MIAMI (AP) – Their fathers are admired as resilient and resolute, two of college football’s most pugnacious and durable figures. Statues are made of such material.

So it should be no surprise that Jeff Bowden and Jay Paterno turn out to be stout stuff, too.

Sons of head coaches, and offensive assistants on their fathers’ staffs, Jeff and Jay found themselves in the cross hairs of criticism when Florida State and Penn State went into a nosedive.

Luckily they inherited thick skin from their dads, Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno.

“It’s a tough job for the kid,” Joe Paterno said. “People are reluctant at times to say, Paterno is a bum, Bowden is a bum. Let’s put down Jeff and Jay.”‘

For both families, Tuesday night’s Orange Bowl game between Florida State and Penn State represented a triumph, regardless of the outcome.

The Seminoles earned the berth by winning the Atlantic Coast Conference title game after losing their final three regular-season games. The Nittany Lions advanced thanks to a 10-1 season after going 7-16 the previous two years.

When times were tough, septuagenarians Bowden and Paterno heard plenty of suggestions that it was time for them to go. Considerable scorn was also directed toward the sons, with restless Florida State and Penn State loyalists raising accusations of nepotism.

“You just ignore it,” Jay Paterno said. “You know you’re qualified. I know my father in my situation … he’s not going to hand me a job just because of who I am.”

Jay Paterno, a former backup quarterback for his dad, has been on the Penn State staff since 1995, the past six years as quarterbacks coach. The Nittany Lions’ offense struggled in 2003-04, but this year Paterno helped Michael Robinson become the Big Ten’s most valuable player.

Paterno shares play-calling duties with offensive coordinator Galen Hall.

“My kid, when he was 4 years old, I couldn’t get him out of my den,” the elder Paterno said. “He wanted to look at game tapes. He was not a great athlete, but he was always very enthusiastic about coaching.

“He’s a good coach. If he wasn’t, I’d get him out of there and get him in business. You don’t want your kid in something he can’t handle.”

Jeff Bowden also played for his dad, then joined the Florida State staff in 1994. He became offensive coordinator in 2001 and heard criticism from the start.

“It doesn’t affect me as much now as it did in the beginning, because I did pay attention to it,” Bowden said. “I did listen to it too much. And how it affects you is you feel like, Boy, I’m going to go to work earlier, I’m going to stay later, I’m going to work harder.’ But you can only put so much time in before you start tearing your body down.”

Jeff’s tenure as coordinator has coincided with a decline in Florida State’s success. From 1993 to 2000, the Seminoles went 88-10-1, averaged 39 points and won two national titles. In the past five years, they’ve gone 44-19, averaged 30 points and finished every year out of the top 10.

Fans long accustomed to contending for No. 1 find it hard to bear.

“Jeffrey catches all the criticism,” Bobby Bowden said, referring to his youngest son. “But he doesn’t do anything I don’t tell him to do. I have to know everything he’s doing. I have to know what plays he’s calling and working on. So it’s as much my fault as anybody’s. But nobody is going to believe it, because it’s your kid.”

Bowden’s sons Tommy and Terry also went into coaching, so he’s as well-versed as anyone in the familial pitfalls of the profession.

Still, he has sought Joe Paterno’s counsel on how to handle the accusation of nepotism.

“He was catching it before I was, I think,” Bowden said. “I learned something – I learned to get ready for it. Here it comes. It’s what you have to put up with if you do this.”