Poinsettia Bowl

Navy has accepted an invitation to play in the first Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 22 in San Diego. The game will pit the Midshipmen (6-4) against an opponent to be determined from the Mountain West Conference, most likely Colorado State (6-5). Navy beat an MWC member, New Mexico, 34-19, in last year's Emerald Bowl in San Francisco. "They are committed to us in every way possible," said Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk, who informed the team after a rainy practice at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium yesterday.

If anyone wants to nitpick at Navy's football success over the past decade, a starting point - and finish line - might be the team's record in bowl games. Going into Saturday's Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl against Arizona State (7-5) at San Francisco's AT&T Park, Navy (8-4) has lost four of its last five postseason games and five of eight since 2003. Though two of the losses have been close - a 25-24 defeat to Boston College in the 2006 Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, N.C., and a 35-32 defeat to Utah the next year at the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego - many have been blowouts.

Two seasons ago, the Navy football team put on quite a show in the first Poinsettia Bowl when slotback Reggie Campbell tied an NCAA bowl record with five touchdowns to pace a 51-30 win over Colorado State. The two teams combined for a postseason-record 1,183 offensive yards, and Navy was the primary catalyst in drawing 36,842 fans for the bowl game shifted to San Diego from San Jose, Calif. Yesterday, bowl officials reached an agreement with the academy that will take the Midshipmen back to Qualcomm Stadium after the upcoming season, provided the team qualifies with at least six victories.

New Mexico Bowl David Teel Daily Press Absent a connection to either team or a need for immediate counseling, no pre-Christmas bowl merits your attention. But if desperate to avoid the mall Saturday, settle in for Nevada and Arizona in the New Mexico Bowl - and not solely because of its corporation-free name. The Wildcats and Wolf Pack feature not only top-20 scoring offenses, averaging more than 35 points per game, but also the nation's top two rushers. Arizona's Ka'Deem Carey and Nevada's Stefphon Jefferson average 146.4 and 141.9 yards per game, respectively.

SAN DIEGO -- The final pre-game news conference and team luncheon were staged aboard the venerable USS Midway, once a mighty aircraft carrier and now a museum docked in the San Diego Harbor. Navy and Marine Corps fighter planes and helicopters zoom through the skies all over the area. Hundreds of ships in port for the holiday season sit at the 32nd Naval station a short hop from downtown. The thousands of fans who purchased tickets from the Naval Academy Athletic Association - they outdid sales at Colorado State by more than 4-to-1 - have begun to swarm into the city, assuring the Poinsettia Bowl of a distinct nautical flavor in its first postseason venture.

SAN DIEGO --The pre-game scene in the parking lots of Qualcomm Stadium last night underscore the reason why Navy has become a darling of bowl committees. Blue and Gold trappings were everywhere, with Colorado State fans huddled in one small section of the massive parking area. The most dominant feature was a large tent where festive Navy fans were whopping it up in preparation for the first Poinsettia Bowl. Larry Cylc, a high school football coach in Delaware whose sons, Larry Jr. and Joe, are prominent members of the Navy defense, was the spokesman for a group of parents who had traveled far and willingly for the third straight bowl appearance by the Midshipmen.

SAN DIEGO -- Navy will play in a bowl game in a Navy town. The Midshipmen on Monday accepted an invitation to play in the inaugural Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 22 at Qualcomm Stadium. Navy will most likely play Colorado State, although the Mountain West Conference won't announce its bowl lineup until Tuesday or Wednesday "To get off to a good start in this inaugural bowl game we needed a marquee at-large team to play the Mountain West Conference, and what better matchup than to have the Naval Academy come to a Navy community such as San Diego?"

With the bowl season beginning tonight with Texas Christian and Northern Illinois playing in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, it's hard not to cry for Arizona and Washington State. Both of these football teams reached the pinnacle of success as determined by the NCAA and ESPN by reaching six wins, finishing with a fine record of 6-6. But the Wildcats and Cougars will be home for the holidays. Considering that Iowa (6-6) lost five of its final six games to earn a berth in the Alamo Bowl, perhaps they have an argument.

SAN DIEGO -- As an independent, Navy doesn't have to wait for a conference championship to be determined to resolve bowl possibilities. It can plan years ahead to line up bowl commitments, and with that in mind athletic director Chet Gladchuk is hard at work. The AD said yesterday that there are a lot of "ifs" to be worked out, but if the NCAA this April approves the newly proposed Congressional Bowl in Washington at either the Nationals' new baseball stadium or RFK Stadium, the Midshipmen will likely play in the new December bowl.

TODAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS M. bask LSU@Washington State (T) CBSCS 7 a.m. Hawaiian consolation: teams TBA ESPN2 7:30 Hawaiian final: teams TBA ESPN2 10 NBA Miami@New York ESPN Noon Boston@Orlando 2, 7 2:30 Cleveland@Lakers 2, 7 5 Clippers@Phoenix ...

Most of the current Navy starters were not on the field at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium the last time the Midshipmen played Delaware. That was in 2009, when the home team turned a three-point lead early in the fourth quarter into a deceptive 35-18 victory. Nearly every Navy player was either in high school or attending the academy's prep school back in 2007, when a then-relatively unknown Joe Flacco led the Blue Hens to a wild 59-52 win by scoring at will in the second half.

When Navy opened spring football practice roughly three weeks ago, coach Ken Niumatalolo knew he would be without bedrock defensive players such as Wyatt Middleton, Tyler Simmons and Billy Yarborough. Those seniors had been part of one of the most decorated classes in program history, and soon they would be departing to fulfill their military obligations. What he hadn't necessarily accounted for was the absence of defensive coordinator Buddy Green, who through all the turnover in nearly a decade at the academy has continued to construct formidable units, often from undersized and slower players.

After a practice in advance of Thursday's Poinsettia Bowl against San Diego State, Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo told his players how gratifying this season had been, how being associated with Navy football and this team in particular was his privilege and that the health of the program was never more robust than it is currently. Then the discourse turned to the graduating class, and that's when Niumatalolo paused midsentence to collect himself in the emotion of the moment. "I just want to win this game so badly for the seniors," Niumatalolo said as he choked back tears.

Words we never imagined last December typing for this December's bowl preview story: thank goodness for San Diego State. If not for the Aztecs, California would have no team south of Fresno in a bowl game. San Diego State has a better record than USC, UCLA and, presently, the Chargers — you talk about lightning bolts. The Aztecs (8-4) are hosting Navy (9-3) in the Poinsettia Bowl and, if they win, may want to consider relocation to Los Angeles. It just proves predicting bowl games is easy compared with predicting everything else.

Navy wide receiver Mike Schupp 's recovery from a torn ACL has not progressed as quickly as the senior had hoped, and it's highly unlikely he'll be able to participate in the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 23 against San Diego State at Qualcomm Stadium. Schupp was injured in a season-opening loss to Maryland, 17-14, on Sept. 6 when he planted his leg while trying to block. Most frustrating for Schupp was that the injury occurred even though he never made contact with a defender. "I don't know if got caught on the turf or whatnot," Schupp said after practice on Tuesday, the team's first since beating Army on Saturday, 31-17.

ARMY (6-5) VS. NAVY (8-3) When: 2:30 p.m. Where: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia TV: Chs. 13, 9 Radio: 1090 AM, 1430 AM Managing prosperity: Navy has had problems with supposedly inferior teams this season, notably losing to Duke, which had dropped six in a row entering the game. Navy again is favored to beat Army, but this version of the Black Knights is much-improved, having qualified for a bowl for the first time since 1996.

1 'Tis the season: The Poinsettia Bowl (8 p.m., ESPN) features entertaining Boise State (left) vs. Texas Christian. Those flowers would look good on the Broncos' blue field. 2 This time maybe?: The Wizards are in Charlotte (7 p.m., Comcast SportsNet- Plus), and the Bobcats have won only nine games. Then again, Washington has won just four. 3 Under the arch: The Illinois-Missouri basketball game in St. Louis (7:30 p.m., ESPN2) is so much for bragging rights that it's called the Braggin' Rights game.

GREENVILLE, N.C. — Don't think for a moment Navy's 76-35 victory over East Carolina on Saturday had everything to do with offense. Certainly the Midshipmen rang up points and yards at a dizzying rate, but this convincing win that made them bowl eligible came largely courtesy of an opportunistic defense that forced three turnovers in four plays in the second half. Thus the offense often had short distances to travel, and with the triple option humming along, the Pirates thereafter never stood a chance.