Just call it the Henshaw Bowl.

As brothers go, Mike and Matt Henshaw have never been ones to choose sides.

After all, when youre the perennial new kids in school, like they were as youngsters when their father was following football coaching posts across the country, you just might want to be buddies firstsiblings second.

That family credo of not choosing sides, though, just might get a little tricky on New Years Day in Jacksonville, Fla., when the 8-3 Mountaineers of West Virginia University take it to the Toyota Gator Bowl with the Florida State Seminoles, also 8-3.

Look for the Henshaw brothers on the gridiron of Alltel Stadium that day, on opposite sidelines: Mike wears No. 40 as a senior safety for theEers, and Matt, a junior quarterback-turned tight end, is No. 14 for the Seminoles.

Weve never actually seen each other play in college,said Mike, 23, who will pursue a masters degree in athletic coaching next fall at WVU .We always wondered if it would ever happen.

Oh, yeah,seconded Matt, a 21-year-old junior sociology major at FSU .This one means even more because its Mikes last game. And weve just always had football in our lives, you know?

For the legions of fans keeping Mountaineer sports in their lives, the Jan. 1 Gator is like a family reunionwith football helmets.

Theres the Bobby Bowden-West Virginia connection, for one thing. The venerable coach made his mark with the Mountaineers when the team was still playing in old Mountaineer Field below Woodburn Hall.

Bowden left Morgantown in 1975, and ended up at Florida State a year laterwheres hes been ever since.

His son, Tommy, a Morgantown High graduate and Mountaineer walk-on wide receiver, was a coaching mentor to theEers current head coach Rich Rodriguez, at Tulane and Clemson.

Then theres the Henshaw-Almost Heaven connection: Matt and Mikes father, George Henshaw, now an assistant coach with the NFL s Tennessee Titans, is a WVU graduate and Mountaineer star defensive tackle who captained the 1969 Peach Bowl team.

When Henshaw got his degree in 1970, he stayed on with Bowden as a defensive line coach, and followed him to Tallahassee, before moving on to a head coaching job at Tulsa University and assistant coaching posts in the NFL at Denver and Tennessee.

There are all these connections,the elder Henshaw said recently from his home in suburban Nashville.Im excited for Mike and Matt, and Im excited for the bowl. Bobby Bowdens a true gentleman of the game, and Rich Rodriguez is just doing some amazing things.

For Georges wife, Kathy, the amazing thing is that her boys finally get to be on the same field together as college players.

Forget the Gator Bowl,laughed Kathy, also a WVU graduate and college sweetheart of George.Were calling this one theHenshaw Bowl.

A bowl featuring two young men, their mother says, who couldnt be more different.

Mike is the aggressive, slightly more serious one, Kathy said, and Matt is a happy-go-lucky jokester with a flair for mimicrya comic in shoulder pads who has been known to do a dead-on (hilarious) impression of Bobby Bowdens halftime talk, complete with gum-chewing and gestures.

George, meanwhile, has gotten to view his sons with the eyes of both a father and a coach.

From a coaching standpoint, theyve both got the talent,Henshaw said of his sons who are solid contributors to their programs.

But more importantly,Henshaw continued,they want to play. They have that desire, and that cant becoached.When I look at them as their dad, I see two young men who always want to do the right thing, and that comes from Kathy. The downside to coaching is that youre away all the time. Whenever coachs kids turn out OK, you know its because of their mother.

But back to that football game on the first day of 2005. What will happen should the Henshaw brothers smack helmets in the Gator?

Well, thatll be interesting,said Mike, who starred with his brother on prep school teams at Brentwood High, outside of Nashville.Matts a comedian. I just follow along and laugh. Im his biggest fan. Some people are already talking about the bowl and asking.Ooh, are you going to kill him if you get a chance?Why would I want to do that? Ill just go up against him like I was coached to do, thats all.

Mikes a good brother and a good guy,Matt said.If I have to actually line up against him, Ill probably bust up laughing and get a penalty flag, just because itll be so weird.