The Poinsettia Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was created in 2005. The game was created by the organizers of the Holiday Bowl and is played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. The game is currently sponsored by the San Diego County Credit Union and is known as the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, and as of 2008[update] features a team from the Mountain West Conference and a team from the Pac-10.[1]
The 2008 game pitted the #11 TCU Horned Frogs of the Mountain West against the Western Athletic Conference champion #9 Boise State Broncos. Boise State replaced the representative from the Pac-10 as they did not have enough bowl eligible teams. TCU won the tightly contested game 17–16.
History
In the week leading up to the 2005 Poinsettia Bowl, the United States Naval Academy Midshipmen accepted an invitation to the 2008 (however, they played in the EagleBank Bowl instead), 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. The Poinsettia Bowl announced that if Army had become bowl-eligible in 2006, they would have been given an automatic bowl invite. The Cadets wound up with a losing record and were not invited.[2] It was announced in July 2007 that beginning with the 2008 game, the Pac-10 will send their seventh-place (in 2008) or sixth place (in 2009 and 2010) replacing the at-large team.
The 2006 game matched TCU, a 10–2 team from the Mountain West Conference against Northern Illinois from the Mid-American Conference, who finished the regular season with a record of 7–5. TCU defeated Northern Illinois by the score of 37–7. The 2006 game was also the setting for the short story "The San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl Party," by Kyle Minor, which originally appeared in the literary journal The Southern Review.
As a result of Navy's win over North Texas, a game that set a new NCAA record for most points scored in a college football game, Navy returned for the 2007 contest.[3] However, they could not win against the Utah Utes, losing 35–32.
TCU won the 2008 game over Boise State by a score of 17–16
Starting with the 2008 season, and continuing through 2009, if the Pac-10 does not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill its contracted bowl slots, the Poinsettia Bowl will select a WAC team to take the place of a Pac-10 team (if available).[1]
Game results
U.S. Naval Academy
defensive end Jeremy Chase, left,
Quarterback Lamar Owens, center, and head football coach
Paul Johnson receive the Poinsettia Bowl trophy after defeating Colorado State 51-30 in the inaugural Poinsettia Bowl.
MVPs
Most appearances
Television
References
- ^ "Pac-10 Committs To Play In SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl". SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl. 2007-07-22. http://www.poinsettiabowl.net/news/pac-10-commits-to-play-in-sdccu-poinsettia-bowl.html. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ "SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl Reaches Deal with Army". SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl. 2006-06-14. http://www.poinsettiabowl.com/news/sdccu-poinsettia-bowl-reaches-deal-with-army.html. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
- ^ "Navy, N. Texas score most combined points in regulation FBS game". ESPN.com (espn.go.com). November 10, 2007.
External links
