2011–12 NCAA football bowl games
The 2011–12 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football bowl games. They concluded the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season, and included 35 team-competitive games and five all-star games. The games began on December 17, 2011 and, aside from the all-star games, concluded with the 2012 BCS National Championship Game in New Orleans, that was played on January 9, 2012.
| 2011–12 NCAA football bowl games | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Season | 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Regular season | September 1, 2011 – December 10, 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of bowls | 35 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All-star games | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowl games | December 17, 2011 – January 9, 2012 (team-competitive) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National Championship | 2012 BCS National Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location of Championship | Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Champions | Alabama Crimson Tide | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowl Challenge Cup winner | (tie) C-USA and MAC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The total of 35 team-competitive bowls was unchanged from the previous year. While bowl games had been the purview of only the very best teams for nearly a century, this was the sixth consecutive year that teams with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games. To fill the 70 available team-competitive bowl slots, a total of 14 teams (20% of all participants) with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games—13 had a .500 (6-6) season and, for the first time ever, a team with a sub-.500 (6-7) season was invited to a bowl game.