The 2014 Poinsettia Bowl was post-season American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

held on December 23, 2014, at

Qualcomm Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the stadiu ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. The tenth edition of the

Poinsettia Bowl The Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played in San Diego, California, United States from 2005 to 2016. The game was originally played from 1952 to 1955 between military service ...

pitted the

Navy Midshipmen The Navy Midshipmen are the athletic teams that represent the United States Naval Academy. The academy sponsors 33 varsity sports teams and 12 club sport teams.San Diego State Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). San Diego State currently sponsors six men's and eleven women's sports at the varsity level. The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I ( FBS for foo ...

of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

. The game began at 6:30 p.m. PST and aired on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. It was one of the 2014–15 bowl games that conclude the 2014 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by the

San Diego County Credit Union San Diego County Credit Union (SDCCU) is an American financial services company headquartered in San Diego, California. The credit union is San Diego's largest locally owned financial institution and the fifteenth largest credit union in the U.S ...

and is officially known was the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. The Midshipmen accepted their invitation after earning a 7–5 record in their first 12 games of the season. The Aztecs had a record of 7–5. Navy won the game by a score of 17–16.

Teams

The game featured the

of the

. This was the fourth overall meeting between these two teams, with San Diego State leading the series 3–0. It will be a rematch of the

2010 Poinsettia Bowl The 2010 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game between the San Diego State Aztecs and the Navy Midshipmen on December 23, 2010 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. The sixth edition o ...

, which saw

the Aztecs The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

defeat the Midshipmen by a score of 35–14.

Navy Midshipmen

On May 6, 2014, organizers announced that they had reached a deal with Navy to play in the Poinsettia Bowl in 2014. After defeating the

South Alabama Jaguars The South Alabama Jaguars represent the University of South Alabama in NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics. USA competes in the Sun Belt Conference; it is the conference's only remaining charter member from its inception. USA's athletics t ...

for their sixth win of the season on November 28, bowl director Bruce Binkowski extended an invitation to play in the game. This was Navy's fourth Poinsettia Bowl, giving them the most appearances in the game's history. In addition to the aforementioned 2010 game, the Midshipmen also appeared in the inaugural 2005 game where

they In Modern English, ''they'' is a third-person pronoun relating to a grammatical subject. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''they'' has five distinct word forms: * ''they'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''them'': the accusat ...

defeated

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

51–30 as well as the 2007 game where

lost to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

35–32. It will also be the Midshipmen's final game as an FBS Independent team before they join the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

as a football-only member for the 2015 season. After the game, Navy became the third team to win a bowl game for the 2014 season after trailing in the 4th quarter. The Midshipmen entered the night 0-5 after trailing in the 4th quarter this season and hadn't won such a game since November 22, 2013 at San Jose State. It marked the Midshipmen's 2nd straight bowl game win; second time in school history (2004 and 2005 seasons), making it they're 4th consecutive win this season.

San Diego State Aztecs

After finishing the regular season with a 7–5 record, the Aztecs accepted their invitation to play in the game. This was San Diego State's third Poinsettia Bowl; in addition to the aforementioned 2010 game, they also appeared in the 2012 game, losing to the

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the West ...

by a score of 23–6.

Players of the Game

After the game coverage officially ended, it was announced on ESPN that Navy Midshipmen fullback, Chris Swain, #37 was chosen as the 2014 Poinsettia Bowl's "player of the game" with a team leading 8 rushes for 72 yards. Poinsettia Bowl game trophies were awarded after the game: the "most valuable defensive player of the game" went to senior linebacker Jordan Drake, #13. The "most valuable offensive player of the game" was awarded to junior quarterback Keenan Reynolds, #19 who was 3 for 7 passing for 17 yards and 19 yards rushing with 2 touchdowns.

Game summary

First quarter

Second quarter

Third quarter

Fourth quarter

Scoring summary

Source:

Statistics

References

{{San Diego State Aztecs bowl game navbox

Poinsettia Bowl Navy Midshipmen football bowl games San Diego State Aztecs football bowl games

December 2014 sports events in the United States 2010s in San Diego