"One of the advantages of playing a team as good as Alabama early in the year is that we'll learn from it," Paterno said. "I don't know how we're going to handle it. I hope we go down there and we realize it's one of those opportunities you only get so many of in a college career, so go down and enjoy it.
"Understand, you're playing against one of the best college teams we've ever played against. But just do what you can do, do it as well as you can do it, and try to learn. I think we will learn from it. Now, that doesn't mean a miracle's going to happen. But we'll be a better team for having played the game."
It's not exactly a pregame concession speech, but it doesn't exactly sound as if JoePa is oozing confidence, either. He knows what he and his kids are up against, what with 100,000-plus very vocal crimson-clad fans in Bryant-Denny Stadium and 11 extremely capable and battle-tested, crimson-clad players on the field at any given moment.
For what it's worth, this matchup wasn't supposed to happen - not now, anyway. It originally was scheduled for years earlier, then rescheduled for years later. Only an involved set of circumstances came together in such a manner for Penn State to be pitted against this loaded Alabama team on this date, with a return engagement in Beaver Stadium set for Sept. 10, 2011.
