SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8/AP/CNS) — San Diego State's football team will line up against Army in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl later this month, officials announced Sunday.
The Aztecs will head to Fort Worth, Texas, to take on Army West Point in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 23 at 12:30 p.m. PST
Athletics officials at SDSU had been eyeing the Foster Farms Bowl in Santa Clara before the University of Wisconsin's football team lost to Ohio State University Sunday, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Wisconsin's loss prompted a re-shuffling of bowl game destinations.
Big Ten team Wisconsin dropped down to the Orange Bowl, causing every other Big Ten school to drop down a notch and leaving no room for the Aztecs, a Mountain West team, in the Foster Farms Bowl, which was handed to Purdue instead.
The Aztecs have a 10-2 record this season, while Army's Black Knights are 8-3.
SDSU is 5-6 in bowl games all-time. Army is 4-2.
The last time the two teams met was in 2012, when the Aztecs beat the Black Knights 42-7.
As for the college football playoffs, #1 Clemson will play #4 Alabama in a rematch of last year's national championship and #2 Oklahoma will face #3 Georgia.
The AP outlines the details of the Armed Forces Bowl below:
Army (8-4, Independent) vs. San Diego State (10-2, Mountain West), Dec. 23, 3:30 p.m. EST (ESPN)
LOCATION: Fort Worth, Texas.
TOP PLAYERS
Army: QB Ahmad Bradshaw, 1,472 yards rushing, 11 touchdowns; LB Alex Auckerman, 14.5 tackles for loss, 6 sacks.
San Diego State: RB Rashaad Penny, leads nation with both 168.9 yards per game rushing and 224.8 yards per game all-purpose.
NOTABLE
Army: The Black Knights earned their way into the Armed Forces Bowl with their win over Temple on Oct. 21. They're playing in back-to-back bowl games for the first time since the 1984-85 seasons.
San Diego State: The Aztecs finished on a four-game win streak and beat Pac-12 runner-up Stanford earlier in the season.
LAST TIME
San Diego State 42, Army 7 (Sept. 8, 2012)
BOWL HISTORY
Army: The Black Knights are 4-2 in bowls and making a second appearance in the Armed Forces.
San Diego State: The Aztecs will be playing in this bowl for the first time and are 5-6 all-time in bowls.
___
By The Associated Press
More AP college football: collegefootball.ap.org and twitter.com/ap_top25
RELATED COVERAGE