The 2011 BBVA Compass Bowl (formerly known as the Papajohns.com Bowl and the Birmingham Bowl) was a postseason

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

between a team from the Big East Conference and a team from the SEC played at Legion Field in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

on January 8, 2011 (12 p.m. ET).

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

provided television coverage. The game was initially renamed "The Birmingham Bowl" after previous title sponsor PapaJohns.com decided not to renew their sponsorship of the game. However, on November 4, 2010, the Bowl officially changed its name to the BBVA Compass Bowl after an agreement with Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria was signed. Scoring 13 points in the second quarter, Pittsburgh defeated Kentucky 27–10.

Teams

Pittsburgh (7-5, 5-2 Big East) was selected to play Kentucky (6-6, 2-6 SEC) in the game.

Pittsburgh

Pitt started the season 2-3, which came as a surprise to many after Pitt was listed as the favorite to win the 2010 Big East Football Conference championship. The Panthers received 22 of 24 possible first-place votes, and 2 second-place votes. After their slow start, the Panthers rebounded, winning 4 out of their next 5 games, improving their record to 6-4. The Panthers ended the season at 8-5 and finished as Big East Co-Champions, along with West Virginia and Connecticut. However, because of the Panthers' losses to both schools, they were not eligible for the conference's bid to a BCS Bowl Game.

Kentucky

The Wildcats began the season by winning their first 3 games, all against non-conference teams. Over the span of the next 6 games, the Wildcats won only a single game, reducing their record to 4-5. They then split the last 4 games of the season, finishing it at 6-6, good for 5th in the Eastern Division of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

Notes

* Dave Wannstedt, who was forced to resign after the regular season, was expected to coach Pitt in the bowl game, however on January 3, 2011, he declined to coach in the game. Instead defensive coordinator Phil Bennett stepped in as interim head coach.Associated Press
Phil Bennett to coach Pitt in bowl
''ESPN'', January 3, 2011

References

;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:2011 Bbva Compass Bowl BBVA Compass Bowl Birmingham Bowl Kentucky Wildcats football bowl games Pittsburgh Panthers football bowl games BBVA Compass