The Gators have gotten used to playing with distractions this season.
From dealing with Dustin Doe’s preseason arrests to Lane Kiffin to the flu-like symptoms to Tim Tebow’s concussion to Brandon Spikes’ eye-gouging incident, Florida has had more issues off the field than any undefeated team should.
But the latest is one that could have been avoided and should always be avoided, but Florida will be able to overcome it and still win the Southeastern Conference Championship Game on Saturday.
Even though Carlos Dunlap’s decision may not change the outcome of the game, it was made without much thought of the consequences for him and more importantly his team.
Drinking and driving should never be an option.
I do realize that it is a common occurrence especially among college students.
That doesn’t make it OK.
Dunlap is still only charged with a DUI and not convicted of anything, but it doesn’t change the fact that he got behind the wheel of a car when he shouldn’t have.
Urban Meyer speaks about how the team is a family and everyone on it is extremely close.
I am sure Dunlap could have called one of his 107 family members when he decided to start drinking — or if he was just that tired that he couldn’t even make the drive home without falling asleep — and one of them would have surely come to pick him up.
Dunlap has to have more sense than to make that poor of a decision.
And of all weeks, he does it a couple days before the biggest game of the year.
It was a lapse in judgment, but eventually he will be forgiven and still drafted in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft.
This doesn’t just affect him though. It affects his entire team, and it is his teammates that are left to play Alabama without him.
The Gators have proven that they can win without key players. They were without Brandon Spikes for three games and won all of them. Fellow starting defensive end Jermaine Cunningham has missed two games this year, and UF still found a way to win.
Justin Trattou will again be called upon to step up and start this time in Dunlap’s spot, and he might not have the same effectiveness as Dunlap but will still get the job done.
The Gators’ defense is good enough to dominate games even without one of its key players.
Alabama’s offense is not a juggernaut that UF won’t be able to handle without Dunlap.
The defense will still keep the Crimson Tide’s scoring to a minimum and give its offense plenty of opportunities to win.
It will be more important that the Gators’ offense finds a way to score on Alabama’s great defense than it is for UF to figure out how to play without Dunlap.
Florida will still look like one of the best defenses in the nation Saturday, but for the next four days the rest of the players are going to have to stay focused on the task at hand despite the distraction hanging over their heads.
Dunlap is just lucky that he didn’t hurt anyone and that his team is used to playing with distractions so his Dunlap-se in judgment won’t cost the Gators their perfect season.
