Bummed out about the NCAA Tournament being canceled? We are too. That’s why BamaInsider created its own version of March Madness to determine who is the Crimson Tide’s greatest player in the Nick Saban era.
We have compiled a 64-player field with seed rankings of No. 1 through No. 16. The tournament will be played out throughout the month and will be determined by fan voting. Fans can vote either through BamaInsider’s Twitter account (@bamainsider) or on the Talk of Champions message board. Players will be matched up against each other with the one receiving the most total votes between both mediums advancing to the next round.
Today we wrap up the Elite Eight with AJ McCarron vs. Mark Ingram.
No. 1 seed AJ McCarron vs. No. 2 seed Mark Ingram
AJ McCarron accolades
— Heisman runner-up (2013)
— Maxwell Award winner (2013)
— Alabama's all-time record leader in passing yards with 9,019
— Ranks second all-time at Alabama with 80 total touchdowns and a 66.9 career completion percentage
— 36-4 as a starter
The case for McCarron: Limiting AJ McCarron to the title of “game manager” isn’t fair. The Mobile native was much more than that at Alabama. Game managers don’t lead game-winning drives against LSU in Death Valley or win shootouts against Johnny Manziel’s Texas A&M in College Station. They don’t win the Maxwell Award or finish as Heisman Trophy finalists. McCarron wasn’t a game manger — he was a winner.
McCarron is Alabama’s all-time leader in passing yards with 9,019, but his most impressive stat is his 36-4 record as a starter. A redshirt freshman on Saban’s first national championship team at Alabama in 2009, McCarron took over behind center for the Crimson Tide two years later. From there, he led Alabama to back-to-back national championships and was well-positioned for a third straight if not for a flukey game at Auburn in 2013.
While McCarron might not have Mark Ingram’s Heisman Trophy, he has the star back beat in national titles, 3-1. Tell me, which trophy case would you rather have? Alabama’s always been about winning over individual awards. That’s why McCarron is so high on this list, and its why he should add another win in this matchup.
Mark Ingram accolades
— Alabama's first Heisman winner (2009)
— Alabama's all-time leader in rushing touchdowns (42)
— Ranks sixth all-time at Alabama with 3,261 rushing yards
— Ranks sixth all-time at Alabama with 5.7 yards per carry (minimum 400 carries)
The case for Ingram: Mark Ingram’s strongest argument here is the Heisman Trophy he won in 2009 after he rushed 249 times for 1,542 yards and scored 18 total touchdowns in Alabama’s first 13 games. Then with the award in hand, Ingram put on one heck of an encore performance in the national championship against Texas. He received MVP honors after he carried the ball 22 times for 116 yards and two touchdowns in the victory over the Longhorns.
That shouldn’t be a surprise, though. The running back always seemed to deliver his best performances when it mattered most. The Crimson Tide played six ranked opponents that season, including No. 2 Texas and No. 1 Florida (when Ingram scored three times against the Gators in the SEC Championship rematch). Ingram averaged 25 carries, 157 yards and 1.5 total touchdowns in those six games.
Yes, it’s impossible to find a player in the Saban era that delivered more than AJ McCarron, other than perhaps Barrett Jones. McCarron’s body of work is just too impressive, but on a per-game basis, Ingram proves he belongs in the conversation. Few players under Saban are more talented than the school’s first Heisman winner. Who knows, maybe if he’d come back one more year, or if he’d been healthy at the start of his junior campaign, this wouldn’t even be a discussion.
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Andrew Bone, of BamaInsider.com, is a real estate broker in the state of Alabama.
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