Pitt is certainly glad they’re headed somewhere for the college football postseason, but the team dropped to the BBVA Compass Bowl Game after they were unable to land a spot in a more lucrative contest.

The Trib-Review reports that the Panthers were interested in a few other bowls instead, but were passed over:

Pitt officials were in discussions throughout the day with officials from ESPN and the other, richer bowls with Big East ties, but the Pinstripe ($3.6 million), Belk ($3.4 million) and Liberty ($2.875 million) chose schools with better records.

Rutgers (8-4) will play Iowa State in the Pinstripe at Yankee Stadium, Louisville (7-5) will meet N.C. State in the Belk in Charlotte, N.C., and Cincinnati (9-3) will face Vanderbilt in the Liberty in Memphis, Tenn. West Virginia (9-3) earned the conference’s BCS bid and will face Clemson in the Orange Bowl.

Pitt also had interest in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl ($1.075 million) in St. Petersburg, Fla., because the Panthers have never played in that game. But that bowl has a contract with Conference USA and opted to select Marshall to pair with Florida International.

Any bowl, of course, is better than no bowl, but Pitt’s 6-6 record definitely scared some teams off. And when you throw in the Panthers’ poor travel history for bowl games, Pitt simply wasn’t all that attractive an option.