Mark Ingram wins the Heisman

Mark Ingram

Did anybody really not expect Mark Ingram to win? I did not think so. With an outside chance at the beginning of the year, he carried the load for the Crimson Tide's offense. he may not have had the best numbers across the board this year, but what he did when Alabama needed him the most is remarkable. In Alabama's five games against ranked opponents Ingram averaged over 200 yards from scrimmage and averaged an insane 6.5 yards per carry. He left little doubt after what he did to Florida's #1 defense in the SEC championship. Ingram racked up 1864d yards of total offense and led the country with 29 runs over 15 yards. The stat probably not mentioned enough is that in 429 opportunities he has fumbled.... ONCE. Last but not least, his strength can not be underestimated, he gained 908 yards after contact.

Knowing a little about hist story, it is not hard to believe that he is the strongest after getting popped in the mouth. Not far from Times Square where Mark Ingram was accepting the Heisman Trophy, his father, Mark Ingram Sr. sat at Queens Private Correctional Facility awaiting serving time in federal prison for bank fraud and money laundering. He was initially arrested in a Michigan hotel room hours before Alabama's Sugar Bowl appearance last year. However Ingram still has a good relationship with his father and talks to him 2-3 times a week. "Little Mark" as he is known in his inner circle adds, "My dad gets a tremendous amount of credit for where I am today."


Side notes: Alabama has won 12 National Championship's, 31 bowl games (most all time), 22 SEC Championships and has had 96 first team All - Americans but Ingram is first Heisman Trophy winner.

After 72 years of upperclassmen winning the Heisman, Ingram is the third straight sophomore to win.

Brian Kelly

The man can win, does anybody really want to question that? He won two D-II championships at Grand Valley State, went 34-6 in three plus seasons at Cincinnati! In a conference that is very much underrated. Also, he was two-time Big East coach of the year, and he was in the conference for how many years? Exactly. Bottom line is Cincinnati will be in there second straight BCS game. Lets not forget that Cincinnati is also a program that use to get beat by Southern Miss year after year, well they will both be in New Orleans this year, I hope Southern Miss enjoys there New Orleans Bowl while a young group of kids from Cincinnati will have plenty to fight for in the Sugar Bowl.

Brian Kelly has been a proven winner through offense, as his Cincinnati offense finished the regular season ranked 11th in the country, there finale against Pittsburgh proved how powerful the offense was as they seemed to score at will in the second half. However, lets not forget about his new job, Notre Dame, with two offensive players that were once in the Heisman talk quarterback Jimmy Clausen and star wide receiver Golden Tate they finished 13th in the country. Was offense really what Notre Dame needed to be searching for? I believe they already had it. Cincinnati finished the season ranked 48th in total defense, not embarrassingly bad but I definitely would not be impressed with it, Notre Dame was worse at 87th which is embarrassing. After the Navy loss earlier in the year I said then that Notre Dame would hire Brian Kelly from Cincinnati. But why? Yes, he can win but why not fit the needs you need? I hope for Kelly's sake that his offense is as good as he has hoping it will be with Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate both leaving early to the draft so he already has two big holes to fill on his beloved offense, and the defense, why should we expect anything to change?

Jack Swarbrick can make as many bad hires as he wants and spend as much money as he wants but sadly for Notre Dame, it is time to realize that the golden years are over and they are not what they think they are to college football and never will be again.