Oct. 17 column: Where have all the BCS contenders gone?

As they awaken this Sunday morning, college football fans will cast their eyes across the horizon, looking from the steamy swamps of Florida to the snowy peaks of Idaho, looking for the mighty teams of old. And their plaintive cry will be heard.

‘Where have all the heroes gone?’

In Tuscaloosa, of course, the hero is wearing No. 22. More on Mighty Mark Ingram — who certainly out-sparkled Heisman front-runners Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy on Saturday. Before turning to Ingram, let’s take a quick attempt to address the broader question.

‘Where have all the BCS contenders gone?’

The answer, of course, is that the ones that matter are exactly where they have been — poised to make it to Pasadena. Florida and Alabama still appear headed for a play-in game in Atlanta. Texas still controls its own destiny. USC and Boise State still hope for someone to slip up, staying alive with less-than-overwhelming wins as well.

None of those Big Five played in postseason form in their midseason games this weekend. (Ohio State and Virginia Tech did worse, taking losses that put their hopes on the shelf until at least 2010.) The top three all struggled offensively. Florida had a tough time scoring points against Arkansas, a punching bag for Alabama a month ago. Texas looked wobbly against Oklahoma and was probably fortunate that Sam Bradford, the OU quarterback, was knocked out of action.

But it’s worth remembering that, in modern-day football, one rarely sees an unblemished champion. At about this point last season, Florida lost. LSU’s BCS champions of 2007 had more blemishes on their record than a junior high homecoming court after a chocolate cupcake binge. What matters, especially for those teams that control their own fate, is where they go from here. At this point a year ago, Florida shifted into overdrive and sprinted to the title with only Alabama giving them a scare. This year’s Florida team doesn’t seem to have that sort of weaponry. Neither does Texas.

And, as we come full circle to Saturday night’s Alabama-South Carolina game, neither does Alabama — at least not at the moment.

That’s not to say that Alabama can’t win it all. Clearly, its defense is good enough to stop anyone in the country. (It does have to stop losing players of the caliber of Don’t'a Hightower and Javier Arenas to injury.) Alabama hasn’t given up a touchdown in more than eight quarters (against Top 25 teams, by the way). It was a nice echo of glorious Alabama defenses of the past to hear Tyrone King Jr.’s name called so frequently. (Saban said King played ‘a wonderful game,’ high praise for a defensive back.) That is perhaps a harbinger of things to come.

‘If we had a whole team that would play with the heart and character (King) displayed, the sky would be the limit,’ Saban said.

The sky may still be the limit. But the Alabama offense that looked so balanced and effective in the first five games has gone missing, as if it crawled into the gondola of a helium balloon and was carried away. Greg McElroy, for two games now, has looked harried and uncomfortable — even more so against South Carolina than he did against Ole Miss. Yes, those are two good defenses, but remember, we are talking about playing for the BCS title here. In the decisive fourth-quarter touchdown drive of its 20-6 win, Alabama reverted to what might be called the amoeba offense, since it was as simple as a single-celled organism.

For the most part, the Crimson Tide even eliminated McElroy as the middleman. For five straight plays, Alabama simply snapped the ball to Ingram in the wildcat formation and he ran the ball. Only when he had run it all the way down to the Crimson Tide 4-yard line did McElroy line up under center. He pitched it to Ingram, who capped his 246-yard performance by running four yards for the clinching score. The drive was simultaneously elegant in its simplicity and worrisome in its raw brutality, because Ingram — as great as he is — can’t do it alone for the whole seven-game marathon that would be required to reach Pasadena. It is not imperative that McElroy become a 300-yard passer, but it is imperative that he regains his poise. The same is true for the entire team — especially kick returns — in terms of penalties. He can’t play like he (and South Carolina’s Chris Garcia) did on Saturday, unless he wants to make the Jevan Snead Watch List.

‘When you do those things, you might win but you’re not playing winning football,’ Saban said. ‘We went to a movie last night that I had shipped in from California, a movie that’s not out yet about Lebron James. His team lost the state championship when they were juniors because they became arrogant. They lost their attention to detail. They lost their way. And I wanted everybody to see that. I was hopeful that we’d learn something from that movie. You’d hope that you don’t have to be punished to learn your lessons.’

Alabama didn’t get punished, at least with a loss, on Saturday — ‘the sign of a good team,’ Saban said, ‘is winning ugly but still winning’ — and it remains a BCS contender. And for this week, that’s as good as anyone else in the whole wide country can say.

Cecil Hurt is sports editor of The Tuscaloosa News. He can be reached at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0225.