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Mountain West co-champion San Diego State Aztecs will be staying home for the holidays after accepting an invitation to play the BYU Cougars in the seventh annual San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 20 at 6 p.m. MT. The game will be played at Qualcomm Stadium and will be televised on ESPN.
The game will be the 36th meeting between the Aztecs and BYU (7-5), who were adversaries both in the MWC and the WAC before the Cougars went independent in 2011. SDSU has lost five straight in the series, which the Cougars lead, 27-7-1.
"We are honored to be selected to participate in the 2012 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl," said Aztecs head coach Rocky Long in a press release Monday. "The Poinsettia Bowl is one of the best events I have ever been involved with and it will be a tremendous experience for our student-athletes. Best of all, we will have the opportunity to play in front of our fans and that will make for a great atmosphere on Dec. 20."
SDSU boast the 16th best rushing attack in the country, averaging 229.17 yards per game. Their rushing attack features freshman running back Adam Muema, who averages 112.9 yards per game. Senior quarterback Ryan Katz has thrown 13 touchdowns on the season with only four interceptions. He has completed 99 of 163 passing attempts for 1,348 yards. Sophomore Adam Dingwell has thrown eight touchdowns and four interceptions going 71 of 115 for 795 yards for the season.
The Aztecs will be playing in its third consecutive bowl game for the first time in school history. Two seasons ago, San Diego State defeated Navy, 35-14, in its first appearance in the Poinsettia Bowl to earn the Aztecs' first bowl victory since 1969. Last year, the Aztecs lost in the New Orleans Bowl to Louisiana-Lafayette, 32-30, on a last-second field goal.
San Diego State claimed a share of the MWC title by defeating Wyoming 42-28 on Saturday. The win gave the Aztecs their 19th conference title overall and first since 1998. The seven straight wins is the fifth-longest streak in the country.
This meat of this post originally appeared on Mountain West Connection.