Keying on Ingram

KNOXVILLE -- The intricacies of Alabama's football program lie in the layers to Nick Saban's multiple 3-4 defense.

Alabama's offense offers little such mystery. Much like Saban's former LSU teams, the Crimson Tide line up in traditional offensive sets and ram forward with the running game.

The focus is intended to weaken the defense's will rather than mess with its mind.

And players such as Mark Ingram make that task easier to accomplish, Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin and his players have insisted all week.

"Gosh, he's physical," UT senior defensive lineman Wes Brown said. "He just barrels through people."

Ingram, a 5-foot-10, 212-pound sophomore from Michigan, has powered himself into Heisman Trophy contention by tossing aside would-be tacklers at a robust rate.

More than half of Ingram's 1,091 yards -- 580, to be precise -- have come after initial contact.

"He bounces off so many people," Kiffin said. "We're going to have to do a great job of wrapping up, great job of 11 guys running to the ball, because time and time again you think you have him down and he spins out for 5, 6 more yards."

Ingram ranks fourth nationally and leads the Southeastern Conference with 905 yards through seven games. He also has nearly 200 receiving yards, and three of his 11 scores have come on passes.

The sophomore seizes the moment, too. With the Crimson Tide clinging to a 13-6 lead midway through the fourth quarter against South Carolina last Saturday night, they started a drive on their own 32-yard line. Ingram accounted for every inch of a six-play, 68-yard, game-sealing touchdown drive. He took all six snaps as a shotgun quarterback in the wildcat formation and reeled off runs of 24, 4, 5, 9, 22 and 4 yards.

Ingram finished with 246 rushing yards -- third in Alabama's rich history -- on just 24 attempts against the highly regarded Gamecocks defense.

"I kind of was shocked by the number of yards at the end of the game, because I don't pay attention to yards or anything. I just try to make the most of every opportunity I have," Ingram said. "I know I squirted out on a few big runs, but I think I had about 10 yards a carry. That was kind of surprising, too.

"That's just a tribute to the line and the receivers blocking downfield. They did a great job opening up seams for us the whole night. That's just a tribute to them. That's not all just me."

The Volunteers are impressed, anyway.

"That's what you like to see, a player like that just stepping up and carrying his team," said UT junior linebacker Savion Frazier, an Alabama native played high school ball in Virginia. "(Ingram) is a good football player, man. He's somebody we're going to have to stop this weekend.

"Alabama says, 'We're going to run the ball,' and that's what they do. They make you stop it. It ain't no secret. They're going to run it. It's on the defense to stop it."

Kiffin has spent portions of every interview this week praising Saban's program, from its recruiting to the physical nature of its play. Major college football's youngest head coach considers Alabama and Southern California the blueprints for UT's renaissance.

"This is a team that comes at you downhill, both sides of the ball, and hits you in the mouth," Kiffin said. "I love the style, the way that they play and what they do.

"It's really a model for the direction that we're going."

Kiffin cited UT's own tailback star, senior Montario Hardesty, as a player who already fits that model.

Teammates said Hardesty, the SEC's second-leading all-purpose yardage gainer who doesn't return kicks or punts, prepares them every day for defending players such as Ingram.

"It's just going to be a challenge all day between us and those (Alabama) backs and that offensive line," Vols junior All-America safety Eric Berry said. "The way (Ingram) finishes runs, I can tell that he's a well-coached running back. I think they finish runs the same way we try to finish plays on defense. That's one of the biggest things we're facing this week, and I'm looking forward to see where we're at against a good back. I know the rest of the defense is, also.

"The good thing is we've been facing Montario since ... well, this is my third year going up against him every day in practice. We know what type of physical back Montario is, and Ingram's running style is just the same."

Kiffin doesn't view Hardesty and Ingram as similar players in size, stature of specific style, but he didn't deny their "same mentality."

And that, Kiffin said, is why the first-team defenders practice against Hardesty every day, even if they aren't always allowed to take him to the ground.

"That's what we try to build our program on, is ones playing against ones, no matter how late we are in the season," Kiffin said. "We do some service team, obviously, but we always end with speed and with our guys having to block really fast rushers and our guys having to play really good backs.

"It's always worked for us carrying over, and I anticipate that being the case this week."

Berry said the only way UT's secondary can make plays against struggling quarterback Greg McElroy is to make Alabama throw the ball. And the only way to make the Tide throw is to stop Ingram.

"We realize that we can't do anything about the quarterback if we don't stop the run," Berry said. "The easiest thing for a young quarterback to do is hand the ball off. And if he's handing the off, and they're getting first downs, then there's no reason for him to put the ball in the air.

"We've got to make him put the ball in the air by stopping the run, and then hopefully get some turnovers. ... But we can't do that if we don't stop their backs first."

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