Location: San Diego, California
Date: 19 December 2006, 8:00 PM EST
Teams: Northern Illinois vs. TCU
Televised on: ESPN2

San Diego is a navy town, hence the open invite for Navy to play in this bowl game. The 2006 bowl season kicks off at Qualcomm Stadium between a Mountain West Conference representative and either the Midshipmen or an at-large team.

The Poinsettia Bowl is a post-season college football game sanctioned by the NCAA that was first played on 22 December 2005 in San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium. It replaced the Silicon Valley Football Classic.

The United States Naval Academy Midshipmen (7-4) and Colorado State Rams (6-5) battled in the first game and Navy handled the Rams easily, 51-30. Reggie Campbell busted out with a bowl-game record-tying five touchdowns for Navy.

One of Campbell’s heroes – Detroit Lion legend Barry Sanders – pulled off the same five-TD effort 17 years earlier in the same stadium for Oklahoma State.

Poinsettia Bowl and Silicon Bowl Prior Results

The 2006 edition will be the second Poinsettia Bowl game played, after several years as its former namesake, the Silicon Valley Bowl. Listed below are the previous results from the Silicon Valley Bowl and last year’s Poinsettia Bowl.

Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Score
22 Dec. 2005	Navy	51	Colorado State	30
30 Dec. 2004	Northern Illinois	34	Troy	21
20 Dec. 2003	Fresno State	17	UCLA	9
31 Dec. 2002	Fresno State	30	Georgia Tech	21
31 Dec. 2001	Michigan State	44	Fresno State	35
31 Dec. 2000	Air Force	37	Fresno State	34

In 2005, organizers of the Pacific Lite Holiday Bowl were granted a license to operate a second college football bowl game in San Diego, to be known as the Poinsettia Bowl. The bowl pits a team from the Mountain West Conference against an at-large NCAA football competitor.

With the sponsorship of the San Diego County Credit Union, the game is officially known as the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, and replaces the Silicon Valley Bowl previously played annually at Spartan Stadium on the South Campus of San José State University.

The first Silicon Valley Classic was played between Air Force and Fresno State on New Years Eve 2000. Despite 13- and 14-point rallies in the third and fourth quarters respectively, Fresno State could not overcome the massive 34-7 lead posted by the Falcons after the first quarter, and Air Force went on to win the game 37-34.

Fresno State made a return visit to the Silicon Bowl in 2001 against the Michigan State Spartans. In this fast-paced game, Charles Rogers set a Michigan State record with 270 yards receiving, with the Rogers-Smokers combo helping lead Michigan State to a 44-35 victory over the Bulldogs.

2002 marked Fresno State's third appearance and first victory at the Silicon Valley Classic. The Bulldogs squared off against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who lead the game by 21-20 going into the 4th quarter. Fresno State rallied in the fourth with 10 unanswered points, however, and went on to post a 30-21 win.

Fresno State returned to the field in the 2003 Silicon Valley Bowl against UCLA. This low-scoring game saw Fresno prevail again, as game MVP Rodney Davis rushed for 77 yards on a messy field to beat the Bruins 17-9. This was the Bulldogs' first victory over the Bruins in six meetings.

The last Silicon Valley Football Classic, played in 2004, saw Northern Illinois score 34 straight points in their 34-21 victory over the Troy Trojans. Josh Haldi passed for 146 yards and ran for two touchdowns as he led his Huskies to their first college bowl win in 21 years.

The inaugural Poinsettia Bowl saw tons of explosive offense as Reggie Campbell put on a show with five touchdowns and Navy beat Colorado State 51-30. Navy, which came into the game as the nation’s top-rated rushing team (305.2 yards), did even better on national TV, churning up 467 yards along the ground and 611 yards in total offense.

Betting on the Poinsettia Bowl 2006