Once more to the BBVA Compass Bowl. Once more the run up to the game has been largely ignored by the fans in favor of basketball (not in a good way this time) and the future head coaching situation. Unlike last year, the coach who will be running things next year is in place on the eve of the bowl.

In the best of times, the BBVA Bowl is largely an ignored and at best a curiosity. A very minor bowl that is on a Saturday afternoon after the BCS Bowls, but before the BCS Championship game. Even worse, competing with the start of the NFL playoffs.

Well I may not have written much this week about the actual game, but the liveblog will be running. Apathy Bowl, part 2.

Even now, the game is getting sidelined. What with the growing possibility that Joe Rudolph could be about to join the exodus of coaches from Wisconsin to Pitt. He’s a Belle Vernon, PA native; but a Wisconsin alum. His closest friends on the staff are Bostad and Chryst. He’s apparently very torn over the choice. He’s also the Wisconsin recruiting coordinator, and considered very good at that aspect.

See? Distracted from any talk of the game.

Okay, there’s Lucas Nix getting charged for summary offenses going back to an incident right after Christmas. Silly stuff.

Wait. I did it again. That’s not about the game since it does not appear to affect whether he plays. He is playing.

Well, the most noticeable change in what Pitt will do tomorrow is not rush to get the play off in any set amount of time.

“I think we’ll be a little more ball control, I think you will see that on Saturday. We will be a little bit different in our approach,” Patterson said. “We’re going to try and take time off the clock and not necessarily be methodical in the way we do things, but ball control is going to be a little bit more of who we are; you saw some of that in the Syracuse game.

“Our philosophy will be, ‘Hey, let’s play great defense and punting the football sometimes is not a bad play.’ That is kind of the plan we will try to employ this Saturday.”

Now those are the hallmarks of any defensive coordinator that gets to be the head coach. SMU runs a spread, up-tempo offense. So the last thing any DC wants to see is a shoot-out where the defense gets run ragged.

Defacto offensive coordinator Todd Dodge doesn’t disagree with slowing it down a bit, but…

The Panthers (6-6), he said, will try to control the ball but there will still be some series when they go uptempo against SMU (7-5). And no matter what, they will continue to operate out of the no-huddle.

“The tempo that we run will be different but we’d be crazy to try to change anything major because this is the offense we have and have worked with all year,” Dodge said. “There will be little different types of flavor things that I may try to accentuate as we go through and utilize some different tempos, but those will be the biggest things.

“Structurally, it will be the same, but I’m a believer in less is more so we have gotten a ton of reps with a small number of formations and plays. But I feel good about our ability to attack every part of the field in the passing game.”

Dodge said he plans on getting a lot of receivers into the game and, at times, use the short passing game in lieu of the running game depending on how the Mustangs defense is deployed.

One thing that will work in his favor is that the Panthers will have all of their receivers healthy with the exception of Cam Saddler, who is out for the year with a sternum injury. Dodge said that will be the first time in a while that the team will have so many options at receiver.

He also said his preference is to take more shots down the field and believes the Panthers will have some opportunities to do that.

“We’re as healthy as we’ve been on in a while,” Dodge said. “And my style has been to take a vertical [shot] when a vertical appears.

The playbook has been further paired down. Dodge has spoken of calling plays that emphasize the strengths of the players. Especially Tino Sunseri.

Dodge said he has a much better feel for Sunseri’s strengths and weaknesses than the former offensive coordinators because he has worked so closely with him as quarterbacks coach.

“What I’ve done is gone back and taken inventory of what Tino really does well,” Dodge said. “And I think I know best what he does well because I’m his quarterback coach and I’ve — for lack of a better term — taken a conglomeration of things that he has executed and those are the things that we are going to go into the game with.

“I think there is something to be said for the guy who is calling plays to be locked into the guy who is pulling the trigger. There is a different feel for Tino right now and being able to interact with me on the sidelines is going to be key.”

I think everyone will be curious about this part. Not just the fans, but the incoming coaching staff. This is Sunseri’s final audition to show why he should still have the leg up on others come the spring. Why the competition at the QB spot shouldn’t be wide-open. I’m sure many reading this are about to break the screen at the notion. But that has to be part of what is in Sunseri’s mind. Show that it wasn’t all on him with the struggles. That the style and play calling played a significant role.

Like Patterson, I wish Todd Dodge well after this. He’s rumored for high school jobs in Texas. There’s also reports/rumors about him going to the University of  Houston Cougars. I’m glad he has options.