Poinsettia Bowl The Poinsettia Bowl is a post - season NCAA - sanctioned Division I - Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game , re - created and played for the first time since 1955 in 2005 by the organizers of the Holiday Bowl . The Poinsettia Bowl is played in late - December each year at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego , California . The game is currently sponsored by the San Diego County Credit Union , and is therefore named the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl . The Mountain West Conference team placing second in the conference receives a reserved invitation to this bowl through the 2014 season , and the Army Black Knights are guaranteed a spot in 2013 if Army earns bowl eligibility , requiring a regular season winning percentage of . 500 or better . History . The original incarnation of the Poinsettia Bowl was as the military services championship game , pitting the Western and Eastern Military Services champions against each other . In the inaugural Poinsettia Bowl , Bolling Air Force Base defeated the San Diego Naval Training Center by a score of 35 - 14 on December 20 , 1952 . The game was held at Balboa Stadium in San Diego in a torrential downpour , before hundreds of reluctant sailors ( including Hayden Fry ) 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 the 1953 Poinsettia Bowl , the Quantico Marines team led by Fry lost to the Army team , the Fort Ord Warriors , a team that featured quarterback Don Heinrich and running back Ollie Matson . Fort Ord repeated as champion in 1955 , the year of the fourth and final such Poinsettia Bowl . The bowl was resurrected in the 21st century . 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 inaugural 2005 Poinsettia Bowl game matched Navy Midshipmen against the Colorado State Rams ; Navy won 51 – 30 . It had attendance of 36 , 842 . The Poinsettia Bowl announced that if the Army Black Knights became bowl - eligible by the end of the 2006 regular season , they would win an automatic birth in their bowl game ; however , The Cadets wound up with a losing record , and were not invited . 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 against the Navy Midshipmen ; Utah won , 35 – 32 . Navy made the Poinsettia Bowl 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 . 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 ( if available ) . The 2008 game matched the # 11 TCU Horned Frogs of the Mountain West Conference against the # 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 an 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 # 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 Poinsettia Bowl , which TCU won 31 - 24 . TCU ' s participation was somewhat unexpected as they missed out on a second straight BCS Bowl by a single national rank position , ranked 17th in the nation . Had they been ranked 16 they would have automatically qualified for their second straight BCS Bowl appearance following their 21 - 19 victory over the Big 10 Champion Wisconsin Badgers .