FAQ: BBVA Compass Bowl

The 2012 BBVA Bowl is just a day away. We're sure you have so many questions. We're here to help. (For an Xs and Os breakdown, check out Ben Glicksman's game

The 2012 BBVA Bowl is just a day away. We're sure you have so many questions. We're here to help. (For an Xs and Os breakdown, check out Ben Glicksman's game preview.)

• What's all this, then? We return once more to the scene of the late, lamented PapaJohns.com Bowl, still the only college football game to ever be named for a pizza chain's website.

• Where will this game be played? Birmingham, Alabama's Legion Field.

• Should I feel unsafe even setting foot in the stadium? Nonsense. I myself spent an entire football game there this season, and not a single piece of   concrete fell on my head.

• But didn't you find a loose bolt just inexplicably sitting in your seat when you got there? I did, yes.

• When is it on television? Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, January 7. The game will be televised on ESPN.

• Whom does it feature? Typically, Big East versus SEC, with the MAC and C-USA as alternates.

• What about this year? It's 6-6 Pitt versus 7-5 SMU! Have you chills, gentle readers? Are they multiplying?

• How excited is Pitt to be back in the BBVA Compass Bowl for a second consecutive postseason, with a second interim head coach? We're not sure numbers this minute can be measured by current blogging technologies.

• Who will call the game? Mike Gleason, John Congemi and Eamon McAananey, bless their hearts.

• Who or what is a BBVA Compass? "A Sunbelt-based financial institution with offices in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Texas." An early ancestor post of this series will answer any further questions you might have.

• Wait, so why is the Sun Belt not in this bowl? Natural tie-in! We agree; this oversight is most distressing.

• Enough about the football. What about the loot? Wee iBeats by Dr. Dre headphones await all participating players! (Just the earbuds. This ain't the Cotton Bowl, y'all!) And a commemorative football for every student-athlete who wants to remember this game forever. In related news, forecasts in Birmingham call for an unprecedented surplus of BBVA Compass Bowl commemorative footballs.

• Please impart any miscellaneous knowledge you might have concerning the 2012 BBVA Compass Bowl. The game slogan reads as follows: "Southern Hospitality. Serious Football." We are not making that up.

Stay tuned for more postseason FAQ sheets, and stay on top of a hectic postseason slate with our complete

2011-2012 College Football Bowl Schedule

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