Joe Paterno isn’t betting his whole stack of chips this weekend at No. 1 Alabama.

Paterno will treat Saturday’s game as a learning experience because Penn State isn’t at Alabama’s level yet. At his weekly press conference Tuesday, the Nittany Lions coach said the opportunity to play a big game on the road against a team like Alabama is something for his players to soak in and a reason why players come to Penn State.

“That doesn’t mean a miracle’s going to happen,” Paterno said. “We come home, and we’ll be a better team for having played the game.”

A key part of Paterno’s reasoning: The Nittany Lions lack experience, while Alabama doesn’t.

The inexperience doesn’t show on paper. The Crimson Tide return 10 starters while Penn State has 12 coming back from their 2009 teams. And Alabama will be without defensive lineman Marcell Dareus, who won’t play Saturday because of a two-game NCAA suspension for accepting nearly $2,000 in improper benefits during two trips to Miami.

Paterno said Alabama’s depth comes from the experienced players who didn’t start last season — something lacking in the Penn State offensive line, the unit Paterno singled out as a major concern heading into Saturday.

The inexperienced left side and the unit as a whole still needs time to develop together: Paterno said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll rotate left guards Johnnie Troutman and DeOn’tae Pannell on Saturday.

“We’re not a cohesive group yet, and I blame a lot of that on the fact that so many kids have not played much, so there’s not a lot of real leadership,” Paterno said. “There’s no dominant player yet.”

Royster down in pounds

Paterno said he isn’t concerned about Evan Royster’s weight hindering him. Instead, his stamina was more the issue.

“I don’t think he’s overweight now,” Paterno said. “He’s down to about 218.”

With Royster acting as a tailback and a receiver the past several years, Paterno thought his versatility would be affected.

“I was nervous that if he was too heavy he might not be able to do some of those things as well as he has done them,” Paterno said.

He said Royster, who rushed for only 40 yards Saturday, needed more running room. Once the offensive line gets more experience and Royster is added to different schemes, the tailback will become more effective, Paterno said.

Bolden will feel the heat

Paterno admits Alabama will be a difficult task for freshman quarterback Robert Bolden.

“He’s going to have his problems Saturday,” Paterno said. “We can’t protect him like we did against Youngstown. He’s going to get knocked around.”

But, Paterno said he believes Bolden will still keep his poise. The success he had against Youngstown State won’t be replicated at Alabama, but Paterno hopes he takes something out of the experience.

“He’ll go on against Alabama and get better,” Paterno said. “And if something happens, I feel confident that the other two kids that can play will be able to step in there and do some things.”

Bear not a topic

Paterno wouldn’t speak about the history between him and former Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant on Tuesday.

He said he’d rather talk about this weekend’s game and didn’t think the current teams were concerned about the past history.

“A year from now, they stick my picture up, everybody’s going to say, ‘Who’s the long-nosed guy?” Paterno said. “And they stick Bryant up there with that hat and they’ll say, ‘Who would wear a funny hat like that these days?”