One showdown quashed.

Another one on deck.

Ball State's decision Wednesday to pass on a "Battle of Unbeatens" contest with Boise State in the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl almost certainly sends the Broncos to the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego.

There, the No. 9 Broncos (12-0) likely will face No. 11 TCU (10-2) - a higher-ranked and more-respected opponent than No. 12 Ball State (12-0).

The Poinsettia Bowl is scheduled for 6 p.m. MST Dec. 23 at Qualcomm Stadium, the home of the NFL's San Diego Chargers. It airs on ESPN and should be the fifth-best pairing of the bowl season.

The WAC athletic directors will meet Thursday to dole out bowl assignments, although they likely won't make any announcements until Sunday, when Boise State and TCU are released from Bowl Championship Series consideration.

Nobody was ready to confirm the Boise State-TCU matchup Wednesday - but they sure did like the idea.

"It would have been a very, very attractive game and one that would have generated a lot of media interest," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said of the Boise State-Ball State idea. "Now we wait to see if there's an opportunity for Boise State that will bring the same type of sizzle."

The Broncos' only other opportunity is to play the eighth choice out of the ACC in the Humanitarian Bowl on Dec. 30 at Bronco Stadium - likely Maryland (7-5).

The Terrapins don't "sizzle."

The Horned Frogs - who are finishing up their sixth Top 25 season in nine years - do.

"We're still very intrigued with the possible matchup," Poinsettia Bowl executive director Bruce Binkowski said.

The rematch of the 2003 Fort Worth Bowl - Boise State won 34-31 on TCU's home field - is pending a few developments.

First, the Las Vegas Bowl must issue an invitation to No. 18 BYU (10-2) or TCU. BYU sells out that game every year (tickets are almost gone this year, too, just with the mention of BYU) and TCU coach Gary Patterson has said he wants to play the Broncos. The opponent in Las Vegas likely would be Arizona (6-5). The Mountain West has asked the Las Vegas Bowl to wait until Sunday to announce its decision.

Second, the WAC has to green-light the Broncos' desire to leave town for the third straight bowl season - a move that appeared all but certain because of the upgrade in opponent presented by the Poinsettia, the potential to make the league some money and the WAC's desire to build a future relationship with the Poinsettia. Boise State needs to sell 7,500 tickets to the Poinsettia.

And third, the BCS has to release the Broncos and Horned Frogs. That will happen Sunday afternoon barring some sort of last-minute craziness - like Oklahoma and Texas finishing 1-2 ahead of Florida.

H-Bowl executive director Kevin McDonald, while leaving the door open for BSU, seemed resigned to inviting Nevada (7-5) to represent the WAC. That likely will happen Sunday.

"Ball State was important for us not only to hold Boise State and get them interested in this game, but also for the fans," McDonald said. "The fans are so critical to us. We need the fans behind us, supporting the bowl."

Fans would have supported Boise State-Ball State, McDonald figured. Otherwise, the sentiment leaned toward letting the Broncos prove themselves against TCU.

Ball State turned down its prove-it opportunity - deciding to play an also-ran in the Motor City Bowl in Detroit or GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., instead of traveling to Boise.

McDonald thought the problem would be navigating all the bowl contracts to create a dream matchup. Instead, the hang-up was the Broncos' 64-2 home record the past 10 years.

"I think it was playing Boise State in Boise - they just couldn't get past that," McDonald said of Ball State. " We knew this was going to be a tough deal to get through, to get Ball State comfortable with this, and in the end we weren't able to get them comfortable."

The H-Bowl offered Ball State a significant increase in payout and the home-team designation, McDonald said. ESPN also tried to convince the Cardinals, he said. MAC commissioner Rick Chryst said taking care of the league's bowl partners and keeping the Cardinals close to their fan base were the key factors in the decision.