TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -Nick Saban turned to LeBron James to help motivate his team.
Alabama’s coach showed his team the documentary “More Than a Game” the night before the Crimson Tide faced South Carolina, trying to demonstrate how even the NBA superstar and his former summer league teammates could be felled by overconfidence.
An uneven performance and close 20-6 victory by Alabama against South Carolina on Saturday night probably got the message across even better.
Or maybe not. Alabama’s latest victory was good enough for the Crimson Tide to jump past Florida to No. 1 in the AP poll.
The Tide was in second-place behind Florida in the first BCS standings.
“You don’t have to be punished to learn your lesson,” said Saban, who had the studio ship the DVD for the game. “There’s an old saying, ‘Success breeds success.’ I’m not sure that’s right. Most of the time people commit to being successful when something bad happens and they’re committed to doing what they need to to get it fixed.”
the Tide (7-0, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) didn’t necessarily look like that efficient machine that was overwhelming opponents.
Alabama breezed into the game with a consistently dominant defense, a nearly perfectly balanced offense and a steady, playmaking special teams. Combine all that with only four turnovers in six games, and it’s no wonder ‘Bama was getting all the attention as the total package.
But Greg McElroy and the passing game misfired Saturday night against the Gamecocks (5-2, 2-2), and the balance went out the window. McElroy threw two early interceptions, lost a fumble, and Alabama also lost possession on a botched handoff for turnover No. 4.
The defense was still dominant, but was gashed by Stephen Garcia for a 52-yard pass and a couple of runs by the sophomore quarterback, too.
The Tide had only one offensive touchdown but was bailed out by a monster game from relentless runner Mark Ingram, whose 246 yards rushing was the third-most in school history.
He also scored on a 4-yard run in the final five minutes. Ingram was responsible for 269 of Alabama’s 356 total yards, or about three-quarters of the production.
oducing. We needed to get the job taken care of.”
Alabama came in averaging 1,341 rushing yards, and 1,327 passing. The Tide wound up with just 90 yards through the air, and nearly three times that many rushing (264).
In other words, the game left Saban with plenty of teaching points. That includes the 10 penalties for 113 yards.
“I really think that’s a sign of a good team,” he said. “I’m proud of our players for being able to go out there and earn this and fight their way through it and doing what they need to do to win the game. You can say it’s winning ugly or whatever, but it’s still winning.
“There are lessons to be learned when you play games like this.”
For one thing, it’s not as easy to coast through the SEC as Alabama had been making it look. South Carolina and Mississippi both were ranked entering the games the past two weeks, and they combined to produce just three field goals. Next up is rival Tennessee, followed by an open date and a visit from No. 9 LSU – the only ranked team remaining on Alabama’s schedule.
Saban wasn’t surprised the Tide struggled some.
“I kind of had a feeling that this was going to be a really tough game,” he said. “Psychologically this is a tough league to be at your best every week.”
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