PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -Mark Ingram didn’t let any Heisman Trophy jinx tackle him.
The Alabama tailback instead did what he’s done all season, turning in a workmanlike performance with a few timely plays. Ingram carried 22 times for 116 yards and two scores in Thursday night’s 37-21 victory over Texas in the BCS national title game.
He’s only the second player to win the biggest individual award and a national title in the same season since the inception of the BCS, joining Southern Cal quarterback Matt Leinart.
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.
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Sidelined briefly by what appeared to be lower leg cramps, Ingram returned to the game just in time to help polish off a 14-0 season.
While the defense made an assortment of big plays against Texas, Ingram and backfield mate Trent Richardson carried the offense.
Richardson, a freshman, ran for 109 yards and two TDs, and the two tailbacks did it against a defense that had allowed just 62 yards rushing per game coming in. It was only the 11th time in school history that two Crimson Tide running backs have run for 100 yards and the first time it happened in a bowl game.
But it was Ingram, as usual, standing in the spotlight with the game on the line. His eighth 100-yard rushing effort tied Shaun Alexander’s decade-old single-season record, and his two touchdowns gave him 17 on the season.
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