilermakers from the Big Ten Conference. The Purdue Boilermakers defeated the Western Michigan Broncos 37–32 for the victory.

The 2011 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl was the third ever football meeting between the two universities. Purdue led the all time series 2–0 coming into the game.

Purdue make its first bowl appearance since 2007, when they defeated Central Michigan in the 2007 Motor City Bowl. In 2011, the Boilermakers finished sixth in the Big Ten Conference. They came into the game with a 6–6 overall record. They were led by an outstanding special teams (first in the Big Ten in kickoff return average and second in the nation) unit that helped them start with favorable field position. Purdue played the game without their leading rusher Ralph Bolden, who tore his ACL in final game of the season.

Purdue's spread offense is led by Akeem Shavers in rushing (89 rushes, 370 yards, six TDs), Caleb TerBush in passing (163–264, 1,804 yards, 12 TDs), and in receiving by both Justin Siller (45 catches, 430 yards, one TD) and Antavion Edison (43 catches, 561 yards, three TDs).

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