PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -Mark Ingram couldn’t fault Marcell Dareus for celebrating his touchdown excessively.
Defensive linemen, he figures, “don’t get in the end zone too much.”
Ingram, on the other hand, continued to get there regularly, rushing for two touchdowns and helping Alabama capture its eighth national title since the polls began in the 1930s in Thursday night’s 37-21 victory over Texas. It was the Crimson Tide’s seventh AP title.
The Heisman Trophy-winning tailback and the defensive end mostly overshadowed by his neighbor on the line, Terrence Cody, were two of the game’s biggest stars. That’s no surprise for Ingram, but Dareus is a relatively unsung player on a defense loaded with All-Americans.
Yet it was Dareus who sent Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy to the sidelines for the duration on Texas’ fifth offensive play. And the 6-foot-4, 296-pound sophomore plucked sub Garrett Gilbert’s shovel pass out of the air and returned the interception 28 yards for a touchdown with 3 seconds left in the first half. It gave Alabama a 24-6 lead.
Dareus was so excited, he earned a flag for making a celebratory throw to the sidelines.
“He made a big play, a tremendous play that probably was the deciding factor in the game,” said Ingram, who had 22 carries for 116 yards.
The question is, which one is Ingram talking about? Both were huge.
With his mother watching from the stands – and his famous father still in jail – Ingram became only the second player to win college football’s most prestigious individual award and a national title in the same season since the inception of the BCS, joining Southern California quarterback Matt Leinart (2004).
Heisman winners had been just 1-6 in BCS title games.
Ingram didn’t match his tearfully poignant Heisman acceptance speech, when he became the first player in the history of the storied Alabama program to win the award. But he made it clear that the crystal football given to the national champions was more meaningful than the bronze trophy he received in New York.
“The Heisman was kind of shocking and something I never really expected coming into this year,” said Ingram, voted the game’s most outstanding offensive player. “It was a great honor to win the trophy but it was more than just a trophy, too. It was overcoming adversity. A lot of the emotion came from that.
“This national championship was more everybody. I was so happy to leave my heart out there for the team, and blood, sweat and tears.”
That adversity includes his father Mark Sr.’s imprisonment on a money laundering and bank fraud conviction. The former New York Giants and Miami Dolphins wide receiver was sentenced to 92 months but could have time tacked on for failing to report to a federal prison in Kentucky in December 2008, apparently because he wanted to see his son play in the Sugar Bowl.
Sidelined briefly by leg cramps, Ingram returned to the game just in time to help polish off a 14-0 season for Alabama.
“He’s a great competitor and he certainly wanted to go back in the game and we certainly needed him to,” coach Nick Saban said. “It worked out for us.”
Ingram’s eighth 100-yard rushing effort tied Shaun Alexander’s decade-old single-season record, and his two touchdowns gave him 17 on the season.
Dareus finished his first season as a significant contributor with 6.5 sacks, but he wouldn’t have predicted he’d be in position as one of the heroes in the national championship game, especially after calling himself “a mediocre recruit” coming out of suburban Birmingham.
“I didn’t think I was going to work hard and get to where I am today, and accomplish the things I have accomplished,” Dareus said. “My coaches always told me hard work isn’t going to hurt nobody, and I always worked hard for everything.”
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