Here's a tip for anyone who is thinking about buying a ticket to Saturday's Michigan State game because of the chance it could be Joe Paterno's final game at Beaver Stadium.

Save your money.

Buy a ticket to send off one of the most successful senior classes Penn State has had. Buy a ticket because you want to see quarterback Daryll Clark with a rose in his mouth. Buy a ticket because you want to see the Big Ten trophy.

Shoot, even buy a ticket if you want to see the ever-so-historic and tradition-rich Land Grant trophy.

"What's the name of that trophy?" safety Anthony Scirrotto asked.

Touche.

But don't buy a ticket because Paterno might be done after this season, because all indications are he will return.

Paterno's plans for 2009 could easily be changed if complications arise from hip replacement surgery, and that's about the only variable unaccounted for in trying to decide whether Paterno will return.

President Graham Spanier and Athletic Director Tim Curley have said they will make a decision on Penn State's coach in 2009. But at this point, how could either have the gumption to force Paterno out?

Penn State is 10-1, could win its second Big Ten championship in four years and the Nittany Lions have stayed out of trouble aside from marijuana-gate in September.

If there's ever a time Spanier and Curley can't let Paterno go, this is it.

The two tried after a losing stretch in 2004, and Paterno hasn't backed away from opportunities to take shots at Penn State's administration for trying to force him out.

After Penn State beat Michigan State to win the Big Ten in 2005, Paterno said the same people congratulating him were the same ones at his door months earlier asking for his resignation.

Spanier and Curley also have to know how much of a public relations fiasco it would be to send Paterno away. The bargaining power the president and AD own has been mitigated if not entirely eliminated by what Penn State has accomplished and still could accomplish.

Good luck telling the coach of a potential BCS bowl game participant he must go on his way.

But the biggest reason to believe this season isn't Paterno's last, ironically, comes back to his health. Paterno said earlier this season the team has a coach who is essentially a cripple, and the 81-year-old has entirely too much pride to go out when he can barely walk some days.

Paterno is way too protective of his perception to have the lasting image be a coach using a cane to walk. He may not be able to fully jog or run onto the field again if he has hip replacement surgery, but Paterno might be able to pace the sidelines again.

He also has to feel somewhat unsatisfied as a coach that he isn't able to be as involved as he once was.

A lot of bets will be wagered on Saturday's game.

But one that says it will be Paterno's last at Beaver Stadium will probably come up a bust.