SAN DIEGO —— The first Poinsettia Bowl will have something in common with the inaugural Holiday Bowl —— the Naval Academy as one of the teams.
The Midshipmen on Monday accepted the Poinsettia Bowl's invitation to play in the Dec. 22 game at Qualcomm Stadium. Navy's opponent is expected to be Colorado State (6-5) of the Mountain West Conference.
Navy, coached by Paul Johnson, has a 6-4 record heading into a Dec. 3 game against fierce rival Army.
"I think it's great that in the inaugural Poinsettia Bowl that we are able to have the same team that helped us kick off the successful Holiday Bowl back in 1978," executive director Bruce Binkowski said. "We think it's great to get the Naval Academy as the at-large team for our first game. This is really a big deal for us."
Navy defeated Brigham Young 23-16 in the first Holiday Bowl. The Midshipmen will arrive in San Diego with something else to boast about —- playing in bowl games in three consecutive years for the first time.
Two years ago, Navy lost to Texas Tech 38-14 in the Houston Bowl. Last season, Navy beat New Mexico 34-19 in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco.
"Three bowl games in a row is historic for the Academy," athletic director Chet Gladchuk said in a Navy press release. "Congratulations to Coach Johnson, his staff and our players for reaffirming that Navy is one of the finest football programs in the nation."
Poinsettia Bowl officials have targeted Navy since the bowl was approved last spring.
Officials hoped to make an announcement last Saturday night, but Navy asked for time to consider other options, which included the possibility of a Liberty Bowl bid.
"They said all along that they were very interested in coming to San Diego," Binkowski said. "When that (Liberty Bowl) door closed, it opened it up for the Poinsettia Bowl, so we're very fortunate."
The announcement of Colorado State as Navy's opponent could come as soon as today. The Mountain West plans to announce where all its bowl-eligible teams are headed at one time.
Poinsettia Bowl officials were targeting New Mexico (6-5) until the Lobos lost to Air Force last Saturday.
That outcome placed Colorado State and Utah (6-5) into the mix, but the Rams will be the choice because they beat both teams head-to-head and had a better conference mark —— 5-3 to the other two teams' 4-4 mark.
The Mountain West's fourth 6-5 team, BYU, will play in the Las Vegas Bowl. Conference champion Texas Christian (10-1) could end up in the Houston Bowl.
Navy also received a perk for accepting the invitation. The Midshipmen hold an option to play in one of the 2008, 2009 or 2010 games —— their pick —— as long as they are bowl-eligible.
Poinsettia Bowl director of communications Mark Neville said 36,000 tickets have been sold for the game, a figure that includes the 10,000-ticket allotment given to the two teams. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN2.
Contact staff writer Mike Sullivan at (76) 739-6645 or msullivan@nctimes.com.
