Alabama guards against overconfidence

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Nick Saban turned to LeBron James to help motivate his team.

Alabama's coach showed his team the documentary "More Than a Game" the night before the Crimson Tide faced South Carolina, trying to demonstrate how even the NBA superstar and his former summer league teammates could be felled by overconfidence.

An uneven performance and close 20-6 victory against South Carolina on Saturday probably drove the message home.

Or maybe not. Alabama's latest victory was good enough for the Crimson Tide to jump past Florida to No. 1 in the AP poll.

The Tide was second behind Florida in the first BCS standings.

"You don't have to be punished to learn your lesson," Saban said. "There's an old saying, 'Success breeds success.' I'm not sure that's right. Most of the time people commit to being successful when something bad happens and they're committed to doing what they need to get it fixed."

For the first time, the Tide (7-0, 4-0 SEC) didn't necessarily look like that efficient machine that was overwhelming opponents.

Alabama breezed into the game with a consistently dominant defense, a nearly perfectly balanced offense and a steady, playmaking special teams. Combine that with only four turnovers in six games, and it's no wonder 'Bama was getting all the attention.

But Greg McElroy and the passing game misfired against the Gamecocks (5-2, 2-2), and the balance went out the window. McElroy threw two interceptions, lost a fumble, and Alabama also lost possession on a botched handoff.

The defense was still dominant, but was gashed by Stephen Garcia for a 52-yard pass and a couple of runs by the sophomore quarterback.

The Tide had only one offensive touchdown but was bailed out by a monster game from relentless runner Mark Ingram, whose 246 yards rushing was the third-most in school history.

He scored on a 4-yard run in the final five minutes. Ingram was responsible for 269 of Alabama's 356 total yards, or about three-quarters of the production.

"It's really easy to do a good job when you have No. 22 in the backfield," offensive tackle Drew Davis said of Ingram. "He really inspires the offensive line when we know we have a good back like him. We knew what we had to do the entire game. We haven't been producing. We needed to get the job taken care of."

Next up is Tennessee on Saturday followed by an open date and a visit by No. 9 LSU, the last ranked team on the Tide's schedule.