Future MWC member San Jose St. accepts invite to the Military Bowl

Future Mountain West Conference member the San Jose St. Spartans accepted a big to play in the Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman on Friday, playing in a bowl game for the first time since 2006.

SJSU will play a representative of the Mid-American Conference, which struck a deal with the Military Bowl Friday night to exercise the option for the MAC to send a representative to play in the bowl on Thursday Dec. 27 at 3 p.m. at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington D.C.

San Jose State, which is 10-2 and No. 25 in the latest BCS standings, their final six regular season games and have beaten four bowl-bound teams.

In a press release, third-year SJSU head coach as complimentary:

"This is exciting news for San Jose State, this football program and, in particular, our seniors, our fans, our alumni, our students, our conference and the city of San Jose. This team accomplished so much in so many ways this season and now we have another an opportunity to continue to our season in the Military Bowl," says MacIntyre. "We have a chance to win 11 games. The last time that was at San Jose State here was before World War II and our players, coaches and staff are ready to get started."

The MAC has three bowl tie-ins – the Little Ceasars Pizza Bowl, the GoDaddy.com Bowl and the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. There was hope that the MAC champion would receive a BCS bid but their higher rated BCS team, the Kent St. Flashes (No. 18 Associated Press/No. 19 USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll/), fell to the Northern Illinois Huskies (No. 19 AP/No. 18 Coaches) 44-37 in double overtime. The Huskies entered the game rated 21 in the BCS standings compared to the Flashes’ No. 17 rating.

The MAC enters the post-season with six bowl eligible teams – No. Illinois, Kent St., the Ball State Cardinals and Toledo Rockets (both 9-3), the Bowling Green Falcons and Ohio Bobcats (both 8-4) and the 6-6 Central Michigan Broncos.

If no MAC team is chosen for the BCS, the likely opponent for SJSU will likely be either Ball State or Toledo. If No. Illinois gets a BCS bid, Bowling Green and Ohio become possibilities. The final BCS bowl bids will be announced early Sunday evening.

San Jose St. junior quarterback David Fales and his four primary targets four targets - wide receivers Noel Grigsby, Chandler Jones and Jabari Carr and tight end Ryan Otten – will enter the game as the most accurate passing team in the FBS completing 71.3 percent of its passes for 33 touchdowns to date.

The Spartans’ defense is ranked in the top-10 nationally presently in turnovers gained (7th tied), fumbles recovered (1st tied) and quarterback sacks (5th). The Spartans are 25th in scoring defense allowing 21.4 points a game.

Tickets for the Military Bowl are on sale now at militarybowl.org