In Tallahassee, we have a recurring theme.

Senior safety Derrick Gibson, a three-year starter getting some preseason All-America hype, was busted recently for soliciting a prostitute -- who actually was an undercover cop. Coach Bobby Bowden, whose players seem to find their way to shady agents, sympathetic Dillard's clerks and other ambassadors of trouble, responds in the lamest of fashions:

	Bobby Bowden has had plenty of practice disciplining players.

He makes Gibson get up early and run.

"(Defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews) has been running Derrick for a week now, up and down those stadium steps," Bowden told the Orlando Sentinel. "They're pretty high, and it's not one trip, and it's every morning at 6 o'clock."

I'd say that is more likely to ensure great aerobic conditioning than proper penitence, but what do I know?

Bowden also announced other lightweight penalties for Gibson -- none of which will affect his status as a key member of FSU's defense.

(Recall that Polish powerderkeg Sebastian Janikowski, the Noles' indispensible kicker, ran afoul of team rules in New Orleans prior to the Sugar Bowl. Recall, too, that Bowden scoffed at any suggestion of sitting him down -- even for a single kickoff -- in the national championship game. After the season Janikowski was involved in two felony arrests.)

In Happy Valley, we have an identity crisis.

Is that really Joe Paterno?

The glasses, the windbreaker, the white socks, the stainless image?

That's him? Well, then, go back to that last part. The Image Thing, as W.'s daddy might phrase it.

Is it really possible that a coach who has lived 73 years at the corner of Straight and Narrow now has an accused felon at the top of his depth chart? Rashard Casey, arrested in May with another man for alleged aggravated assault of an off-duty police officer, remains Penn State's starting quarterback? No suspension, no demotion, apparently not even a missed snap of practice?

The case against the fleet-footed, strong-armed Casey, who has entered a not guilty plea, could go to a grand jury. If found guilty, Casey could face five years in jail. But not before he faces the Southern Cal defense in the Kickoff Classic.

Hey, the backup QB is a redshirt freshman, and only eight starters are back from last year's team. Doesn't that explain everything?

In points elsewhere, we have the now-familiar run of summer jurisprudence stories, some of which are accompanied by the now-familiar molly-coddling from the coach.

Huntington, W.Va.: We have a Marshall player suspended for two games after allegedly knifing someone in a bar at 3 a.m.

Corvallis, Ore.: We have three Oregon State players suspended for three games after they and two other players were charged with beating a man at a party. (Don't worry, they're scheduled to be back when the Beavers play USC Sept. 30.)

Louisville, Ky.: Two Cardinals are arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer, among other things.

Tempe, Ariz.: Arizona State's starting quarterback is suspended and later indicted for driving under the influence.

Morgantown, W.Va.: A Mountaineers running back arrested twice during the off-season for shoplifting has been suspended six games. (One more arrest and they really might get mad at him.)

And this just in, from Lawrence, Kan.: Two Jayhawks are disciplined -- in a manner of speaking after allegedly abusing a female soccer player.

The woman said she did not immediately go to police because coach Terry Allen said he would punish the players appropriately.

"The only punishment they got was they had to run stairs at the stadium one day," the woman said in an Associated Press story.

Allen later appeared before the Kansas athletic board and apologized for his handling of the complaint. One of the players has subsequently had his scholarship revoked, while the other is "one step from suspension from the team," Allen said.

And he really means it this time.

Disciplinary action always ranks among the most ticklish situations for college football coaches. Not every offense deserves a public hanging, but we've seen too many punks get off easy, so our skepticism is up.

And with good reason, it would seem, this August. What does it take for a kid to miss a season anymore?

Paterno, more than any other big-time coach extant, has earned the benefit of the doubt. The latest graduation reports had Penn State at 84 percent. And next month the school is dedicating the Paterno Library, built in part with a multimillion-dollar donation from Joe and his family. Which makes the Casey affair all the more interesting.

Looking at Paterno and Bowden in tandem, you wonder if there's something about a coach reaching the latter stages of a championship career. Maybe he feels like he's too entrenched and too strong to take any serious heat for going soft on a player or two.

Tom Osborne, at the tail end, had quite a run of scofflaws. Lawrence Phillips was only the most famous. (And hasn't Lawrence turned out nicely?)

But for legends or first-year coaches, the strategy seems the same: If the game is big enough and the player is good enough, team rules are negotiable.

Pat Forde of the Louisville Courier-Journal is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.