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Dec. 22nd game in Birmingham, Ala., matches teams from BIG EAST and C-USA

BIRMINGHAM, Ala (Nov 26, 2007) - ESPN Regional Television announced today that the University of Southern Mississippi, located in Hattiesburg, Miss., has accepted an invitation to represent Conference USA in the second annual Papajohns.com Bowl.

The Papajohns.com Bowl, an ERT owned and operated event, will be played Dec. 22 at Birmingham’s Legion Field and will be televised by ESPN2 at noon CT. The annual game matches a team from C-USA against a bowl-eligible team from the BIG EAST Conference. The BIG EAST representative is expected to be announced soon.

“ESPN is pleased to announce that Southern Miss has accepted our invitation to represent Conference USA in the second annual Papajohns.com Bowl,” said Mark Meadows, executive director of the Papajohns.com Bowl. “We look forward to welcoming the Golden Eagles football team and its supporters to Birmingham.”

“We are pleased that Southern Miss will represent Conference USA in this year’s Papajohns.com Bowl,” said C-USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky. “The game is in close proximity to their fan base and we expect the Golden Eagles’ fans to have a great experience in Birmingham.”

“We are extremely excited to be in the second annual Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham to face a BIG EAST opponent. Our fans always enjoy going to Birmingham and we’re looking forward to our trip this year,” said Southern Miss Athletics Director Richard Giannini. “I’d like to congratulate our team for their 14th straight winning season, 10 bowl trips in 11 seasons, this being the sixth straight.”

Last season’s inaugural Papajohns.com Bowl marked the return of post-season football to Birmingham. South Florida, representing the BIG EAST, defeated C-USA representative East Carolina 24-7 in front of a crowd of nearly 30,000.

Tickets are available through the Southern Miss box office, online at www.papajohnsbowl.com or by phone, (205) 996-6343. Corporate ticket packages are available.

ESPN Regional Television/Event Ownership

The nation’s largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 900 sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. – Big East, Big 12, Mid-American, Sun Belt, Western Athletic).

ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several other sporting events, including the Bell Helicopter Armed Forced Bowl; the Papajohns.com Bowl; the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl; the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl; the MEAC/SWAC Football Classic; the National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway; and collegiate basketball events including the Spartan Clash (Auburn Hills, Mich.); the O’Reilly Auto Parts All-College Classic (Oklahoma City, Okla.); the Old Spice Classic (Orlando, Fla.).

PAPA JOHN’S

Headquartered in Louisville, Ky., Papa John’s is the world’s third largest pizza company with more than 3,100 restaurants operating in all 50 states and 29 countries. For eight years running, consumers have rated Papa John’s No. 1 in customer satisfaction among all national QSR pizza chains in the highly regarded American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). For more information about the company or to order pizza online, visit Papa John's at www.papajohns.com.