They will wear different colors, stand on separate sidelines, coach conflicting teams and want opposite outcomes, but West Virginia's Bill Stewart and Louisville's Steve Kragthorpe will be in the same shoes today.
They're in the infant stages - and the early part, at that - of a process they wanted to be a part of, but also want no part of.
Stewart and Kragthorpe are lifers in the coaching business who finally have the lead position at a Bowl Championship Series conference program. At the same time, they are where they are because a coach of immense success and reputation vacated the spot and went elsewhere.
Stewart and Kragthorpe may one day be stars, but right now they're trying to do what constellations did.
Before Stewart, Rich Rodriguez was 60-26 and a Sugar Bowl champion who improbably positioned his team on the precipice of a national championship opportunity.
Before Kragthorpe, Bobby Petrino was 41-9 and an Orange Bowl champion who recharged a program that was 1-11 in 1997 and had learned not to expect victory.
Rodriguez is at Michigan, and Petrino at Arkansas after a brief stay with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons - yet they're making life difficult for Stewart and Kragthorpe. Not intentionally, of course, but because others chose to keep them around.
That Stewart is 6-3 in his first season and Kragthorpe 11-11 in two seasons doesn't help.
"For whatever reason, you're always going to be compared (to the predecessor) in the arena,"
Stewart said. "I think you have to give someone a little time to see what they do. What type of ship do they run?"
"Is it a tight ship or a loose ship? Is there discipline or not? How's recruiting going to be? The toughest thing about coming into a program is winning. Believe it or not, to keep it winning is tough."
The noon ESPN game between the Big East foes at Papa John's Cardinals Stadium is a good example.
A win would help, but not nearly as much as it has in the past. It just won't be as significant as the three games these programs have played since Louisville joined the Big East.
The first, a triple overtime win by the Mountaineers in 2005, propelled them to the Sugar Bowl title that gave the retooled Big East national legitimacy.
A year later, Louisville won a shootout at home that not only sent it to the Orange Bowl, but set ESPN Thursday night viewing record.
Last year, WVU won another televised thriller that proved the previous two games were no flukes.
What's on the line today is different, though still meaningful. The Mountaineers (6-3, 3-1 Big East) haven't lost four games in a season since 2004, four games in a regular season since 2003 and back-to-back games twice in a season since 2001.
A streak of five straight New Year's Day bowl games is very much in jeopardy.
"I'm not overjoyed we're 6-3,"
Stewart said, "but I'm happy. I'm OK."
Louisville, meanwhile, has lost three in a row for the first time since that miserable 1997 season.
The Cardinals (5-5, 1-4) made nine straight bowls after that before missing last season.
A loss today threatens to extend the bowless streak to two seasons.
"Look at the last 10, 12, 15, 20 years of Football and there have been people who took over successful programs and lost,"
Stewart said.
"I know guys who had 15 starters back, 16 starters back, 10 starters back and things have gone spiraling down."
"They either got it back or they didn't get it back. The hardest thing is keeping a winning program afloat. People will compare, but that's OK."
It then comes down to what they have to compare. The Cardinals can win out, make a bowl and send the team onto the offseason in a far better mood.
The Mountaineers can win out, take home the Big East title, go to the third BCS game in four years and change the mood around Morgantown.
Detractors know things can change.
They can be reminded things change the other way, too.
"It boils down to the players and the young men,"
Stewart said.
