BBVA Compass Bowl

The BBVA Compass Bowl pits a current Big East team (Pittsburgh) against a future Big East team (Southern Methodist). Kickoff will be at 1 PM on ESPN

Pittsburgh (6-6, 4-3, 4th Big East) saw it's head coach, Todd Graham, leave for Arizona State immediately after the season and will be playing under the guidance of their interim coach and defensive coordinator Keith Patterson, who will himself be hitting the road for Arkansas State next week. (Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst will become the Panthers' new head coach.) Some might see this as a distraction, but to the Pitt players it's more like deja vu. They played in the same bowl, under the same conditions (vis-a-vis coaching changes) last year. (Pitt beat Kentucky 27-10 in that game.)

A bigger problem for Pitt is the loss of their premier running back Ray Graham. With Graham out more of the offensive burden will fall on the shoulders--and arm--of quarterback Tino Sunseri. And Pitt hasn't been that great at protecting their quarterback this year. The Panthers are last in the nation with its 56 sacks allowed, 4.75 per game.

SMU (7-5, 5-3, 3rd in the West Division of C-USA) has been something of a self stopper this season. Quarterback J.J. McDermott has thrown for 3182 yards and 16 TDs and Zach Line has rushed for 1224 yards and scored 17 TDs, but McDermott has also thrown 16 interceptions and the Mustangs have turned the ball over a total of 31 times...a stat that puts them last in the nation in that category.

[UPDATE: I didn't realize that Zach Line was also out for this game with an injury. That should hamper SMU a bit and put even more pressure on McDermott to produce and Pitt's defense to shut down the passing game.]

Not sure how either offense will play out today, but the defenses should be licking their chops.

Look for a slightly simpler offense from Pittsburgh from the spread that Todd Graham was trying to implement. The Panther defense will come through.

Pittsburgh 24, SMU 17