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Hello all, let's call today's Q&A the "bowl edition" as I attempt to answer the most common questions that keep coming up. Simply put, it seems like Pitt has two options -- the Sun Bowl or the PapaJohns.Com bowl. Here are the reasons why as best as I can explain them based on conversations with people in Pitt's administration, people at the Big East, people at bowls and others who have the information we are all looking for. Hopefully this clears up any confusion about why (a) the Gator Bowl is not really in play and (b) Pitt's options are so limited.

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Q: Paul, you wrote a very disturbing story yesterday in the paper about Pitt's bowl options. The fact that they may play in Birmingham against a Sunbelt team barely reaching bowl eligibility is crazy. It would be embarrassing and the fact that it is win or go to that bowl is also embarrassing. With all the Pittsburgh transplants around the country, why do you think it is so hard for Pitt to travel? I understand why WVU travels (what else is there to do in Morgantown but drink and watch football) but I see lots of people from around the country writing to you. Pitt also has a student body of, what, 30,000? And we can't sell 15,000 or so tickets to bowl? Bowls are all about ticket sales now and Pitt does not sell them

Brian Wedzick, Charlotte, N.C.

ZEISE: I think it is just a cultural thing with Pitt fans as compared to other fan bases -- Pitt fans aren't (in general or at least don't seem to be) die-hard college football fans and thus, unlike fans of many teams in the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12 -- their whole calendar and lives don't revolve around their team's football schedule and their vacations don't revolve around going to a bowl game. There are some really die-hard fans who travel with the team, who support the team and who go to all the bowl games, but the bottom line is this base is very small. Pitt has a lot of casual fans who only really get interested when Pitt is doing well. It is this group that has let Pitt down in the past and unless more of this group moves into the die-hard category, I don't think it is going to change in terms of selling tickets -- either at Heinz Field or to bowl games. If Pitt wins and is fun to watch, the Panthers will sell tickets. If they lose or have bad opponents, they won't. The only remedy for getting passed over for bowls is this -- buy more tickets when Pitt gets its invitation.

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Q: If Pitt ends up in the papajohns.com bowl and plays somebody like Troy, or Louisiana - Lafayette, wouldn't that be terrible? If Pitt wins on Saturday, and finishes with 9 wins in the Big East and ends up in that terrible bowl game, how disappointing will that be? Is there anyway they can get to Meineke car care bowl either by losing Saturday or anything, that they can at least play an ACC team, because the Sun Bowl is looking unlikely, since West Virginia will probably win sat. night

Joe S., Pittsburgh

ZEISE: The Meineke Bowl people have already said both on the record and behind the scenes they are interested in one of two teams -- Rutgers or West Virginia and they are very lukewarm to the idea of having Pitt because they need to sell tickets. Perhaps they could change their mind. I suppose if WVU got blown out and Rutgers got blown out and Pitt won, they'd take a closer look at a 9-win, ranked Pitt team with a big-name running back, but it seems like they are fairly adamant about who they want and Pitt isn't on the list. That's the business end of the bowls. It isn't always fair, but it is what it is. Pitt's best case scenario is win and have Rutgers beat Louisville. Anything short of that will likely put them in Birmingham.

There is one scenario that seems to have emerged that could put Pitt in play for the Meineke Bowl. Apparently there has been a little bit of a shake up in the ACC's bowl selections -- at least according to reports out of Charlotte and Jacksonville -- which say the Gator is now looking at taking Clemson, which would bump FSU to the Champs Sports Bowl and perhaps bump North Carolina to the Meineke Bowl. Now, if that happens, and the Tar Heels end up in Charlotte, I'd say that Pitt's chances of landing in Charlotte increase significantly because Rutgers has already played North Carolina and bowls are not usually interested in having rematches. So in that case, if the Sun picked WVU over Pitt, the Panthers would be a more attractive opponent for the Meineke if indeed the ACC team waiting for them is North Carolina.

So in addition to rooting for Rutgers to win over Louisville, Pitt fans should keep their fingers crossed and hope that the Meineke bowl does indeed pick North Carolina to make that game an option for the Panthers. Of course, Pitt could make it very simple by putting on a good show and winning Saturday against Connecticut.

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Q: Just to follow up on the whole Bowl picture discussion. Does Pitt have absolutely no shot at the Gator Bowl? Is this because Gator would rather have a Big 12 team that would likely sell more tickets than Pitt? Assuming Pitt wins on Sat, they would have -- as you know, 9 wins -- more than Nebraska's 8, which would be the likely rep. But again, no matter, right, because it's about fannies in the seats, not the best available team?

Jeff Young, New York City

ZEISE: The Gator Bowl is not in play for the Big East for two reasons -- the strength of the Big 12 and the number of attractive teams in it beyond the top two or three -- and more specifically the fact that Nebraska is available to the Gator Bowl (from what I am reading it is shaping up to be Nebraska-Florida State or Georgia Tech). The second reason is this -- if the Gator Bowl takes a Big 12 team this year, it will be able to take the Big East (more specifically Notre Dame in lieu of the Big East) next year. And yes, ticket sales drive all of the decisions with regards to bowl games.

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Q: Pitt seems to have a poor reputation when it comes to filling seats at bowl games. Despite a record better than some other Big East teams this year, it sounds like our reputation is influencing which bowls want us. I would think Pitt alumni live throughout the country and would travel better to some games away from Pittsburgh. Is this still part of the hangover from the late 80's and early 90's era? Thoughts?

Jeff Kovatch, Huntingdon, Pa.

ZEISE: This is not based on reputation, it is based on recent history -- Pitt didn't sell out its ticket allotment to the Fiesta Bowl in 2004, the Tire Bowl (whatever the heck it was called back then) in 2003 or the Insight Bowl in 2002. If you don't buy tickets, bowl people don't want you because it also means you aren't buying hotel rooms, meals and drinking adult beverages in local establishments, not too mention buying T-shirts, bumper stickers, etc., etc. Bowls exist to bring people to a certain region, showcase a certain region and, most of all, make money -- if people don't go to them, they don't make money. If Pitt people want to see their team go to better bowls, the solution is simple -- buy every ticket possible for every bowl game and start traveling to them -- otherwise, don't complain when you get left behind for teams that you've beaten who travel better than you do, like West Virginia for instance.

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Q: If Pitt can't get an invite to the Sun Bowl, wouldn't the program be better off calling the Poinsettia Bowl and asking for a match-up with TCU? It would be better than facing Troy in the Papa John's bowl.

Todd Reilly, Encinitas, Calif.

ZEISE: This is another question that keeps coming up -- "if Pitt can't get the Sun, why can't the Panthers go find another bowl which won't be filled by its conference to play in?" The short answer is -- it can't happen this year because there aren't going to be enough 7-win teams in the Big East to push any of them to another bowl.

The Big East - or any conference -- must fill all of its bowl spots -- by contract -- with all of its seven-plus win teams before anything else can happen. So it is impossible for Pitt to go anywhere else because there are two general scenarios which will have an effect on Pitt -- if Rutgers loses, Notre Dame to Sun, West Virginia to Charlotte -- that would leave Pitt, UConn and USF as Big East teams with seven wins or more -- and there'd be three spots left (International, St. Pete and PapaJohns). The Big East would have to fill those three spots with those three teams -- and here is the kicker -- because those spots would be filled -- Rutgers -- and Louisville for that matter -- would be 6-6 and bowl eligible and once all of the open spots around the country are filled with seven-or-more win teams, the Scarlet Knights and Cardinals would be free to go find a bowl spot to play in (and there will be a number that go unfilled by seven win teams). So in short, a 6-6 Rutgers team and a 6-6 Louisville team could potentially -- and likely would -- be in better bowl spots than a 9-3 Pitt team under that scenario. Isn't this system grand?

The second scenario would be Rutgers wins -- making them 7-5 -- that would mean the Big East would have six seven-win teams -- and six spots to fill (counting the BCS) so no Big East team would be able to go outside the conference's bowl affiliations. The best thing Pitt fans can do to improve options down the road is (a) buy tickets in masses to this and every bowl game following and (b) hope that the Big East negotiates better bowl deals next year or whenever the contract with these bowls is up (I think there might be two more years of this deal).

In short, Pitt's choices are limited to the Big East lineup and of the bowls which seem to be still up for grabs, only two of them, Sun and PapaJohns.Com, have expressed an interest in the Panthers.