A pair of Cards: Stoops vs. Pelini in Holiday Bowl

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Nebraska coach Bo Pelini couldn’t help but laugh when he heard his Cornhuskers were headed to the Holiday Bowl to play the Arizona Wildcats and his childhood friend, Mike Stoops.

“There’s 100 some teams in the county and they found a way to put us together,” Pelini said Tuesday, a day before the No. 20 Cornhuskers (9-4), led by Heisman finalist Ndamukong Suh, play the No. 22 Wildcats (8-4) at Qualcomm Stadium.

The implications of this matchup go way beyond San Diego, Tucson and Lincoln.

They’ll certainly be watching in Youngstown, where the Pelini boys grew up with the Stoops boys.

“The people are just like, ‘Why do you have to play Mike?”’ said Pelini, who made a recruiting trip to his hometown a few days after the Holiday Bowl matchup was announced. “But you know, it’s part of the deal. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a coach, as a person, our families, and everything else. It’s been fun.”

Taking the family connection a step further, Stoops’ brother, Mark, is Arizona’s defensive coordinator, although he’ll be leaving after this game to take the same position with Florida State. They, of course, are brothers of Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. Pelini’s brother, Carl, is Nebraska’s defensive coordinator.

The Stoops and Pelini boys all played at Cardinal Mooney High in Youngstown. Ron Stoops Sr. was the school’s defensive coordinator before dying of a massive heart attack at age 54.

Mike Stoops and Bo Pelini even share the same birthday, Dec. 13. Stoops is 48 and Pelini is 42.

“It’s fun being here with Bo. We’ve talked many times,” Stoops said. “We’ll go our separate ways tomorrow for a few hours, but again, our friendship will go way beyond this game.”

Stoops and Pelini spent the 1991 season together as graduate assistants at Iowa. The Hawkeyes played in the Holiday Bowl that season, earning a 13-13 tie with Brigham Young.

“I don’t know if we can talk about that whole year, but we had a pretty fun year as GAs,” Stoops said. “We had some good card parties and went out a few times. Again, it’s like being with your brother. We enjoyed our time together.”

Stoops said there are a lot of similarities between the teams.

One difference, though, is Suh. He’ll play his final college game after winning numerous awards, including becoming the first defensive player voted The Associated Press College Football Player of the Year. Suh had already won two defensive player of the year awards — the Nagurski and Bednarik — and two for best lineman — the Lombardi and Outland. He also finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting.

“Nebraska is by far and away the most complete defense we’ve played, when you look at their physical style, when you look at their personnel and the way they’re structured,” Stoops said. “Ndamukong Suh is a great player but their defense goes way beyond one player. It’s a system, it’s the way they set it up, it’s the way they play, it’s an attitude. That will be our greatest challenge, playing all 11 of those guys.”

Suh is coming off a monster Big 12 championship game against Texas, which the Cornhuskers lost on a last-second field goal. He nearly led Nebraska to a stunning upset, with 12 tackles and 41‚Ñ2 sacks.

While Nebraska was one second away from upsetting Texas for the Big 12 title, Arizona was in the hunt for a Rose Bowl berth until a 44-41, double-overtime loss to Oregon.

Arizona’s balanced offense is led by Nick Foles, who has completed 251 of 380 passes (66.1 percent) for 2,437 yards and 19 touchdowns, with eight interceptions. He threw for four touchdowns against Oregon and three apiece against Oregon State and Stanford.

Although one team will walk away the loser tonight, “I think we’re going to find out that both these programs are here to stay,” Pelini said.