Tide’s Ingram, Auburn’s Tate set to meet
November 24, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. (AP)—Auburn’s Ben Tate has delivered a couple of messages inrecent weeks.
First, he told a reporter that he’s the “best back in the state”, thoughNo. 2 Alabama’s Mark Ingram is a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Then, he sent a text message last weekend to the Tigers’ offensive linemenpointing out that the Crimson Tide’s defense hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher inthe past 31 games going into Friday’s Iron Bowl.
In the process, Tate might have delivered a bit of motivation to both teams,even if Ingram is brushing off the comments.
“I’m not a guy that gets into tongue tussles with anybody,” he said.“Everybody is entitled to their own opinion.”
For the record, both Iron Bowl tailbacks have been praising each other thisweek. Ingram is the Southeastern Conference’s leading rusher with 1,399 yards,12 touchdowns and a 6.8-yard per carry average.
Tate is the No. 3 runner, with 1,209 yards, eight TDs and a 5.4-yardaverage. He was taken aback by the reaction to his comments about being thestate’s top back, delivered before the last game against Georgia two week ago.He points out he also said he’s hoping Ingram wins the Heisman.
“They just tried to make me like a bad guy, but I’m not really worriedabout it,” Tate said. He’s not apologizing for having a little swagger, either.
“As a player, you’ve got to have confidence,” Tate said. “You don’t haveto be cocky but you definitely have to have the confidence to believe inyourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, who else is going to believe inyou?”
Besides, as center Ryan Pugh said, “I would hope he wouldn’t come out andsay he’s the second best.”
Auburn coach Gene Chizik also said he thinks the comments were made in “avery innocent way.”
Both Tate and Ingram are physical backs who have been the backbones of theirrespective offenses. Ingram, who is averaging 142.9 yards in SEC games, hasgained 885 yards after contact this season.
“He’s a north-south runner, just like me,” Tate said. “I’d say hisstrength is just his ability to break tackles. He’s really good at breakingtackles.”
They have different off-the-field styles. Whereas Tate is often outspoken,Ingram generally tries to steer clear of both controversy and the Heisman talk.
The closest Ingram got to a dig at Tate was when he was told that the Auburnback is pulling for him to win the Heisman. “I guess that’s kind of surprisingbecause I heard some other things he said, too,” Ingram said.
Then comes a heaping helping of praise.
“I think he’s a great back, I love the way he runs the ball,” Ingram said.“He runs with a lot of passion, he runs with a lot of heart and he’s a greatback and I’ll just let my play talk for me.”
Tate has already passed runners such as Ronnie Brown and Stephen Davis onAuburn’s career rushing list. Ingram needs just 73 yards to break BobbyHumphrey’s 23-year-old Alabama single-season rushing mark.
“Just to be said in the names of great backs that have come through here,All-Americans who have done a lot of great things here, have a lot of records… Just to be in that category and maybe even break their records is just anhonor,” he said.
Both he and Tate fight for yards. Tate just has to battle more for attentionthan Ingram, who’s the biggest offensive star for a national title contender andis set to appear on the cover of this week’s “Sports Illustrated.”
Tate is a centerpiece of a 7-4 Auburn team that had a losing record lastseason.
He had only nine starts in three seasons for Auburn coming into his senioryear but still ranks fifth in Auburn history with 3,168 rushing yards.
“I’ve been here my whole career without getting any attention, so itdoesn’t really bother me at all,” Tate said. “I’ve barely even gotten anyattention from the guys (reporters) that work here.”
Both players have capable freshman backups. Auburn’s Onterio McCalebb hasbeen hobbled the last few games with a sprained ankle, but still has 524 yards.
Ingram’s backup, Trent Richardson, has run for 511 yards.
It’s pretty clear which backs face the biggest challenge in this game.Alabama ranks second nationally in run defense, giving up 70.6 yards a game.Auburn is allowing 169.7 yards a game, which ranks 88th nationally.
Ingram & Co. don’t envy opposing backs.
“Every time me and Roy (Upchurch) and Trent, we’ll be on the sideline,”Ingram said. “We’ll be like, ‘I hate it for those other guys. They’ve got torun against that defense.’ I mean, they’re so big, so fast, so well coached.They all know where they’re supposed to be and they’re so athletic, they all canmake plays. It’s just hard to have a lot of success on them running the ball.”
Auburn’s defenders have plenty of motivation going against Ingram.
“I know the (defensive) line as a whole, we said he’s not going to win theHeisman on us,” Auburn end Michael Goggans said. “So we’re going to definitelystop him and stop that run. They’ve got a great running attack, but if we do ourjob as a D-line, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
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