Adams: Paterno, Bowden may not go out on top

It's Joe Paterno vs. Bobby Bowden. It's for the record books.

The scoreboard reads: Bowden 366, Paterno 362. Imagine that. Joe Pa just turned 80, and he's still playing catch-up. Moreover, he's chasing that 77-year-old kid from Florida State.

Never mind whether Bowden holds or loses the lead. Does anyone doubt these guys will finish one-two for the most wins in Division I-A football?

UT coach Phillip Fulmer has averaged about 9 1/2 victories per season for his 14 years as a head coach. He's 56 years old. If he coaches until he's 80, he would have to keep averaging 9.5 victories per year to catch Bowden and Paterno.

And that's if they quit right now.

Paterno said he plans to coach at least two more years. Bowden hasn't hinted at retirement.

So onward they go, distancing themselves from the field. But they're also distancing themselves from their success. There's sadness in that.

Paterno and Bowden each has won two national championships. Paterno has had five unbeaten teams, and Bowden has had 14 consecutive teams finish in the top five of the final Associated Press Top 25.

But neither FSU nor Penn State is currently in the top 25. And if they make the preseason polls for 2007, they'll be much closer to No. 25 than No. 1.

Paterno and Bowden are two of the greatest college coaches of all time. They're not two of the greatest coaches right now.

And sports is mainly about right now.

Paterno had a wonderful opportunity to go out near the top. His 2005 team was an unexpected success, winning the Big Ten championship and 11 of 12 games, including an Orange Bowl match-up against Bowden's Seminoles.

His 2006 team has followed that with an 8-4 record, but the record is misleading.

The Nittany Lions have beaten only one Division I-A team with a winning record. In their four losses to winning teams, they have been outscored by 15 points per game. And no one expects them to gain ground on Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin in the off-season.

From 2000 through 2004, Penn State had four losing seasons in five years. In 2003, it went 3-9.

Records like that at a school with Penn State's tradition should get a coach fired. I'm not even sure Bear Bryant could have held his job at Alabama with four losing seasons in five years.

Paterno jokes about his longevity. He said he wakes up in the middle of night thinking about the challenge of beating UT and wonders if he should still be coaching. When asked about the critics who have helped short-circuit so many coaching careers, he says, "At Penn State, I've buried most of the boosters."

He says that jokingly, but probably with a sense of pride. It's humor with a touch of defiance.

Paterno suffered a broken left leg last month when two players ran into him on the sideline. He missed the Temple game and watched the Michigan State game from the press box. Less than two months after the injury, he expects to be back on the sideline for Monday's Outback Bowl.

Four losing seasons in five years didn't get him off the Penn State sideline. Why should a broken leg? If he has to resume his pursuit of Bowden with a cane, so be it.

But whether Bowden or Paterno ends up as the winningest college football coach of all time, that doesn't mean they will go out on top.