The Poinsettia Bowl

I was told college football games were much more fun to watch than NFL games. The Poinsettia Bowl was the first college football game that I got to see. SDSU Aztecs vs Navy Shipmen. Navy won. Score 17 – 16. Way too many turnovers on both ends. That’s beside the point. I didn’t come in to the game with a real set team to root for in mind. Scratch that. Though I’m a San Diego local with family members as SDSU alums, I was rooting for the Navy (the military brat in me). I enjoyed the experience and would most likely attend another one of these in the future.
The pre-​festivities before the game was entertaining. I liked that the Navy went all out with the National Anthem (see pic) by presenting a football field sized flag and that 15 yr old Katriz Trinidad (The Voice contestant) sang beautifully. The blue jays flying overhead and fireworks after the National Anthem and half time were a nice touch. I got the best seat for the fireworks show. The crowd was pretty full and split evenly between the 2 sides though I think the Navy crowd ran pretty deep.
Didn’t have issues with food. Expectedly overpriced but what place isn’t? There were vendors everywhere at all times. It was fun. As for college football games being more fun to watch… you betcha! It was a close game.

It was good to get on the college football venue again and watch two teams that I generally like facing off against each other. A plus for the evening was the weather! It was a warm day and it lasted pretty much throughout the first half. Navy was playing SDSU in this game and with a lot of local interest in both teams, it was pretty well attended.
I went to the Holiday Bowl a couple of years ago and loved the fanfare, fireworks and the crowd around me that night. It was the best fireworks display I had ever seen! Well, what happened then led to my greatest disappointment this evening at the Poinsettia Bowl. The halftime show was pretty dull — but at least the game was close. The fireworks were confined to outside the north end of the stadium — right where I was sitting. So I saw very few of them — but got a lot of ash, smoke, and noise!
The game itself was close throughout — and a little sloppy with numerous turnovers by both teams. Navy prevailed in the end over SDSU as you might expect — by a missed 34 yard FG by a guy who was flawless earlier in the game.
Throughout my disappointment, it was clear that the city puts far more emphasis on the Holiday Bowl but nevertheless, I’m not going to complain in the end, especially after receiving my tickets free!
Recommend: MED

This is my third time attending the Poinsettia Bowl. This year wasn’t as exciting as the first two times. Like any ball game, you have to pay for parking. Qualcomm Stadium still had their no bags or backpacks in effect. Ladies can only bring a clutch purse. You’ll have to read all the stadium requirements on Qualcomm Stadium’s website. I rarely attend football games here due to all the hassle of trying to attend and money that can be spent on more important things. I decided to attend the game this year with a couple of friends, since I got a good deal on the tickets. San Diego County Credit Union sponsored this game and offered their bank members discounted tickets, so I took advantage of the offer. One of the few times I can actually attend a football bowl game that was affordable. My friend wanted to get nachos at a concession stand and the first place she went to order, said that the cheese for their nachos was cold. That wasn’t good. We ended up walking around to another concession stand. She not only got her hot cheese, the ladies at the concession stand were very nice and accommodating. I forgot how expensive stadium food can get. Needless to say, this football game was definitely different from the NFL and quite interesting. The best part of the evening aside from Jessica Sanchez singing the National Anthem, was their Fireworks Spectacular during the half-​time show.

I’ll admit I’m a little bias here, being an SDSU alum and all. But you know what, for all the futility this football team has put me through, I would like to say that on behalf of all alumni — it feels good to WIN. FINALLY!!!
Ronnie Hillman is a stud and broke Marshall Faulk’s freshman rushing record in this game. I hope he stays healthy and we go to an even bigger bowl game next year. SDSU simply dominated Navy, even though their QB made some huge plays.
In the end, SDSU won, I was pretty hammered for most of the night, and made it home in one piece. That is why it gets five stars.
If you need to know, Qualcomm is still a sh*thole. We had field level seats and the walkways smelled like hobos and churros. There were also buckets to catch water that had collected because of the storm the day before. Sexy, I know.

Uh… not sure about Jeff H. He sounds like he works for the committee and may not have actually attended these games.
Depending on which teams play, this has the makings of some hellasious smash mouth college football. We attended year number 2 when the Naval Academy and Colorado State played each other. The stadium was PACKED and it was sooooo cool sitting on the Navy side of the house with those crazy ass fly boys. What a great game!
This year was just AS GREAT! Texas Christian against Boise State!!! WOW. what a shootout! TCU won by one point! We stayed until the bitter end and I can’t tell you how enjoyable the whole experience is. We had great seats but because the stadium was only at 41K, we snuck around and took some press seats for the 3^rd quarter and then moved down to the Field level for the 4^th Quarter. I will say though, the staff and the SDPD were very, very nice and professional. A lot of the staff were seriously cold out there, it was probably around 45 degrees by the end of the 4^th Quarter but they were just as cheery then as when we showed up.
I take issue with the comments from other review, calling this a «Down Syndrome» Bowl Game, pretty tacky and it was NOT like that at all.
TCU and Boise State had a great year, I think Boise was at 9 –3, TCU 12– 1 or something. The game was great, and I bet we go next year. I am just hoping that Navy or CAL plays next time!

The Poinsettia Bowl is typically known as The Holiday Bowl’s little step brother with down syndrome and a drool. The kind of kid you don’t take to the mall because it might cause you embarrassment. But the folks that put on the Bowl game work just as hard to put this together year round that they do for the Holiday Bowl. Each year the game features the teams from two different conferences matching up and trying to win that bowl money. This year the teams are from the Mountain West and from the Pac-​10. The teams are undefeated Boise State and Ladainian Tomlinson’s alma mater Texas Christian. This is one of those games that will feature a lot of scoring and pundits are expecting a really great game. Even if your not into college football it’s always fun to go and tailgate and watch some college teams that actually win games… as opposed to The Aztecs. Check it out, it’s December football in San Diego and right before Christmas.