For three suspended Florida players, the terminated game against Idaho will count as their suspension.
Before Saturday's scheduled game against the Vandals, coach Will Muschamp announced that DT Jay-nard Bostwick, DT Darious Cummings and WR Demarcus Robinson were all suspended for the season opener. Bostwick and Cummings were suspended for what Muschamp said was a violation of team rules and Robinson was suspended for a university sanction.
However, heavy rains prevented Florida and Idaho from playing. Well, OK, they kicked the game off after a lengthy delay, but as water was still standing on the field, the decision was quickly made to abort the attempt at trying to play.
A kickoff is apparently good enough to fulfill a game suspension. Monday, Muschamp said the players would be reinstated for the September 6 game against Eastern Michigan.
"We did have Darious Cummings and Jay-Nard Bostwick suspended for the first game for a violation of team rules," Muschamp said Monday. "They will be back this week with us. They’ve not just as far as a suspension of a game but they’ve had a lot of other things from me as well as Demarcus Robinson who had a university sanction that’s been resolved. Thomas, you asked me last week if he had handled all of his business from the year before and he had. This is a totally separate issue. Moving forward having those three guys back."
Muschamp clearly feels bringing the players back is the right decision. But it looks funny to see players suspended for a game, the game not happen, and the players be reinstated. If the terms of the suspension were simply a week or a time period, the justification for bringing them back is exponentially easier.
Maybe a happy medium would have the players serve the suspension whenever the two teams play again? Both Idaho and Florida have an open date on October 25, but the Gators play Georgia the week after the bye. Would Florida want to give up a bye week before the World's Largest Cocktail Party?
"Well I think both teams have a bye week so it’s important for both teams, but again, other than having an opportunity to prepare extra for an Eastern Division opponent, nothing more than that."
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo Sports - Three Florida players suspended for terminated Idaho game will play Saturday 