Back in 1971, or some time fairly long ago -- Coach Joe Paterno had a hard time remembering exactly what year it was --a young lady by the name of Robin Fry babysat for the Paterno family in Hawaii.

If her last name sounds familiar, it should --she's the daughter of Iowa Football Coach Hayden Fry. Both Paterno and Fry were coaching at the Hula Bowl game that year -- Fry coached the collegiate all-stars on one sideline, Paterno was an assistant on the other.

"Hayden and I go back a long time," the 66-year-old Paterno said. "(We've) had lots of fun together."

So this weekend will not only pit Penn State against Iowa in the Lions' first-ever Big Ten road game, but it will also place Paterno on the sideline across from Fry, once again in a battle between old friends. The battle begins at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.

When examining Fry's and Paterno's coaching records, you would be hard-pressed to find any real negatives. Together, they have amassed 356 wins and 35 bowl appearances in 42 years at their respective schools. While Paterno has more overall victories with 249, Fry has a considerable edge in conference wins with 74, compared to Paterno's one.

There's no trash-talking between the two, rather, one can't seem to mention the other without paying him some compliment. With so much tenure between them, they also realize that people see them as the two "elder statesmen" of the Big Ten.

"That's real easy to explain," the 64-year-old Fry said of the descriptive term. "He's the statesman, and I'm the elder."

But the virtual love-fest between the two does not stop there.

"I greatly admire Joe and his great success and his personal outlook on life," Fry said. "I think he's got a great philosophy, he's very patriotic, he helps the University and the community. He really cares for his players and he's got a great family."

But there is the matter of the football game to be played. Paterno doesn't expect his good friend to just let him win one in Iowa City.

"The level of intensity that the Iowa football players will be at, and the coaching staff," Paterno said, "is one not wanting Penn State to come out there, the first time they're going to play a road game in the conference, and beat Iowa."

Fry added that his next two weeks should be equally tough because the Hawkeyes will have to travel to Michigan a week after facing the Lions. But it is this Penn State team he fears at the moment.

"They have a quality football team, they're very well coached -- fundamentally they're very sound and they have a lot of talent," Fry said. "You fear everything about a team of that quality."

The outpouring of respect never ends.

Fry also expects the going to be tough because his team will have ten new starters on offense. But the inexperience doesn't worry him as much as other things.

"It's not us I'm worried about, it's Penn State that I'm worried about," Fry said. "The quality of their football team is extremely good."

Even though the loser of this game will fall immediately behind in the chase for the Big Ten title, facing such adversity isn't enough to dissuade the mutual respect that Paterno and Fry have for each other.

"The fact that we've got to play Joe --I don't know anything bad about him," Fry said.

"I personally have tremendous respect for Hayden," Paterno counters. "I just want our people to realize how tough it's going to be out there -- Iowa's been one of the great teams in that conference."

Perhaps when Otis Redding penned the lyrics to Aretha Franklin's hit "Respect" he had these two in mind.