Air Force vs. Navy again? No

Forget about an Air Force-Navy rematch in the Poinsettia Bowl.

It will not happen, according to Bruce Binkowski, the bowl’s executive director.

“We will not have a rematch of a regular season game,” Binkowski said this morning, putting an end to speculation that the rival service academies could meet in the game at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego on Dec. 20. “I know some coaches like it, some coaches don’t. We decided early on, even in the Holiday Bowl (the sister bowl of the Poinsettia Bowl) that if you play during the regular season we will avoid that rematch.”

Navy beat Air Force 31-20 on Sept. 29.

Poinsettia Bowl representative Weldon Donaldson attended Air Force’s 20-12 victory over Wyoming on Saturday and said a rematch was possible if both teams agreed to it. That ignited speculation, and on Sunday, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun campaigned for a rematch, saying it could be “one of the absolute gems of the postseason.”

Binkowski said the bowl often does “consider” the wishes of a team when selecting an opponent. But if Navy becomes bowl eligible by winning six or more games, it receives an automatic bid to the bowl. And Air Force would not even be considered as an opponent.

“If Navy is bowl eligible, we will go in another direction,” Binkowsi said of the Midshipmen's possible opponent. “If Navy is not bowl eligible, we would certainly look at Air Force.”

Navy is 4-3 and probably will get to six wins. Navy has games remaining against Delaware of the Bowl Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA), Notre Dame (1-7), North Texas (1-6), Northern Illinois (1-7) and Army (3-5).

If Navy is eligible, the Poinsettia Bowl will select its opponent from the Mountain West Conference. The bowl gets the second choice of Mountain West Conference teams (after the Las Vegas Bowl, which typically takes the Mountain West champion).

But it would not pick Air Force.

“Air Force is going to land somewhere,” Binkowski said. “They’ve had a great year.”