| Game Name: | BBVA Compass Bowl |
| Date Game Played: | January 7 |
| Year Game Played: | 2012 |
| Football Season: | 2011 |
| Stadium: | Legion Field |
| City: | Birmingham, Alabama |
| Visitor School: | 2011 SMU Mustangs football team |
| Visitor Name Short: | SMU |
| Visitor Nickname: | Mustangs |
| Visitor Record: | 7–5 |
| Visitor Coach: | June Jones |
| Visitor Conference: | C-USA |
| Visitor 1Q: | 21 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 7 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 0 |
| Home School: | 2011 Pittsburgh Panthers football team |
| Home Name Short: | Pittsburgh |
| Home Nickname: | Panthers |
| Home Record: | 6–6 |
| Home Coach: | Keith Patterson (interim) |
| Home Conference: | Big East |
| Home 1Q: | 0 |
| Home 2Q: | 3 |
| Home 3Q: | 3 |
| Home 4Q: | 0 |
| Odds: | Pittsburgh by 5[1] |
| Mvp: | Darius Johnson (SMU)[2] |
| Referee: | Dan Romeo (Big 12) |
| Attendance: | 29,726 |
| Payout: | 1 million (SEC); $900,000 (Big East)[3] |
| Us Network: | ESPN |
| Us Announcers: | Mike Gleason (Play-by-Play) John Congemi (Analyst) Eamon McAnaney (Sidelines) |
| Ratings: | 1.49 |
The 2012 BBVA Compass Bowl, the sixth edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on January 7, 2012, at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, as part of the 2011–12 NCAA Bowl season. The game, which was telecast at 12:00 p.m. CT on ESPN, featured the SMU Mustangs of Conference USA versus the Pittsburgh Panthers of the Big East Conference. This was Pittsburgh's second consecutive appearance in the game, and just as in the previous contest the Panthers were led by an interim head coach, Keith Patterson, after Todd Graham resigned on December 13, 2011.[4]
Pittsburgh and SMU met for the first time in 29 years in this BBVA Compass Bowl, which normally pairs a Big East conference team against a team from the Southeastern Conference. The SEC conference did not have enough bowl-eligible teams this season and the SMU football team was selected by the organizers to play in the bowl. Pittsburgh and SMU had met five times previously, the last time at the 1983 Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day, when the Mustangs won 7–3.
See also: 2011 Pittsburgh Panthers football team.
See also: 2011 SMU Mustangs football team.