Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden remain in the spotlight

The two 70-year-old coaches want the game to be about the kids.
MIAMI (AP) -- Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno have tried for weeks to turn the attention away from themselves.
The Orange Bowl is about the kids, they insist, one traditional powerhouse trying to put an exclamation point on its comeback and another trying to dig its way out of malaise.
No one cares about a couple of 70-year-olds, even if they are the winningest coaches in major college history.
Uh-huh.
Still about them
No matter how hard Bowden and Paterno try to spin it, tonight's meeting between No. 3 Penn State (10-1) and No. 22 Florida State (8-4) is all about those old guys on the sidelines.
"For somebody to say it's not a big deal, I think they'd be lying," Florida State running back Lorenzo Booker said. "This is like a once-in-a-lifetime deal, and it's not going to happen for another century. We won't be alive, because you have to coach a long time to do what these guys have done.
"It's something you can tell your grandkids," Booker added. "That you actually played for the guy that won the most and played against the guy that was second on the list."
Bowden and Paterno are models of both longevity and success in a profession that thrives on turmoil.
Top two winningest coaches
Bowden holds the major college record with 359 wins, and Paterno is right behind him at 353. Both are in their 70s -- Paterno celebrated his 79th birthday two weeks ago and Bowden turned 76 in November -- and both have been head coaches for 40 years. Paterno has spent his entire career at Penn State, while Bowden is in his 30th year at Florida State.
To appreciate just how rare that kind of stability is, consider that the other Division I-A schools have made 773 coaching changes in the time Paterno has been at Penn State.
With Barry Alvarez stepping down at Wisconsin, every other Big Ten school will have made at least one switch since Penn State joined the conference in 1993.
Virginia Tech is the only team in the Atlantic Coast Conference that hasn't changed coaches since Florida State joined in 1992, though the Hokies are only in their second year in the ACC.
"Both teams realize that we are led by great coaches, coaches that will be remembered forever," Penn State linebacker Paul Posluszny said. "It's an honor to be a part of this game."
Eighth meeting
Hearing that kind of talk makes Paterno and Bowden cringe. The good friends know their rare matchup is of some interest -- this will be only their eighth meeting, and first since 1990 -- but they don't want it to be the entire story.
"I don't look at it as something personal," Paterno said Monday. "All I wanted to do was make sure everyone knew that we have a good football team."
That's partly what makes this matchup so special, though.
For decades, Paterno and Bowden's programs were among the best in college football. Bowden's team finished in the top five every year from 1987 to 2000, and he won two national titles during that run. Paterno's 1982 and 1986 teams were national champs, and four other squads were unbeaten. He had one losing season in his first 34 years of coaching.
But both teams have struggled lately, and winning this game would bring a measure of redemption for each.
After Penn State went 4-7 last season, its fourth losing record in five years, many fans and alums were saying, "Joe Must Go."
Nittany Lions rebound
Penn State rebounded to go 10-1 this year, its best season in a decade, and was a play away from being undefeated. Its trip to the Orange Bowl is only its second bowl game since 1999.
"The thing about great teams is if you don't finish the story, it ain't going to be a story that's going to be remembered," cornerback and tri-captain Alan Zemaitis said. "We go out with a loss, it's going to feel like everything we did, in essence, was nothing. We brought a lot of stuff back. But for our seniors, for the young guys, we've got to go out with a win."
Though Bowden hasn't had a losing season since 1976, his first at Florida State, the Seminoles have lost 15 games in the last four years -- two more than they did in all of the 1990s.
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