The Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played in San Diego, California, United States from 2005 to 2016. The game was originally played from 1952 to 1955 between military services teams; in 2005 it was re-created by the organizers of the Holiday Bowl. The new Poinsettia Bowls were played in late December each year at SDCCU Stadium in San Diego, California. The game's last sponsor was the San Diego County Credit Union, and it was named the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. History Military games The original incarnation of the Poinsettia Bowl was as an armed forces football championship game, pitting western and eastern military services champions against each other. In the inaugural Poinsettia Bowl, the Bolling Air Force Base Generals defeated the San Diego Naval Training Center Bluejackets 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 future College Football Hall of Fame coach 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 1953, the Fort Ord Warriors, an Army team that featured quarterback Don Heinrich and running back Ollie Matson, defeated the Quantico Marines team led by Hayden Fry at quarterback. The Fort Sill Canoneers defeated Bolling Air Force Base in 1954, and the Fort Ord Warriors returned as champions in 1955, defeating Pensacola Naval Air Station in the fourth and final such Poinsettia Bowl. In November 1956, organizers announced the cancellation of that year's game, "because of deployment of the fleet," shortly after the Suez Crisis. NCAA games The bowl was resurrected in 2005, and featured a team from the Mountain West Conference each year it was played, originally against an at-large opponent. The inaugural game matched Navy Midshipmen against the Colorado State Rams; Navy won 51–30. It had attendance of 36,842. In the week leading up to the 2005 game, the Navy Midshipmen accepted an invitation to the 2008, 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