Tide Still Searching For Big Plays

Alabama's offense has mellowed over the past three games.

The Crimson Tide has registered only a pair of rushing touchdowns in victories over Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. Ten trips into the red zone have resulted in eight field goals. The passing game hasn't featured many deep throws, and Alabama's Wildcat offense, which started as a gimmick, has become more relevant.

Third-ranked Alabama realizes it will need a better all-around effort on Saturday to beat No. 9 LSU, the only remaining ranked team on the Crimson Tide's schedule. The Crimson Tide can clinch the SEC West title with a win and would then meet No. 1 Florida on Dec. 5 in the SEC title game.

"We haven't scored points at the same sort of rate that we did earlier in the season," Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said.

"We've been focusing on improving and making more explosive plays in the passing game as well as executing a little better and getting a little better consistency in performance all the way around. I think sometimes in the red zone we haven't finished drives like we need to."

Alabama will certainly need to finish drives if it wants to earn its first home win over LSU since 1999.

One key to that success will be sophomore running back Mark Ingram, who ranks first in the SEC and fifth nationally with 125.5 rushing yards a game.

Ingram leads the Crimson Tide with 11 touchdowns (eight rushing, three receiving). The bruising Ingram, a 5-foot-10, 215-pound sophomore, also has been one tough hombre in traffic. Of his 1,190 yards this season (1,004 rushing, 186 receiving), Ingram has gained 645 yards after contact (54 percent of his total yards).

Ingram believes it's those nitty-gritty yards that will make the difference against the Tigers.

Since giving up 23 points and 478 total yards against Washington in the season-opener, LSU held its last seven opponents to an average of 266.6 yards and 10.6 points.

"In a game like this, you go out on the field and whoever plays the hardest and whoever does the little things right the most consistently throughout the game, that's who will win the game," Ingram said.

"You can't really focus on 'We've got to make this big play' or 'We've got to do this or got to do that.' We have to focus on the game plan, perfect it and execute it. Whoever does the little things right the most consistently wins the game."

Ingram, of course, started to merit legitimate Heisman Trophy consideration for his career-best game in Alabama's victory over South Carolina on Oct. 17. With the Gamecocks slowing the Tide's passing game and rattling quarterback Greg McElroy, Ingram lined up in the Wildcat and put the game away.

Ingram carried the ball on all six plays of a 68-yard drive. The first five plays were in the Wildcat when Ingram received the direct snap from center. On the final play, Ingram took a handoff from McElroy and scored on a 4-yard run that gave Alabama a 20-6 victory.

Ingram finished with 246 yards on 24 carries.

Ingram is especially determined not to repeat last year's midseason dip when he had one rushing yard against Tennessee and six rushing yards on five carries at LSU.

"I think I hit the wall halfway through the season at this point (a year ago)," said Ingram, who rushed for 728 yards on 143 carries with a team-best 12 touchdowns last season. "I had a few injuries and I was a little frustrated with how I was performing. I hit the wall and I can't let that happen again."

Ingram and teammates also believe a Crimson Tide offense that has sputtered recently feels in sync and will be ready for LSU. Senior offensive lineman Mike Johnson credits opposing defenses or causing some of Alabama's frustration over its lack of explosiveness.

Receiver Julio Jones, for example, has just one touchdown and is averaging 32.7 receiving yards per game, well below his career average of 54.9.

Alabama is coming off a bye week, but barely escaped against Tennessee, blocking two field goal attempts to preserve a 12-10 victory.

"One of the goals we had coming into the year was to have more explosive plays, especially in the passing game," Johnson said.

"That really wasn't one of our strengths last year. I think we did a good job of starting off on that note and we've kind of got to get back to that. We had a lot of explosive plays and play-action down the field early in the year, and we've got to get back to that.

"On the same note, guys have done a good job. We've faced better defenses. There is a lot to be said about SEC defenses that can come in and stop the pass and we've played some good safeties and good defenses the past two weeks and they did a good job of kind of throwing some things at us."

Look for LSU's defense to be just as prepared. In its last three SEC games, LSU combined to limit Georgia, Florida and Auburn to a total of 36 points

"They are big and fast, strong and physical," Ingram said.

"The scheme they play, they do it really well. They are coached up really well. They all do their assignments. They all get to the ball and they make it really hard for offenses to have success."