One week remains until the UK football team (6-6, 2-6 Southeastern Conference) faces off against the Pittsburgh Panthers (7-5, 5-2 Big East) in Birmingham, Ala., at Legion Field (Noon EST/11 a.m. CST on ESPN).

The Cats’ upcoming game against the Big East co-champions marks their school-record fifth consecutive bowl appearance; of UK’s past four bowl appearances, three have been victories (the 2006, 2007 Music City Bowls and 2009 Liberty Bowl; while the Cats lost the 2009 Music City Bowl).

UK head coach Joker Phillips will be practicing with his team in Lexington on Saturday and Sunday before traveling to Birmingham on Monday. UK will practice at the Birmingham-area Hoover High School this week.

Since the Cats returned from their Christmas break on Dec. 30, the Cats started to increase the time spent gameplanning for the Panthers to 25-30 minutes a day during practice and will resume a normal game week schedule once they arrive in Alabama.

The Cats had previously spent roughly 10 minutes a day focused on the Panthers’ since the fifth practice after the bowl announcement on Dec.5.

Overall, this will be UK’s 15th bowl appearance in program history, and will mark a return to the site of Phillips’ last game played as a collegian. The Cats played in Legion Field in the 1983 and 1984 Hall of Fame Bowls, versus West Virginia and Wisconsin, respectively. The Cats split those two bowls, losing to the Mountaineers in 1983 and defeating the Badgers in 1984.

The Compass Bowl is also one of the last college football games of the season: only the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on Jan. 9 between No. 15 Nevada and Boston College, and the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 10 between No. 1 Auburn and No. 2 Oregon follow the Compass Bowl.

UK roster news

Sophomore quarterback Morgan Newton, who started last year’s bowl game in place of the injured Mike Hartline will start this year’s bowl game in place of the fifth-year senior, this time because of the suspension of Hartline who was arrested on charges of alcohol intoxication, disorderly conduct and failure to notify address change to the Department of Transportation on Dec. 10.

Phillips said Newton has made strides in reading coverages and changing protections since he last started in 2009.

Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Mister Cobble will see his first collegiate action in the bowl game. Cobble redshirted in 2009 but was named the Most Valuable Defensive Scout Team Player of the Year by the UK coaching staff.

This season, Cobble was ruled academically ineligible for the fall semester before regaining his eligibility for the spring semester and thus, the Cats’ bowl game.

“(Cobble) has made our offense better already this year by being down there and practicing against them and hopefully he will make our defense better by being eligible for this game,” Phillips said in a news release.

15 seniors will see their collegiate careers end after this game, they are:

FB Moncell Allen, C/OG Marcus Davis, LB Jacob Dufrene, OT Brad Durham, DE DeQuin Evans, QB Mike Hartline, LS J.J. Helton, WR E.J. Jones, RB Derrick Locke, DT Ricky Lumpkin, WR Chris Matthews, DT Shane McCord, FB Greg Meisner, FB Brian Murphy and QB Tyler Sargent (Meisner, Murhpy and Sargent are junior foregoing their final season of eligibility)

Panthers’ coaching woes

On Dec. 7, then-Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt resigned from his position after coming under fire mainly for his inability to lead the Panthers to a BCS bowl during his six-year tenure at his alma mater.

The Panthers’ coaching transition seemed to be a relatively smooth process when Pitt hired Mike Haywood nine days later. Haywood led Miami (Ohio) to a 9-4 record and the Mid-American Conference championship this season and had previously served as an assistant coach at traditional powerhouses such as LSU, Texas and Notre Dame.

However, according to ESPN.com, Haywood was arrested and jailed on a domestic violence charge after a struggle in his South Bend, Ind., home Friday afternoon.

On Saturday, Pittsburgh fired Haywood after his arrest on a domestic violence charge was upgraded to a felony, according to ESPN.com. The Panthers will immediately reopen the search for a head coach and expand the process to include a larger pool of candidates, according to the same ESPN.com story.

BBVA Compass Bowl history

The BBVA Compass Bowl, formerly known as the PapaJohns.com Bowl until the fall of 2010 (and for a short time the Birmingham Bowl), has been contested since 2006 with a payout of $900,000.

The game’s primary sponsor, BBVA Compass, is a Southeastern and Southwestern financial holding company with US$65 billion in assets.

Below are the results of the previous Compass Bowl games:

Dec. 23, 2006: South Florida-24 v. East Carolina-7

Dec. 22, 2007: Cincinnati-31 v. Southern Mississippi-21

Dec. 29, 2008: Rutgers-29 v. North Carolina State-23

Jan. 2, 2010: Connecticut 20 v. South Carolina-7

(Conference affiliation is on Pittsburgh’s side as Big East teams are 4-0 in Compass Bowl history).

Attractions in Birmingham

For those fans wanting more than a trip solely dedicated to football, there are plenty of additional activities in the Magic City. The world-class Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail showcase beautifully designed courses by the world-famous golf course designer while the Talladega Superspeedway give active fans a chance to experience the thrills of going 165 mph just like their favorite NASCAR drivers.

For those fans seeking less physically engaging activities a visit to the Birmingham Museum of Art or the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute might tickle their fancy. Or, perhaps, a visit to the vast array of Birmingham’s shopping, dining and nightlife options will suffice.

Ticket information

Sideline seats are available through UK and tickets are available for both season-ticket holders and the general public. Fans are encouraged to buy directly from the UK ticket office, as all tickets from the UK allotment are sideline seats. All tickets are $50 each.

Fans may call the ticket office at 1-800-928-2287, go to the ticket office located at the Joe Craft Center in-person or print a ticket application from UKathletics.com and mail or fax (859-323-1269) the application to the ticket office.

Ticket office hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.