The 2026 SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl is back in San Diego.

According to Jon Schaeffer, the game will be played on Wednesday, December 23, at 4:30 p.m. inside San Diego State’s Snapdragon Stadium.

Also, according to Schaffer, the game will feature the new Pac-12 champion (if not in the College Football Playoff) and the fifth selection from the legacy Pac-12. 

According to Broncos on SI, Bob Lundeberg, the game will air on the CW.

History:

The game dates back to 2005.

The game featured a team from the Mountain West Conference all 12 times played. Originally, the Mountain West team played against an at-large opponent.

The inaugural game matched the Navy Midshipmen against the Colorado State Rams; Navy won 51–30. In July 2007, the San Diego Bowl Game Association announced that (starting with the 2008 game) the Pac-10 would send its seventh-place team to the game. Later, they sent their sixth-place team in 2009 and 2010, replacing the at-large team.

2010 was the first time that the hometown San Diego State Aztecs played in the Poinsettia Bowl.

The Aztecs would go on to defeat the Navy Midshipmen 35-14. SDSU played in the game two more times and lost both to BYU and Navy, respectively. By early 2017, the San Diego Bowl Game Association announced that it would eliminate the Poinsettia Bowl. With the game back just over a decade later, it will bring intrigue as the new Pac-12 squares off with the old Pac-12.

See the Sports San Diego Press Release about the return of the Poinsettia Bowl. (via Khayri_Carter)

Max Montoya

A Southern California kid from San Clemente, he attended Gonzaga University and obtained a degree in sports management with minors in digital marketing and public relations. Max has been a San Diego sports fan for life.