AM850.com

We haven't even played a down of college football in the regular season yet and already some of the top teams in the country have been hit hard by injuries.

Take a look at Florida. Already various injuries have kept key people like defensive tackles Omar Hunter and Matt Patchan, defensive back Markihe Anderson and wide receiver Louis Murphy either out of practice altogether or has limited their participation. Gator Defensive Coordinator Charlie Strong recently talked about the fact that on defense he seems to gets one guy back but then just as quickly lose another. He said at one point five projected defensive starters had missed practice for various periods of time; hard to build continuity with that happening, don't you think?

We won't even go into the Percy Harvin saga; he's missed all kinds of practice time as he recovers from surgery on his heel and maybe he even doesn't know exactly when he'll be back at practice or at full speed.

The biggest injuries of course with Florida football are the five ACL injuries the Gators have suffered that have robbed them of starting strong safety Dorian Munroe and starting tight end Cornelius Ingram as well as some players who were going to be key reserves. Gator coach Urban Meyer has gone to wearing the same pair of sneakers that he was wearing when the rash of ACL injuries stopped; anything for good luck.

And that's the point; sometimes even the college football team with the best coaches, best recruits, best facilities and the most returning players can be cut down to size in a hurry when the injury bug strikes. Sometimes a successful season can boil down to just plain old luck when it comes to injuries. Maybe more than a few coaches might resort to rubbing a rabbit's foot or some other good luck charm to keep their players healthy because injuries are occurring at an alarming rate.

Georgia, the preseason number one team in many polls and publications, lost starting offensive tackle Trinton Sturdivant, the guy who was supposed to protect the blind side of quarterback Matthew Stafford. Auburn lost starting defensive back Aairon Savage for the year in a position that is not terribly deep on the team. Ole Miss thought that the defensive line would be one of the strengths of their team this year but that was before tackle Ted Laurent had surgery to replace a torn meniscus in his knee and defensive end Greg Hardy had surgery to fix a stress fracture in his foot. Hardy is only the SEC leader in sacks (10.5) and tackles for loss a year ago and he is likely to miss six to eight weeks with the injury.

Every team has areas in which they just can't afford any injuries; with Florida, it is certainly at tight end where there is no depth behind Aaron Hernandez and Tate Casey and at the safety position where injuries have already taken a major toll. When you recruit well and you can plug in a talented player, that helps, but there are limits.

I don't think you can tell me that if Ingram, Harvin and Murphy were out of the lineup at one time long term that there would not be some drop off in production. With all due respect to players like David Nelson, Deonte Thompson, Carl Moore and company, they are not starters or have not had a lot of experience in the offense as of yet and they are not the dynamic, proven playmakers those other guys are.

I know we're all excited about the start of the college football season but maybe until then we should sprinkle salt over our shoulder, keep our fingers crossed or perform any other positive superstition that will help keep the Gator football team healthy.

Sometimes, at the end of the day, the best college football teams are the luckiest teams too.

The Gators certainly have enough talent to be a very good football team; they just need some luck in keeping the players on the field and out of the MASH unit.