Plop down a dollar on any bar and challenge your neighbors to name the home of college football champions. You'll get a Notre Dame, an Oklahoma, and, if the guy on the next stool is a student of current events, you may get an Ohio State.

As you collect your money, inform your friends that the home of college football champions is owned by Dan and Roxanne Reynolds of Bowling Green, Ky. One of the Reynolds' four sons, Patrick, 23, played defensive end for Western Kentucky, which won the I-AA national championship last month. Another son, Robert, 21, is a junior linebacker at Ohio State, which won the I-A championship last week.

Two brothers. Two schools. Two championships. One season.

"It's hard to describe," Dan Reynolds said from his home Tuesday night. "It really hasn't sunk in."

Both brothers started down the road to the national championship as Rottweiler-sized underdogs. Western Kentucky upset I-AA powers Western Illinois and Georgia Southern to get to the championship game. When Western Kentucky pummeled McNeese State, 34-14, Robert spent time on the sideline and in the locker room.

	“	He put the pressure on me to get a national championship. We ended up winning the damn thing, and he had a little pressure put back on him. ”
		— Western Kentucky's Patrick Reynolds, whose brother Robert plays for Ohio State

"Man, I saw how happy he was," Robert said Tuesday night, back on campus in Columbus, "I felt like we had to do it to get the same feeling."

When Ohio State, expected to lose by two touchdowns, shocked Miami, 31-24, in two overtimes last Friday, Patrick sat in the stands at Sun Devil Stadium, watching his brother play.

"The best game I've ever witnessed," Patrick said Tuesday night

"It would be hard for one to win and not the other," Roxanne Reynolds said. "I told Robert last week, 'You brought us a lot of joy, win or lose.

"Of course, he didn't want to hear the word 'lose.'"

For as long as Roxanne Reynolds can remember, Patrick and Robert, the middle two of her four sons, competed with one another. "Fists in the door," she said. "I got a mirror over one of the holes in the walls right now."

Patrick, a 6-foot-3, 250-pound defensive end, set powerlifting records at Western Kentucky. He started for three seasons, and Western made the playoffs in each of them. Robert, the Kentucky high school player of the year three years ago, is a 6-3, 234-pound linebacker. He started all 14 games for the Buckeyes.

When Ohio State beat Michigan, 14-9, on Nov. 23, to qualify for the Fiesta Bowl, Robert challenged his older brother to get to the I-AA championship game. Western Kentucky wouldn't begin the 16-team playoffs until the following week.

"He put the pressure on me to get a national championship," Patrick said. "We ended up winning the damn thing, and he had a little pressure put back on him."

As if Robert didn't have enough to do in Arizona, getting ready for Miami. "He was wearing me out all week long," Robert said. "Patrick kept on telling me, 'I got mine. You gon' get yours?'"

When Robert got into high school, he stopped fighting with Patrick long enough to listen to him. Patrick drew interest from several I-A schools, right until they saw his transcript. His grade-point average failed to reach the minimum level necessary to get four years of eligibility at the I-A level. Patrick decided to remain in town and go to Western Kentucky.

"I didn't do the things I needed to do," Patrick said. "I wanted Robert to learn from me. I stayed on him as much as I could."

Robert turned down Miami in February 2000 and signed with Ohio State. "Patrick is a big, strong kid," Robert said. "He could definitely play at the I-A level."

The boys come from a family of high achievers. Their grandfather, Charles Reynolds, served on the Kentucky state supreme court. Their father's first cousin, Mack Reynolds, commandeered Air Force One before his retirement in 2001. Dan Reynolds achieved a milestone of his own 16 months ago. He survived sextuple-bypass heart surgery.

"For him to rebound from that, to get to where we are now is unbelievable," Patrick said.

Dan said the experience of watching Patrick in half-empty stadiums wasn't that much different than watching Robert play before 105,000 at the 'Shoe.

"It's like your son going to bat or your daughter in ballet," he said. "You zero in on them and not the whole atmosphere. The adrenaline you keep for yourself."

In the days to come, Patrick will try to hook on with a professional team. Robert has returned to classes. Winter conditioning begins next week. "The teachers really weren't as hard on us as they usually are," Robert said. "Everybody is in a good mood. Everybody is still on Cloud 9. Or maybe Cloud 11."

Everybody in Columbus, and everybody in the Reynolds' home in Bowling Green, Ky. Patrick and Robert have made themselves and everyone around them proud. They have almost reached a truce.

"The only competition between us at the moment," Patrick said, "is whose ring is going to be bigger."

Ivan Maisel is a senior writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at ivan.maisel@espn3.com.