Poinsettia Bowl: It's a home game for San Diego State
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
Navy (7-5) vs. San Diego State (7-5)
San Diego, Calif.
Dec 23, 2014
From a local interest standpoint, the folks at the Poinsettia Bowl couldn't have done much better. Heck, do they think they could have done any better?
Navy first agreed to go to the Poinsettia Bowl. From then, the bowl knew who it wanted: the team that plays its home games at Qualcomm Stadium.
“Navy and San Diego State are a natural tie-in for a local game,” Poinsettia Bowl executive director Bruce Binkowski told the San Deigo Union-Tribune after the matchup was finalized. “It’s almost like having two home teams.
“We don’t know if we’ll have the opportunity to do this again, so it was something we felt like we just had to do.”
Both teams enter on winning streaks. After losing to Boise State on Nov. 15, San Diego State beat Air Force and San Jose State to get above .500. Navy's last loss was to Notre Dame on Nov. 1. Since then, the Midshipmen have beaten Georgia Southern, South Alabama and Army.
Navy's No. 2 rushing offense is led by record-setting quarterback Keenan Reynolds. While Reynolds, a junior, is not at the torrid and record-setting touchdown pace he set last season, his 2014 hasn't been bad at all. He's rushed for 1,182 yards and 21 touchdowns and added six scores through the air. In 2013, Reynolds ran for 31 touchdowns and added eight more through the air.
Any touchdowns during the Poinsettia Bowl will put him closer to Miami RB Travis Prentice on the all-time rushing touchdowns list. Reynolds has 62 rushing touchdowns in his career, the most of any quarterback. With 16 more he'll be ahead of Prentice.
San Diego State can run the ball too. The Aztecs are 30th in the country in rushing yards per game and are led by Donnel Pumphrey, who's averaging nearly seven yards a carry. Pumphrey has 1,755 yards and 19 touchdowns. Twice this season he's averaged over 12 yards per carry in a single game.
Vegas odds: San Diego State (-2.5)
FUN FACT
This is the second time that Navy and San Diego State have met in the Poinsettia Bowl. They played in 2010 when SDSU won 35-14. The MVP of that game was SDSU RB Ronnie Hillman, now with the Denver Broncos. The Aztecs' coach? Brady Hoke. A few weeks after the game he was the next head coach at Michigan.
PREDICTIONS
Graham: It's tough to prepare for Navy's triple option offense, but San Diego State does have some experience having played Air Force late in the season and limiting it to just 140 rushing yards. It's tough to go against Navy QB Keenan Reynolds, but I like San Diego State to pull out a close one at home. SDSU 24, Navy 21.
Nick: Triple option forever. Yeah, SDSU did well against Air Force, and yeah, Air Force beat Navy, but the Middies are the pick here. They may even have more support in the stands than SDSU has. Navy 27, SDSU 20
Sam: SDSU's Donnel Pumphrey vs. Navy's Keenan Reynolds is an underrated matchup in this year's slate of bowls. Navy's triple option is hard to stop, but Pumphrey is going to be tough to handle for the Midshipmen. I'll take SDSU at home. SDSU 31, Navy 27
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!