32°46′59″N 117°7′10″W / 32.78306°N 117.11944°W / 32.78306; -117.11944

Poinsettia Bowl (defunct)
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
StadiumSan Diego Stadium (2005–2016)
Balboa Stadium (1952–1955)
LocationSan Diego, California
Operated2005–2016 (NCAA)
1952–1955 (military)
Conference tie-insMountain West
Previous conference tie-insPac-10, WAC
PayoutUS$612,500 per team[1]
Sponsors
San Diego County Credit Union (2005–2016)
2016 matchup
BYU vs. Wyoming (BYU 24–21)

The Poinsettia Bowl was an annual college football bowl game held in San Diego, California, from 2005 to 2016. The game was originally played from 1952 to 1955 between military services teams; in 2005 it was re-created by the organizers of the Holiday Bowl. The new Poinsettia Bowls were played in late December each year at San Diego Stadium. The game's last sponsor was the San Diego County Credit Union; it was named the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.

History

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Military games

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The original incarnation of the Poinsettia Bowl was as an armed forces football championship game, pitting western and eastern military services champions against each other. In the inaugural Poinsettia Bowl, the Bolling Air Force Base Generals defeated the San Diego Naval Training Center Bluejackets by a score of 35–14 on December 20, 1952.[2] The game was held at Balboa Stadium in San Diego in a torrential downpour, before hundreds of reluctant sailors – including future College Football Hall of Fame coach Hayden Fry[3] – who were ordered to sit in the stands so that they wouldn't appear empty in the nationally televised game. Television came to terms with the NCAA the next year, making the 1952 Poinsettia Bowl the last nationally televised game between military teams, other than the annual Army–Navy Game.

In 1953, the Fort Ord Warriors, an Army team that featured quarterback Don Heinrich and running back Ollie Matson, defeated the Quantico Marines team led by Hayden Fry at quarterback.[4] The Fort Sill Canoneers defeated Bolling Air Force Base in 1954,[5] and the Fort Ord Warriors returned as champions in 1955, defeating Pensacola Naval Air Station in the fourth and final such Poinsettia Bowl.[6] In November 1956, organizers announced the cancellation of that year's game, "because of deployment of the fleet,"[7] shortly after the Suez Crisis.

NCAA games

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The bowl was resurrected in 2005, and featured a team from the Mountain West Conference each year it was played, originally against an at-large opponent. The inaugural game matched Navy Midshipmen against the Colorado State Rams; Navy won 51–30. It had attendance of 36,842.[8]

In the week leading up to the 2005 game, the Navy Midshipmen accepted an invitation to the 2008, 2009, or 2010 Poinsettia Bowls if Navy was bowl-eligible in those seasons. The fact that there are several naval bases in and around San Diego contributed to this decision by the independent Midshipmen. Navy later played in the 2008 EagleBank Bowl and the 2009 Texas Bowl, then returned for the 2010 Poinsettia Bowl.

The Poinsettia Bowl announced that if the Army Black Knights became bowl-eligible by the end of the 2006 regular season, they would receive an automatic berth in their bowl game; however, the Cadets wound up with a losing record, and thus were not eligible.[9]

In July 2007, it was announced that (starting with the 2008 game) the Pac-10 would send its seventh-place team to the game, and its sixth-place team in 2009 and 2010 – replacing the at-large team.[10]

The 2007 game matched the Utah Utes against the Navy Midshipmen; Utah won, 35–32. Navy made the Poinsettia Bowl as a result of Navy's win over North Texas (74–62), a game that set a new NCAA record for most points scored in a college football game.[11] That year's attendance was 39,129.[12]

It was announced, starting with the 2008 season, and continuing through 2009, if the Pac-10 does not have enough bowl-eligible teams to send one to the Poinsettia Bowl (a contractual obligation), the game's organizers reserved the right to select a WAC team to take the Pac-10 team's place.[13]

The 2008 game matched the No. 11 TCU Horned Frogs of the Mountain West Conference against the No. 9 Boise State Broncos the Western Athletic Conference champion; TCU won, 17–16. Boise State replaced the representative from the Pac-10, since it did not have any extra bowl-eligible teams to spare for this game. The game garnered a 3.74 national television rating on ESPN, the bowl's most watched game ever and the highest rated pre-Christmas game ever on the all-sports network.[12]

The 2009 game matched the No. 23 Utah Utes against the California Golden Bears; Utah won, 37–27.

The 2010 game matched the San Diego State Aztecs against the Navy Midshipmen. San Diego State won 35–14. That year's attendance was 48,049.

Louisiana Tech and TCU received and accepted bids to participate in the 2011 game, which TCU won 31–24. TCU's participation was somewhat unexpected as they missed out on a third straight BCS Bowl by a single national rank position, ranked 17th in the nation. Had they been ranked No. 16 they would have automatically qualified for their third straight BCS Bowl appearance following their 21–19 victory over the Big Ten Conference champion Wisconsin Badgers in the 2011 Rose Bowl and their 17–10 loss to Boise State in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl.

On January 25, 2017, the San Diego Bowl Game Association announced plans to eliminate the Poinsettia Bowl and focus solely on the Holiday Bowl.[14]

Game results

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Navy defensive end Jeremy Chase (left), quarterback Lamar Owens (center), and head football coach Paul Johnson receive the trophy after defeating Colorado State 51–30 in the inaugural Poinsettia Bowl.
Military games
Date Winning team Losing team Ref.
December 20, 1952 Bolling AFB (USAF) 35 NTC San Diego (USN) 14 [2]
December 20, 1953 Fort Ord (Army) 55 MCB Quantico (USMC) 19 [4]
December 19, 1954 Fort Sill (Army) 27 Bolling AFB (USAF) 6 [5]
December 17, 1955 Fort Ord (Army) 35 NAS Pensacola (USN) 13 [6]
NCAA games
Date Winning team Losing team Notes
December 22, 2005 Navy 51 Colorado State 30 notes
December 19, 2006 #25 TCU 37 Northern Illinois 7 notes
December 20, 2007 Utah 35 Navy 32 notes
December 23, 2008 #11 TCU 17 #9 Boise State 16 notes
December 23, 2009 #23 Utah 37 California 27 notes
December 23, 2010 San Diego State 35 Navy 14 notes
December 21, 2011 #16 TCU 31 Louisiana Tech 24 notes
December 20, 2012 BYU 23 San Diego State 6 notes
December 26, 2013 Utah State 21 #24 Northern Illinois 14 notes
December 23, 2014 Navy 17 San Diego State 16 notes
December 23, 2015 Boise State 55 Northern Illinois 7 notes
December 21, 2016 BYU 24 Wyoming 21 notes

MVPs

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Date played Offensive MVP Defensive MVP
Player Team Pos. Player Team Pos.
December 22, 2005 Reggie Campbell Navy RB Tyler Tidwell Navy LB
December 19, 2006 Jeff Ballard TCU QB Tommy Blake TCU DE
December 20, 2007 Brian Johnson Utah QB Joe Dale Utah DB
December 23, 2008 Andy Dalton TCU QB Stephen Hodge TCU S
December 23, 2009 Jordan Wynn Utah QB Stevenson Sylvester Utah LB
December 23, 2010 Ronnie Hillman
Vincent Brown
San Diego State RB
WR
Andrew Preston San Diego State DB
December 21, 2011 Skye Dawson TCU WR Greg McCoy TCU CB
December 20, 2012 Cody Hoffman BYU WR Kyle Van Noy BYU LB
December 26, 2013 Joey DeMartino Utah State RB Jake Doughty Utah State LB
December 23, 2014 Keenan Reynolds Navy QB Jordan Drake Navy LB
December 23, 2015 Brett Rypien Boise State QB Kamalei Correa Boise State DE
December 21, 2016 Jamaal Williams BYU RB Harvey Langi BYU LB

Most appearances

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Military games
Rank Service Appearances Record
1 Army 3 3–0
T2 USAF 2 1–1
T2 USN 2 0–2
4 USMC 1 0–1
NCAA games
Rank Team Appearances Record
1 Navy 4 2–2
T2 TCU 3 3–0
T2 San Diego State 3 1–2
T2 Northern Illinois 3 0–3
T5 BYU 2 2–0
T5 Utah 2 2–0
T5 Boise State 2 1–1
T8 Utah State 1 1–0
T8 California 1 0–1
T8 Colorado State 1 0–1
T8 Louisiana Tech 1 0–1
T8 Wyoming 1 0–1

Records by conference

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Conference Wins Losses Pct.
Mountain West 8 4 .667
Independent 4 2 .667
WAC 0 2 .000
MAC 0 3 .000
Pac-10 0 1 .000

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "College Football Poll.com". www.collegefootballpoll.com.
  2. ^ a b "Bolling Eleven Grabs Service Title". Oakland Tribune. AP. December 21, 1952. Retrieved June 16, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  3. ^ White, Maury (December 12, 1978). "Maury White (column)". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved June 15, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b "Matson, Mann Pace 55-19 Warrior Victory". Long Beach Independent. AP. December 21, 1953. Retrieved June 16, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b "Poinsettia Bowl Game Captured by Ft. Sill". Los Angeles Times. AP. December 20, 1954. Retrieved June 16, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b "Ford Ord in Poinsettia Bowl Win". The San Bernardino County Sun. UP. December 18, 1955. Retrieved June 16, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Poinsettia Bowl Game Called Off for This Year". Chicago Tribune. AP. November 23, 1956. Retrieved June 16, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "2005 Poinsettia Bowl Game | San Diego Bowl Games". www.sandiegobowlgames.com. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08.
  9. ^ "SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl Reaches Deal with Army". SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl. 2006-06-14. Archived from the original on 2010-12-05. Retrieved 2007-11-12.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. ^ "Pac-10 Commits To Play In SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl". SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl. 2007-07-22. Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
  11. ^ "Navy, N. Texas score most combined points in regulation FBS game". ESPN.com. AP. November 10, 2007. Archived from the original on October 5, 2016. Retrieved November 10, 2007.
  12. ^ a b "PoinsettiaBowl.com :: The Official Website - Poinsettia Bowl Announces 2010-13 Conference, Team Matchups". Archived from the original on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2012-11-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  13. ^ "ESPN - WAC adds another bowl game - Independents and Others". Archived from the original on 2008-10-23. Retrieved 2008-10-21.
  14. ^ De Crescenzo, Sarah (January 25, 2017). "S.D. Bowl Game Association Ends Poinsettia Bowl". San Diego Business Journal. Retrieved 27 January 2017.

Further reading

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