2015 Miami Beach Bowl

The 2015 Miami Beach Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 21, 2015 at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida. The second edition of the Miami Beach Bowl featured the champions from Conference USA, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers against the South Florida Bulls of the American Athletic Conference. It began at 2:30 p.m. EST and air on ESPN. It was one of the 2015–16 bowl games that concluded the 2015 FBS football season.

2015 Miami Beach Bowl
2nd Miami Beach Bowl
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers South Florida Bulls (11–2) (8–4) C-USA The American 45 35 Head coach:  Jeff Brohm Head coach:  Willie Taggart AP 25
1 2 3 4 Total Western Kentucky 0 10 28 7 45 South Florida 7 7 7 14 35
Date	December 21, 2015
Season	2015
Stadium	Marlins Park
Location	Miami, Florida
MVP	Western Kentucky QB Brandon Doughty
Favorite	W. Kentucky by 3½
Referee	Greg Blum (MAC)
Attendance	21,712
Payout	US$1,000,000
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN/Touchdown Radio
Announcers	Dave LaMont, Desmond Howard, & Quint Kessenich (ESPN) Taylor Zarzour & Gino Torretta (Touchdown)

Teams

The game featured the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers against the South Florida Bulls. It was the seventh overall meeting between these two teams, with South Florida leading the series 4–2 before this game. The last meeting between these two teams was in 2010, when the Bulls beat the Hilltoppers 24–12 in Tampa.

South Florida Bulls

See also: 2015 South Florida Bulls football team

Sources told ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy that the Bulls had officially been invited to the game and accepted.

This was the Bulls' seventh bowl game (they were previously 4–2 all-time in bowl games) and their first since winning the 2010 Meineke Car Care Bowl over Clemson by a score of 31–26. It was also the Bulls' first bowl game in Florida since winning the 2008 St. Petersburg Bowl (said game's inaugural edition) over Memphis by a score of 41–14.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

See also: 2015 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football team

Game summary

Scoring Summary

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP WKU USF 1 5:21 5 62 1:54 USF Quinton Flowers 12-yard touchdown run, Emilio Nadelman kick good 0 7 2 12:18 5 47 2:03 USF Rodney Adams 34-yard touchdown run, Emilio Nadelman kick good 0 14 2 6:17 2 66 0:38 WKU Anthony Wales 13-yard touchdown run, Garrett Schwettman kick good 7 14 2 0:00 7 34 1:06 WKU 39-yard field goal by Garrett Schwettman 10 14 3 9:43 3 75 0:40 WKU Nicholas Norris 69-yard touchdown reception from Brandon Doughty, Garrett Schwettman kick good 17 14 3 7:46 3 67 1:01 WKU Nicholas Norris 55-yard touchdown reception from Brandon Doughty, Garrett Schwettman kick good 24 14 3 4:55 8 92 2:51 USF Tyre McCants 34-yard touchdown reception from D'Ernest Johnson, Emilio Nadelman kick good 24 21 3 1:56 7 69 2:59 WKU Nacarius Fant 9-yard touchdown run, Garrett Schwettman kick good 31 21 3 0:05 1 26 0:06 WKU Jared Dangerfield 26-yard touchdown reception from Brandon Doughty, Garrett Schwettman kick good 38 21 4 14:53 2 82 0:12 USF Rodney Adams 53-yard touchdown reception from Quinton Flowers, Emilio Nadelman kick good 38 28 4 11:00 6 75 2:09 USF Quinton Flowers 8-yard touchdown run, Emilio Nadelman kick good 38 35 4 5:09 2 64 0:49 WKU Anthony Wales 42-yard touchdown run, Garrett Schwettman kick good 45 35 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 45 35

Source:

Statistics

Statistics	WKU	USF
First downs	27	28
Plays–yards	79–612	79–597
Rushes–yards	33–151	45–290
Passing yards	461	307
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	32–46–2	15–34–0
Time of possession	31:28	28:32

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
WKU	Passing	Brandon Doughty	32/44, 461 yds, 3 TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Anthony Wales	14 car, 105 yds, 2 TD
	Receiving	Nicholas Norris	5 rec, 120 yds, 2 TD
USF	Passing	Quinton Flowers	14/32, 273 yds, 1 TD
	Rushing	Quinton Flowers	16 car, 108 yds, 2 TD
	Receiving	Rodney Adams	6 rec, 130 yds, 1 TD