The Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

-sanctioned

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

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 ...

played in

San Diego 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 List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

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 Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has b ...

. The new Poinsettia Bowls were played in late December each year at

SDCCU 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 stadium ...

. The game's last sponsor was 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 it was named the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.

History

Military games

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 Bolling Air Force Base or Bolling AFB was a United States Air Force base in Washington, D.C. In 2010, it was merged with Naval Support Facility Anacostia to form Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling. From its beginning, the installation has hosted elem ...

Generals defeated the San Diego Naval Training Center Bluejackets by a score of 35–14 on December 20, 1952. The game was held at

Balboa Stadium Balboa Stadium is an American football and soccer stadium on the west coast of the United States, located in San Diego, California. Just east of San Diego High School, the original stadium was built in 1914 as part of the 1915 Panama–California ...

in San Diego in a torrential downpour, before hundreds of reluctant sailors – including future

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

coach

Hayden Fry John Hayden Fry (February 28, 1929 – December 17, 2019) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 1962 to 1972, North Texas State University—now know ...

– 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 The Army–Navy Game is an American college football rivalry game between the Army Black Knights of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, and the Navy Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy (USNA) at Annapo ...

. In 1953, the

Fort Ord Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay of the Pacific Ocean coast in California, which closed in 1994 due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action. Most of the fort's land now makes up the Fort Ord National Monument, m ...

Warriors, an Army team that featured

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Don Heinrich Donald Alan Heinrich (September 19, 1930 – February 29, 1992) was an American football player, coach, and announcer. He played professionally as a quarterback in National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys, and in ...

and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

Ollie Matson Ollie Genoa Matson II (May 1, 1930 – February 19, 2011) was an American Olympic medal winning sprinter and professional American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1952 to 1966. Drafted into the N ...

, defeated the

Quantico Marines Marine Corps Base Quantico (commonly abbreviated MCB Quantico) is a United States Marine Corps installation located near Triangle, Virginia, covering nearly of southern Prince William County, Virginia, northern Stafford County, and southeaster ...

team led by Hayden Fry at quarterback. The

Fort Sill Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (136.8 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost . The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark ...

Canoneers defeated Bolling Air Force Base in 1954, and the Fort Ord Warriors returned as champions in 1955, defeating

Pensacola Naval Air Station Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (formerly NAS/KNAS until changed circa 1970 to allow Nassau International Airport, now Lynden Pindling International Airport, to have IATA code NAS), "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United State ...

in the fourth and final such Poinsettia Bowl. In November 1956, organizers announced the cancellation of that year's game, "because of deployment of the fleet," shortly after the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

NCAA games

The bowl was resurrected in 2005, and featured a team from 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 ...

each year it was played, originally against an at-large opponent. The inaugural game matched

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.Colorado State Rams The Colorado State Rams are the athletic teams that represent Colorado State University (CSU). Colorado State's athletic teams compete along with 8 other institutions in the Mountain West Conference, which is an NCAA Division I conference and sp ...

; Navy won 51–30. It had attendance of 36,842. 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 The 2008 EagleBank Bowl was the inaugural edition of the new college football bowl game, and was played at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, DC. The game, formerly known as the Congressional Bowl before naming rights were purchas ...

and the 2009 Texas Bowl, then returned for 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 ...

. 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. 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. The 2007 game matched the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the Runnin' ...

against 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.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. That year's attendance was 39,129. 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. The 2008 game matched the No. 11

TCU Horned Frogs The TCU Horned Frogs are the athletic teams that represent Texas Christian University. The 18 varsity teams participate in NCAA Division I and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football, competing mostly in the Big 12 Conference. The sc ...

of the

against the No. 9

Boise State Broncos The Boise State Broncos are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Boise State University, located in Boise, Idaho. The Broncos compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Moun ...

the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

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. The 2009 game matched the No. 23

against the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

; Utah won, 37–27. The 2010 game matched the

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

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

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

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 The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

champion

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

in the 2011 Rose Bowl and their 17–10 loss to Boise State in the

2010 Fiesta Bowl The 2010 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game was a post-season college football bowl game between the #4 TCU Horned Frogs, champions of the Mountain West Conference, and the #6 Boise State Broncos, champions of the Western Athletic Conference. The game wa ...

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

Game results

;Military games ;NCAA games

MVPs

Most appearances

;Military games ;NCAA games

Records by conference

References

External links

* * {{Poinsettia Bowl navbox Defunct college football bowls American football in California American football in San Diego Military competitions in American football 2005 establishments in California 2017 disestablishments in California