Formerly known as the PapaJohns.com Bowl, the BBVA Compass Bowl is a post-season college football bowl game played each season at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Televised on ESPN, the game invites the fifth- or sixth-place team from the Southeastern Conference to play against the eighth- or ninth-place team from the Big East Conference.http://www.bbvacompassbowl.com/quick-facts.php http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/bowls/predictions
In the 2010 NCAA Football season, the first time the bowl was played as the BBVA Compass Bowl, the game took place on Saturday, January 8, 2010. Kickoff took place at noon Eastern.http://www.bbvacompassbowl.com/quick-facts.php The game featured the Pittsburgh Panthers from the Big East defeating the Kentucky Wildcats from the SEC by a score of 27-10.http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=310080096 Pittsburgh brought a 7-5 regular season record including going 5-2 in conference games. Kentucky entered after an even 6-6 season with all six of their losses coming against conference opponents for a 2-6 conference record.http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/preview?gameId=310080096
BBVA Compass is the 15th largest commercial bank in the United States with over 720 branch locations in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Texas.http://www.bbvacompass.com/compass/
Bowl Game History
Bringing post-season college football back to the city of Birmingham, Alabama, after over 15 years since the All-American Bowl was held at Legion Field, the first bowl game, titled the PapaJohns.com Bowl, was held in 2006.http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/bowls/bowl_results.php?bowlid=4 http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/bowls/bowl_results.php?bowlid=374 The South Florida Bulls of the Big East defeated the East Carolina Pirates of the Conference-USA 24-7.http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/bowls/bowl_results.php?bowlid=374
Continuing as the PapaJohns.com Bowl for three-additional seasons, the 2007 bowl game included the Cincinnati Bearcats topping the Southern Miss Golden Eagles 31-21, while the 2008 edition saw the Rutgers Scarlet Knights defeat the North Carolina State Wolfpack 29-23. The game moved from late December to early January for the 2009-10 NCAA Football season and on January 2, 2010, the Connecticut Huskies won the game over the South Carolina Gamecocks 20-7.http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/bowls/bowl_results.php?bowlid=374
After the January 2010 bowl game, Papa John's opted to decline a renewal of their sponsorship of the game in favor of signing a deal with the National Football League.http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/08/papa_johns_cites_new_strategy.html The game briefly reverted back to its working title of the Birmingham Bowl until November 2010 when BBVA Compass stepped in as the new title sponsor.http://blog.al.com/businessnews/2010/11/bbva_compass_to_take_over_spon.html
BBVA Compass Bowl Game Sponsorship Announcement
In a press conference held on November 4, 2010, Mark Meadows, the executive director of the bowl game, announced that BBVA Compass had secured sponsorship rights to the game formerly known as the PapaJohns.com Bowl and Birmingham Bowl. Manolo Sanchez, BBVA U.S. Country Manager President and CEO of BBVA Compass, also spoke at the event, calling the opportunity to work with the bowl game and ESPN, which holds the broadcast rights to the game, a "privilege."
References
Fast Facts
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First played
2006
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Venue
Legion Field
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Location
Birmingham, Alabama
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Match-up
Southeastern Conference vs. Big East Conference
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Television coverage
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Former names
PapaJohns.com Bowl, Birmingham Bowl
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2010-11 game
January 8, 2011
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2010-11 match-up
Pittsburgh vs Kentucky
