Joe Pa, Carroll share praise

Joe Paterno and Pete Carroll hammed it up on stage, with Paterno striking a boxer's pose and Carroll grinning and ducking away from each other's praise.

The coaching matchup for next week's Rose Bowl could be considered a changing of the guard in college football, with the seemingly ageless Paterno of Penn State (he turned 82 last weekend) and Carroll, 56, of Southern California representing the old and the new.

When the No. 5 Trojans and the No. 6 Nittany Lions made the traditional Rose Bowl visit to Disneyland on Friday, the coaches expressed their mutual admiration.

"He's persevered so much. I've thought about it, and to me it's not all the games that he's won; it's how he's survived the pressure of all the big games that you lose over that many years," Carroll said. "The losses are so difficult and so challenging. "It's amazing that he's been able to keep the right attitude and stay on top of the game for so long." - Associated Press