Take a Seat or Take the Heat?

Suspending a top player (or players) for an upcoming game is a decision an Xs and O’s man often makes in partnership with his conscience.

“Every coach has his thinking on that,” Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden said Wednesday.

Two coaches at two of the nation’s most storied programs, Alabama and Texas, recently had differing thoughts.

The cases against Crimson Tide linebacker Juwan Simpson and Longhorns cornerback Tarell Brown were similar in that both had been arrested on misdemeanor marijuana and gun charges.

Simpson didn’t know until just before Alabama’s opener against Hawaii whether he was going to play. Then he got the nod from Coach Mike Shula and finished with nine tackles.

“I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” Simpson said after the game. “It was his decision, and I’m glad he made it.”

Three days later, Texas Coach Mack Brown announced that cornerback Brown would not play Saturday against Ohio State -- a No. 1 vs. No. 2 pairing and the biggest game to hit Austin in 50 years.

One night earlier, Miami lost to Florida State by three points in a game Miami played without several suspended players, including top tailback Tyrone Moss.

You could say Miami, which had two net rushing yards, could have used Moss.

It used to be a coach could work his way through a discipline problem by benching a player against a paycheck I-AA opponent but making sure he was game-ready for the Southeastern Conference opener.

Or, there’s another way.

“It’s easy to do if they’re injured,” Bowden said. “I got a guy who’s going to miss two weeks, so I think I’ll discipline him. The fans will really like that.”

The moves by coaches last weekend were different, though, because they involved consequences.

At first blush, you would have to credit Miami Coach Larry Coker and Brown more than you would Shula.

Brown won a national title last season, so he’s politically safe, but Coker is under so much pressure after consecutive three-loss seasons that he’s already imploring fans not to give up on the season.

Brown, in reality, had no choice but to suspend cornerback Brown and linebacker Tyrell Gatewood or risk being called disingenuous. Brown was the coach who wasted no time in dismissing tailback Ramonce Taylor this summer after a drug-possession arrest.

Last month, in an interview with The Times, he said he holds his program to a higher standard.

“They know at our school if they don’t act right they won’t play,” Brown said. “That’s just who we are and who they are.... You mess up now, you won’t get to play. Doesn’t matter how good you are, you won’t play. So understand. We laugh at ‘em and say ‘the eyes of Texas are always on you,’ so if you’re messing up, you’re going to get caught here. You will not hide.”

Brown will be tempted to have a change of heart. The attorney for Tarell Brown told ESPN.com Wednesday that the player tested clean for drugs. The lawyer wondered whether the Texas coach acted prematurely.

Answer: He didn’t. Testing clean doesn’t explain a player’s being out three hours past midnight with a loaded gun on his lap.

If a coach holds firm, his legacy will be better for it.

As many games as Tom Osborne won at Nebraska, he will be remembered in some quarters for reinstating trouble-plagued Lawrence Phillips as a starter for the 1996 Fiesta Bowl.

The sad part is Osborne didn’t need that headache in a 38-point rout of Florida. That 1995 Nebraska team was one of the best ever fielded, and it should have been remembered only for that.

Bowden’s most dominant season at Florida State, a wire-to-wire national title run in 1999, was marred by his decision to suspend standout receiver Peter Warrick after a school-imposed suspension for “only” two games for accepting discounted merchandise at a department store.

Bowden still hears about it. The winningest coach in major college history says he balks at suspending players because innocent people suffer the consequences.

Bowden’s “soft spot” dates to when he was a college quarterback at Howard.

“My last game, we had seven starters suspended because they went to the fair,” Bowden said, as if the event happened yesterday. “And I’ll never forget that. And we lost. I always said, ‘Dadgum, I’m not going to punish a team for what guys do.’

“I’ll punish him another way: I’ll take their scholarship away. I won’t let them eat for a week. I’ll run them in the morning at 5. That’s kind of been the policy I’ve followed.”

USC quarterback Mark Sanchez played Saturday against Arkansas despite an off-season in which he was implicated, but never charged, in a sexual assault case.

Sanchez, who is a minor, did use a fake ID to obtain entrance into a drinking establishment.

USC Coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday that any discipline for Sanchez was handled internally. Carroll said he is not influenced by what other coaches do.

“They can do whatever they want with it, but we’re just not of the mind-set that we need to deal with that to satisfy people on the outside,” Carroll said. “We need to correct the wrongs, and make sure that there’s obvious remorse and people are ready to do right and do well. That’s what’s important.”

Some modern-day coaches, of late, are making bolder statements.

Coker’s decision may have cost him a shot at the national title and -- if things really go south in South Florida, his job.

Mack Brown’s decision could cost Texas a shot at consecutive titles.

Tarell Brown is the Longhorns’ top cover corner. He was expected to neutralize Ohio State’s standout receiver Ted Ginn Jr.

If Ginn runs wild and Ohio State wins, some in Austin will second-guess the discipline dispenser.

In the end, though, Mack Brown needs to stick to his guns.

And Tarell Brown needs to get rid of his.

The Verdict Is In

The impact of the new possession-clock rule (3-2-5 e) on the first weekend’s game is irrefutable.

According to NCAA statistics, the average number of offensive plays per team was down nearly seven from last year’s opening week.

Oklahoma and Alabama Birmingham combined for only 110 plays, the fewest in an Oklahoma game in more than 40 years.

Asked to assess the first weekend of games, Pacific 10 Conference coordinator of officials Verle Sorgen said: “I think it’s too early. I don’t think we have enough in-sample. I think teams and coaches will adjust to it. We’re doing everything we can to work with coaches on the sideline to keep them informed.”

Under the new rule, after a change of possession the game clock is started at the official’s command instead of the snap of the ball.

Referees seem to be adjusting along with everyone else. The crew at the Notre Dame-Georgia Tech game in Atlanta used discretion and waited until the offense broke huddle before starting the clock.

At Monday night’s game between Miami and Florida State, however, the teams were losing roughly 10 to 12 seconds on the changeover.

The rule definitely has had an effect on game management. Down by three points late in the game to Florida State, Miami’s Coker was forced to call one of his three remaining timeouts just to keep the clock from starting when his offense took possession.

“Now we are down to two timeouts and in our case it worked as a disadvantage,” Coker said. “ ... I really don’t like the change.”

There’s no question the rule is quickening the pace of the game -- Arizona State and Northern Arizona finished in a crisp 2 hours 57 minutes -- but how about cutting out a few commercials instead?

Yeah, as if that’s going to happen.

Blitz Package

Ohio State football is wiping crimson off its face after it got caught in a fib about Coach Jim Tressel voting Texas No. 1 in this week’s USA Today coaches’ poll.

“I’ve got them ranked No. 1 on our ballot, because I think they deserve that, I think they deserve that top to bottom,” Tressel said at his weekly news conference.

Tressel actually voted Ohio State No. 1, according to USA Today, which thought it had to correct the record in Wednesday’s paper for the sake of its credibility as sponsor of the coaches’ poll.

Ohio State is calling it a case of miscommunication. We’re calling it a fumble.

What life lesson, exactly, is Penn State Coach Joe Paterno trying to impart by denying media access to his players this week before the Nittany Lions’ big game against Notre Dame in South Bend? But it’s OK for the players to talk before the Akron game?

Notre Dame takes “Miss Congeniality” in the first weekend beauty pageant. Associated Press voters dropped the Irish two spots, from second to fourth, in the aftermath of a four-point win over Georgia Tech. My guess is that the Irish offense will get things cleaned up -- they had nine penalties. The bigger concern is senior kicker Carl Gioia, who missed two field-goal tries. “I’m not throwing the towel in on anyone,” Irish Coach Charlie Weis said. “I mean, it’s the first game. You got jitters. That’s not making excuses. The team’s still counting on him making them, and he knows the team’s counting on him.”

Moving Florida State versus Miami to Labor Day weekend three years ago sounded like a good idea, but it wasn’t. These fierce rivals are not ready to play each other this early, no more than Michigan is ready for Ohio State.

“Your opening ballgame, you need somebody that you can beat and get through your mistakes,” Bowden said.

The final scores of the three Labor Day games were 16-10, 10-7 and 13-10, with Florida State winning the last two. Monday, the schools combined for three net rushing yards. Next year the series will return to its traditional October slot, which produced 28-27, 27-24 and 31-21 games.

There’s a good chance, though, that Florida State will stay in the Labor Day game next year but sub in Boston College for Miami.

Times staff writer Gary Klein contributed to this report.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com