Poinsettia Bowl History

The inaugural Poinsettia Bowl set an NCAA bowl record for combined yardage (1,183) in a shootout. Navy’s Reggie Campbell tied NCAA bowl records for points (30) and touchdowns (5) in a single game, rushing for 116 yards to earn Offensive MVP. LB Tyler Tidwell (12 tackles, 3 sacks, forced fumble) took Defensive MVP.

Colorado State’s Justin Holland threw for 381 yards and 3 touchdowns in the loss, with two receivers topping 100 yards.

TCU’s defense throttled Garrett Wolfe — the NCAA’s leading rusher that season — holding him to 28 yards and the Huskies to -20 yards rushing and just 60 total yards. QB Jeff Ballard ran for 3 touchdowns and threw for another to take Offensive MVP; DE Tommy Blake’s two sacks earned him Defensive MVP.

Utah held off a wild Navy comeback — a 58-yard touchdown pass and a successful onside kick cut a 10-point lead to 3 in the final minute — before Joe Dale’s interception sealed it. Dale also had 12 tackles and took Defensive MVP.

QB Brian Johnson (226 yards passing, 2 total TDs) earned Offensive MVP as Utah won its seventh straight bowl game, part of the same streak that would reach nine by 2009. Navy ran for over 300 yards but couldn’t overcome early turnovers, and first-year head coach Ken Niumatalolo — taking over for Paul Johnson, who’d just left for Georgia Tech — suffered his first loss.

TCU spoiled Boise State’s perfect season, intercepting freshman QB Kellen Moore with under two minutes left to hold on for a one-point win. Stephen Hodge’s game-sealing pick earned him Defensive MVP.

Boise State led 13-0 in the second quarter — Ian Johnson’s touchdown run in that stretch broke Marshall Faulk’s WAC career rushing-TD record — but TCU clawed back behind 278 rushing yards and QB Andy Dalton (276 all-purpose yards, Offensive MVP). TCU took its first lead early in the fourth quarter, then survived a late Boise State field goal that cut it to 17-16 before Hodge’s interception sealed it.

Freshman QB Jordan Wynn (26-of-36, 338 yards, 3 TDs) threw the Utes to their ninth straight bowl win — a nation-best streak — after trailing 14-0 early. Wynn earned Offensive MVP.

Cal scored twice in the game’s first five minutes, including a pick-six off Wynn’s first pass. Utah answered with 27 unanswered points and never trailed again. The Utah defense sacked Kevin Riley five times and picked him off twice, including linebacker Stevenson Sylvester’s 27-yard interception return for a touchdown that put the game away with 5:27 left. Sylvester took Defensive MVP.

Ronnie Hillman ran for 228 yards and four total touchdowns, shattering the Poinsettia Bowl rushing record, in San Diego State’s first bowl win since 1969. He earned Offensive MVP.

The game almost didn’t happen: 24 hours before kickoff, Qualcomm Stadium’s field was under 1.5 million gallons of floodwater. Crews pumped it dry and repainted the midfield logo overnight.

SDSU jumped out 14-0 in the first quarter and never let Navy get closer than one score. Hillman’s touchdowns came three different ways — rushing, receiving, and on a fake-handoff catch — and his fourth score tied him with two other players for the bowl’s career rushing-TD record.

TCU trailed three times — including 24-17 in the fourth quarter — before sophomore QB Casey Pachall led back-to-back scoring drives, capped by a 42-yard touchdown pass to Skye Dawson with 4:26 left. It was the fourth time in five years the Poinsettia Bowl had been decided by 10 points or less.
The game swung on chaos as much as talent: a botched TCU punt return that Louisiana Tech recovered and converted into a tying touchdown, a pick-six-setup interception, and a 61-yard TD strike that gave the Bulldogs their third lead. TCU’s offense finally wore Louisiana Tech down late, controlling the ball for over 12 minutes in the fourth quarter alone. Dawson took Offensive MVP.

BYU rode a historic defensive performance to win the eighth Poinsettia Bowl, scoring 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter after trailing 6-3 through three quarters.

Linebacker Kyle Van Noy was the story: 8 tackles, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble he recovered for a touchdown, a blocked punt, and a 19-yard interception return for a touchdown. Two of BYU’s three touchdowns came directly off his hands.

The game was a defensive slog before that: eight combined turnovers, 14 punts, and BYU punter Riley Stephenson pinning SDSU inside its own 3-yard line four times. Freshman Jamaal Williams added a rushing touchdown, and receiver Cody Hoffman (10 catches, 114 yards) took home Offensive MVP.

Utah State’s defense shut down Heisman finalist Jordan Lynch, holding him to 39 rushing yards and denying him a shot at becoming the first player to rush and pass for 2,000 yards in the same season. Safety Brian Suite forced two turnovers off Lynch — an interception and a fumble recovery — and Joey DeMartino (23 carries, 143 yards, TD) took Offensive MVP in his hometown finale.

A third-quarter Suite interception set up the go-ahead score, and DeMartino’s late touchdown put the game away before Lynch threw a garbage-time TD to make it look closer. Attendance (23,408) was the lowest in the bowl’s nine-year history at the time.

A back-and-forth battle came down to the final minute. With SDSU up 16-14 late, Navy’s Austin Grebe drilled a go-ahead 24-yard field goal with 1:27 left — then SDSU’s Donny Hageman, perfect on his first three attempts, missed a 34-yarder with 20 seconds to go.

The winning drive started when Navy forced and recovered a fumble by SDSU’s Donnel Pumphrey, who’d set the school’s single-season rushing record (1,867 yards) earlier in the game. QB Keenan Reynolds scored twice, extending his own NCAA record for career quarterback rushing touchdowns to 64. Navy’s defense delivered when it mattered most — coach Ken Niumatalolo summed it up afterward: “I have no idea how we won the game.”

Boise State made a statement from the opening snap — a 58-second, 75-yard touchdown drive, the fastest in school bowl history — and never let up. Sophomore running back Jeremy McNichols scored on three of Boise’s first four possessions and finished with 189 total yards, entering the game tied with Heisman winner Derrick Henry for the national lead in touchdowns. Freshman QB Brett Rypien threw for 377 yards and 3 touchdowns in a dominant all-around offensive showing — the Broncos outgained Northern Illinois 654 yards to 33.

Northern Illinois’s lone score came on a spectacular 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Aregeros Turner. Boise State improved to 1-1 in Poinsettia Bowl history.

Jamaal Williams carried BYU to its second Poinsettia Bowl title, rushing for 210 yards on 26 carries — his sixth 100-yard game of the season — and breaking off a 36-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that put the game away. It was his second Poinsettia Bowl touchdown; he’d also scored in BYU’s 2012 win, becoming the program’s all-time leading rusher along the way.

QB Tanner Mangum, starting in place of injured Taysom Hill, ran for a touchdown and threw a wild 5-yard scoring pass that deflected off two defenders before landing for the score. Wyoming’s Josh Allen rallied the Cowboys with two late touchdown passes to cut the deficit to three, but Kai Nacua’s interception — his sixth of the season — sealed it for BYU in the renewal of a rivalry dating back to 1922.