Gamecocks prove to be no pushover

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — America is looking for the best team in college football. America is looking for a Heisman favorite.

If it was tuning in to what was happening here Saturday night at Bryant-Denny Stadium, it got some answers.

Alabama running back Mark Ingram strapped the second-ranked Tide on his back, rushing for 246 yards and the game-sealing score in a 20-6 victory against No. 22 South Carolina in front of 92,012 fans on a chilly night.

'Obviously,' Gamecocks defensive head coach Ellis Johnson said, 'there was a mismatch.'

With his team holding on to a tenuous touchdown lead, Ingram had a six-play, 68-yard touchdown drive. No, not the Tide. Ingram did.

He fell into the end zone for a 4-yard score with 4:54 to play, effectively signaling the end of the night for the upset-minded Gamecocks.

Ingram's rushing total, much of which came in the first half, was the third-most in this storied program's history.

'If we ever have a guy run for 246 yards,' USC coach Steve Spurrier said, 'we'll be in good shape.'

Alabama moves to 7-0 (4-0 in the SEC) with a good chance to gain ground on the No. 1 spot in the polls.

Give the Gamecocks (5-2, 2-2) credit. They took some slugs from this physical opponent. And they stayed on their feet in this heavyweight encounter.

But South Carolina wasn't content with just playing close. As All-SEC linebacker Eric Norwood said earlier in the week, USC loaded the bus to win.

'They were beatable,' USC sophomore quarterback Stephen Garcia said. 'We knew that the whole week. We've got a pretty good team here. There's really no such thing as a moral victory. The team knows that.'

Garcia was still distraught after the game over the second play of the game. It was a pick six on what was, to say the least, an ill-advised pass.

The interception gave the Tide its only touchdown until Ingram's score in the final minutes.

A long return on the opening kickoff and a facemask penalty set USC up at the Bama 44-yard line. On the second play, Garcia underthrew Moe Brown by about 10 yards, and the Tide's Mark Barron was waiting with open arms.

He weaved down the sideline, shedding would-be tacklers (including Garcia), for a 77-yard score.

'He just made a mistake,' Spurrier said of the offense's only turnover. 'He didn't look the situation over very well, I guess.'

There were other throws Garcia wanted back, too. Down 13-6 late in the third quarter, he had Jason Barnes streaking down the middle of the field for what would've been an easy 28-yard game-tying score.

But Garcia missed well over Barnes' head. Spurrier said it was another 'almost' play for an offense that still isn't impressing him.

The Gamecocks finished with 278 yards, 96 on the ground.

The defense forced four Alabama turnovers (two interceptions, two fumbles), but the offense didn't score any points off those takeaways.

And the team's work-in-progress line gave up five sacks and had several costly penalties.

'We're not a real sharp team right now,' Spurrier said. 'Not a sharp team at all.'

Regardless, in the end, it was just too much Ingram.

Texas' Colt McCoy figured to be the default Heisman leader entering Saturday, but he wobbled greatly in his team's narrow victory against Oklahoma.

Florida figured to be the best team entering Saturday, but the defending national champs had to escape with their lives against Arkansas.

Enter Alabama and Ingram, featured on ESPN's national stage.

Ingram had 146 of his yards in the first half, picking up big chunks of yards throughout the first two quarters.

His 54-yard run on third-and-2 in the final minutes of the first half set up a 35-yard field goal by Leigh Tiffin to make it 13-3.

But the Gamecocks responded with a quick drive, getting to the Bama 14 with 15 seconds to go. But three straight attempts to lob a jump ball to freshman Alshon Jeffery failed, and Spencer Lanning kicked a 31-yard field goal to make it 13-6 Tide at the half.

In something of a strange stat, Ingram was already over 200 yards in the fourth quarter. But his team didn't have an offensive touchdown - just a pair of field goals.

The sophomore, the son of former New York Giants receiver Mark Ingram, changed that virtually on his own.

The Tide, still only up that one score, took over at its own 32-yard line.

Ingram then ran five straight times out of the Wild Elephant formation, in which Ingram took direct snaps and quarterback Greg McElroy was out wide.

Ingram rushed for gains of 24, 4, 5, 9 and 22 before the 4-yard touchdown, which came in a more conventional formation.

'We looked physically tired,' Johnson said. 'That's what Alabama does. And that's what they did.'

Reach Travis Haney at thaney@postandcourier.com and check out the South Carolina blog at www.postandcourier.com/weblogs/gamecocks.