BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — So there is football after all. After more than a month of waiting and plenty of pre-bowl distractions, Kentucky and Pittsburgh will finally take the field at Legion Field on Saturday at noon ET for the BBVA Compass Bowl. “We’ve had a really good week of preparation down here in Birmingham,” head coach Joker Phillips said. “We had great workouts at Hoover High School and we’re just ready to put all the preparations behind us and let it show up on the field.”Excuse Phillips and his team if they’re anxious to play. When the Cats take the field Saturday, 42 days will have passed since the final regular-season game.Although the game is significantly separated from the regular season, it could have a major impact on how the season is viewed. At 6-6, Kentucky is one win away from that all-important winning season, which would be the fifth straight for the school. A loss, however, would be UK’s first losing season since the Cats went 3-8 in 2005. “Anyone on this team that’s been here for more than one year has never had a losing season,” senior defensive tackle Ricky Lumpkin said. “We’ve either been 7-6, 8-5, whatever, it’s always been a positive record and that’s something you want to keep going. That’s another streak you don’t want to lose. You don’t want to be known as the team that finally had a losing season.”Speaking at the pre-bowl news conference Friday at Legion Field, junior wide receiver Randall Cobb, whose future for next year remains in the air, said a win would be a vital step for next year’s team in keeping the winning mentality alive.”This is really like the first game of next season because it’s the first game of this year,” Cobb said. “It’ll be a different team next year, but it will still be a team that’s very familiar to this team and you’ll see what we’ll look like next year.”The bowl game will be the first one for Phillips as head coach, who ironically played in two bowl games at Legion Field as a player on the 1983 and ’84 UK teams.It’s the first time in school history that a Kentucky head coach has gone to a bowl game in his first season, but a loss and a losing season could damage how his first season is perceived.”It’s very important, especially for Coach Phillips,” Cobb said. “We want to start him off on a good note and start him off with a winning record. That’s our main concern is making sure we take care of the game for him.”Kentucky will face a Pittsburgh team that’s faced more distractions in between its last game and the bowl game than most teams face in 10 years. The Panthers will be without Big East Defensive Player of the Year Jabaal Sheard (elbow surgery), their head coach from the regular season (Dave Wannstedt), their initial replacement for him (Mike Haywood, who was fired after 16 days after being arrested) and their regular-season offensive coordinator.Even interim coach Mike Bennett, who will lead the Panthers in the bowl game, will head to Baylor afterwards as the Bears’ new defensive coordinator. Baylor announced the hiring during Friday’s BBVA Bowl news conference.Through all the whirlwind and controversy – Pitt was also just a game away from a BCS bowl game after huge preseason expectations – Bennett emphasized Friday that they’ve stuck together as a team.”We are excited about the opportunity that we’ve been afforded to play the University of Kentucky tomorrow,” Bennett said. “We think we’ve overcome some of the initial shock of what’s happened. We’ve always said this is a player’s game. These guys have worked extremely hard in preparation for this game. As I’ve told them, we’re in an SEC territory and it’s going to be a challenge for us.”Phillips said Pitt’s coaching carousel will have no effect on how it handles the Panthers on Saturday. Phillips expects Pitt to play physical defense and try to run the ball down their throats, as the Panthers have done all season.Dion Lewis, a preseason dark-horse Heisman candidate, rushed for 956 yards and 12 touchdowns this season. His backup, Ray Graham, also had 832 yards and eight scores.”We’re going to run the ball,” Bennett said. “I’m sure that we’re going to come in and face an eight- and nine-man box and everybody in the stadium will know that you’re going to have to do some things to loosen them up.”Meanwhile, Kentucky will be breaking in Morgan Newton, who will make his first start at quarterback this season as Mike Hartline serves a one-game suspension. Newton won five games as a freshman starter last year, including road wins at Georgia and at Auburn, but he’s thrown just four passes for 54 yards in mop-up duty this season. The sophomore from Carmel, Ind., has received rave reviews in the workouts leading up to the bowl game, and Phillips said he intends to throw most of the playbook at Newton.”The plan is to have one quarterback,” Phillips said. “We’d like to go with Morgan as long as we can and as long as we are making progress offensively, but (Ryan Mossakowski) could play also. We’re not going to say he won’t play because he could play if we’re not productive on offense.”Without Hartline in the mix, Cobb could play a more significant role at quarterback.”We might use a lot more snapping it to him if Morgan is having problems settling down,” Phillips said. “You’re always going to try to snap it to him five or six times a game, but that might turn into more if Morgan needs settling down.”If it is Cobb’s last game in a Kentucky uniform, one thing is certain: All attention will be on stopping one of the most electric players in college football.”Cobb is a phenomenal player,” Bennett said. “Randy (Sanders) does a great job of putting the ball in his best player’s hands. He’s a guy that lines up all over the field. He’s very elusive, and we’ve got keep him going east to west. We can’t let this be a vertical game.”