The Auburn game not withstanding, Mark Ingram had a solid year for Alabama
Marking the third straight year for a sophomore winning the Heisman Trophy, Alabama's Mark Ingramtakes CFB's top honor in the closest balloting ever, beating out the 1985 race between Bo Jackson and Iowa's Chuck Long. Ingram received 227 first place votes, barely edging Stanford's Tony Gerhart's 222. Ingram's point total was 1304, and Gehart's 1276. Third place went to Texas' Colt McCoy, 4th to Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh and 5th to former Heisman winner, Florida's Tim Tebow.
Ingram's win marks the first time ever for a player from the university of Alabama to win the prestigious award, which is very strange considering Alabama's place in the annals of CFB and the number of great players to come through that program. "The legacy of Alabama football certainly had a void filled," Tide coach Nick Saban said.
Showing a predilection for winners, this year's award marks the sixth time out of the last seven that the trophy winner has gone on to play in the BCS championship game. Both Ingram and Tony Gerhart enjoyed a late surge of support, catching perrenial favorite Colt McCoy, who would have definitely been a candidate in the 'body of work' category. Ingram, in spite of not winning the SEC rushing crown, ultimately was deemed to be more of a MVP for the undefeated Tide, a scenario that may have been enough to push him past the candidate from 8-4 Stanford.