Tag: Mark Ingram (Page 3 of 6)

      Alabama’s Mark Ingram out for opener – will he miss Penn State game, too?

      August 31, 2010 /
      PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 07: Running back Mark Ingram #22 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates with the BCS Championship trophy after winning the Citi BCS National Championship game over the Texas Longhorns at the Rose Bowl on January 7, 2010 in Pasadena, California. The Crimson Tide defeated the Longhorns 37-21. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

      Alabama head coach Nick Saban announced today that Heisman running back Mark Ingram will miss the team’s opener this Saturday after having arthroscopic knee surgery on Tuesday morning.

      The story here, however, isn’t that Ingram will miss the San Jose State game. If ‘Bama can’t beat San Jose State then they don’t deserve to be mentioned as BCS title contenders, even though Ingram wouldn’t have suited up for the contest.

      The bigger story is whether or not Ingram will play against Penn State, which is the Tide’s second game of the season and obviously their first real test in 2010.

      The Penn State game is in 11 days. I’m no doctor, but I’ve never heard of a player coming back from knee surgery to play a football game in 11 days. Ingram may very well be able to do it, but that seems like an awfully ambitious recovery time for that type of injury.

      Granted, Saban has made it clear that the operation isn’t serious and Ingram is expected to be back soon. But 11 days? This seems like a two-week injury at least and a four-week injury at most, but again, I’m not a doctor.

      But let’s assume for a moment that the Tide will be without Ingram. They should get past San Jose State on Saturday, but can the trio of Trent Richardson Eddie Lacy and Demetrius Goode carry ‘Bama against the Nittany Lions in Week 2?

      Keep in mind that this shouldn’t be as strong a PSU team as we’ve seen the past couple of years and ‘Bama does have the luxury of playing this game at home. The Lions also had to replace all three starters at linebacker from last year and they have issues at the quarterback position.

      But it’s still Penn State, who will no doubt be looking to use the Alabama game to make a statement for the rest of the year. And if Ingram can’t go, then the Lions certainly have a shot to pull off the upset, even with the number of weapons the Tide have on offense this year.

      College Football, External Sports

      2010 College Football Predictions

      August 30, 2010 /
      Jan 1, 2010; Pasadena, CA, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes players huddle before the 2010 Rose Bowl against the Oregon Ducks. Photo via Newscom

      Conference winners, sleepers, power rankings and one big, fat national championship prediction.

      Enjoy.

      Big Ten

      Champion: Ohio State
      Yes, it’s true – the Buckeyes need Terrelle Pryor to be more consistent in the passing game this year if they expect to win a national championship. But stop acting like that’s the difference between OSU winning the Big Ten and them turning into Vanderbilt. Choke on this for a second: The Buckeyes return all three leading rushers from 2009 in Pryor, Brandon Saine and Dan Herron, the secondary features three senior NFL prospects, and they own the best defensive end in the nation in Cameron Heyward. Pryor is also coming off a dominating performance against Oregon in the Rose Bowl and reports state that he has committed himself this offseason to being a better teammate. Sorry Buckeye-haters, but the gap between them and Alabama is closer than you think.

      Conference Champion Sleeper: Michigan Slate
      My biggest concern with the Spartans is that despite pulling off an upset nearly every year, they also manage to lose a game they shouldn’t. But they have a slew of playmakers and plenty of depth on both sides of the ball, plus feature a ton of offensive firepower in Larry Caper, Edwin Baker, Keith Nicol and Mark Dell. Oh, and linebacker Greg Jones is the best defender in the nation. If this team can avoid being tripped up by an inferior opponent, they could easily surprise this season.

      Conference Power Ranking: #1 Ohio State, #2 Iowa, #3 Wisconsin, # 4 Penn State, #5 Michigan State, #6 Northwestern, #7 Michigan, #8 Purdue, #9 Illinois, #10 Indiana, #11 Minnesota.

      I admit that I had Michigan rated too high when I did my Big Ten preview last week. Having any sort of trust in Rich Rodriguez right now is a dangerous proposition for obvious reasons. Just when you think he’s going to figure things out in Ann Arbor, he makes a decision to muck everything up. Penn State might be ranked a little high given their quarterback concerns. Wisconsin is going to give teams trouble this year and Northwestern is going to be a tough opponent every week as well.

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      College Football, External Sports

      2010 SEC College Football Preview: Alabama still reigns supreme

      August 25, 2010 /
      PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 07: Head coach Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrate with the BCS Championship trophy after winning the Citi BCS National Championship game over the Texas Longhorns at the Rose Bowl on January 7, 2010 in Pasadena, California. The Crimson Tide defeated the Longhorns 37-21. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

      Here’s a quick and dirty look at how I see things playing out in the SEC this season:

      #1 Alabama
      Led by head coach Nick Saban and Heisman winner Mark Ingram, this is by far the best team in the country. While they don’t come weakness-free, the Tide have the best combination of talent and coaching in all of college football. They play in the nation’s toughest conference so there’s always a chance that they could lose a game during the season, but this is your clear national title favorite. Their defense might be even better than it was a year ago.

      #2 Florida
      The Gators lost Tim Tebow, Riley Cooper, Aaron Hernandez, Maurkice Pouncey, Carlos Dunlap, Jermaine Cunningham, Brandon Spikes, Ryan Stamper, Joe Haden and Major Wright from their squad last season. In one word: Ouch. Outside of running back Jeff Demps, they lost their top player at nearly every position, which would usually destroy a program’s chances of competing the next year. But this is Florida – they reload every year. This year’s crop of starters has seen time in either part-time action or spot starts over the last couple of years, so the Gators will compete. Are they a top 5 team? We’ll find out soon.

      #3 Arkansas
      All right, so I might be drinking too much of the Ryan Mallett Kool-Aid by ranking the Razorbacks ahead of Georgia and LSU. But even though Bobby Petrino is a turd, the man knows how to run an offense (a college football offense, that is) and Arkansas will be explosive on that side of the ball again this year. The question is whether or not their defense will step up so that this team can reach its full potential. As it stands now, it’s probably safe to say that Arkansas is going to have issues slowing teams down this year, but I just can’t stop starring at that offense. It’s like a tractor beam of hotness.

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      College Football, External Sports

      Preseason Coaches Poll out: Alabama No. 1

      August 6, 2010 /
      TUSCALOOSA, AL - APRIL 17: Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram #22 warms up prior to the start of the Alabama spring game at Bryant Denny Stadium on April 17, 2010 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Dave Martin/Getty Images)

      No surprise here: Defending champs Alabama has the No. 1 ranking in the preseason Coaches Poll.

      From FOX Sports.com:

      Boise State will begin the season ranked No. 5. The Broncos, like Alabama, finished last season 14-0. They beat TCU in the Fiesta Bowl.

      The Crimson Tide got 55 of 59 possible first-place votes. The other four went to Ohio State, which is No. 2 in the newspaper’s ranking.

      Florida is third, followed by Texas, which lost to Alabama in the BCS title game in January.

      Virginia Tech is sixth, followed by TCU, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa to round out the top 10.

      Nos. 11 through 15 are Oregon, Wisconsin, Miami, Penn State and Pittsburgh. They are followed by LSU, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Arkansas and Florida State, which will be without Bobby Bowden as coach for the first time in 35 years.

      With all that has happened in college football over the past couple of months, it’s hard to fathom that actual games will be starting in a few weeks. Football is almost upon us!

      Couple things that I’m interested in seeing:

      – How TCU bounces back from its dud in the Fiesta Bowl.

      – How Texas QB Garrett Gilbert fairs in his first full season after getting thrown to the wolves in the BCS title game.

      – What the Tim Tebow-less Gators will look like (it’s felt like an eternity since Tebow wasn’t the one taking snaps from under center).

      – What Mark Ingram has in store for an encore performance.

      – What Nebraska’s defense looks like without Ndamukong Suh, who was perhaps the most dominant defensive player in college football last year.

      What has your attention heading into the new college season?

      College Football, External Sports

      2009 Heisman winner Ingram the next player to be probed by NCAA?

      July 22, 2010 /
      PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 07: Running back Mark Ingram #22 of the Alabama Crimson Tide speaks during a press conference after winning the Citi BCS National Championship game over the Texas Longhorns at the Rose Bowl on January 7, 2010 in Pasadena, California. The Crimson Tide defeated the Longhorns 37-21. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

      I’m sorry – I must have missed the memo. When did this become National College Football Players Getting Investigated by the NCAA Week?

      TMZ.com is reporting that Alabama running back and 2009 Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram is the latest player to be probed for possible rules violations. According to the report, Ingram attended a party in Washington, D.C. and now the NCAA wants to know if agents paid for anything (his trip there, a new watch, maybe some red plastic cups) at the lavish shindig.

      Alabama says that it checked with the NCAA and they approved the trip as long as Ingram was able to provide receipts for his expenses. But as TMZ notes, it’s unclear at this point whether or not those receipts were submitted. (Although either way, the NCAA obviously still has some unanswered questions that they would like, uh, answered………………stupid.)

      We’ll have to wait and see if this story develops. If Ingram paid for himself to attend the party and has receipts to prove it, then he’s done nothing wrong. But if it’s discovered that an agent hooked him up with so much as a Chewy Granola Bar (even if it was oatmeal raisin, which is the red-headed stepchild in the same variety pack as chocolate chip and peanut butter chocolate chip), then the collective hearts of Tide fans everywhere are going to be in their throats.

      Heading into a new season without the backbone of your offense is a scenario ‘Bama fans don’t even want to imagine.

      College Football, External Sports

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