| Game Name: | Miami Beach Bowl |
| Subheader: | 2nd Miami Beach Bowl |
| Date Game Played: | December 21 |
| Year Game Played: | 2015 |
| Football Season: | 2015 |
| Stadium: | Marlins Park |
| City: | Miami, Florida |
| Visitor School: | Western Kentucky University |
| Visitor Name Short: | Western Kentucky |
| Visitor Nickname: | Hilltoppers |
| Visitor Record: | 11–2 |
| Visitor Conference: | C-USA |
| Visitor Rank Ap: | 25 |
| Visitor Coach: | Jeff Brohm |
| Visitor 1Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 10 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 28 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 7 |
| Home School: | University of South Florida |
| Home Name Short: | South Florida |
| Home Nickname: | Bulls |
| Home Record: | 8–4 |
| Home Conference: | The American |
| Home Coach: | Willie Taggart |
| Home 1Q: | 7 |
| Home 2Q: | 7 |
| Home 3Q: | 7 |
| Home 4Q: | 14 |
| Odds: | W. Kentucky by 3½[1] |
| Mvp: | Western Kentucky QB Brandon Doughty[2] |
| Referee: | Greg Blum (MAC) |
| Attendance: | 21,712 |
| Payout: | 1,000,000[3] |
| Us Network: | ESPN/Touchdown Radio |
| Us Announcers: | Dave LaMont, Desmond Howard, & Quint Kessenich (ESPN) Taylor Zarzour & Gino Torretta (Touchdown) |
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.[4]
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.[5] The last meeting between these two teams was in 2010, when the Bulls beat the Hilltoppers 24–12 in Tampa.
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.[6]
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.
See also: 2015 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football team.
Source: [7]
| 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 | 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 | 14/32, 273 yds, 1 TD | |
| Rushing | 16 car, 108 yds, 2 TD | ||
| Receiving | 6 rec, 130 yds, 1 TD |