Ingram, Alabama Find A Way

Week 4 in the college football world set the stage for what we can expect in the always critical month of October. The first month of the season is done and we found a few pleasant surprises while some teams experienced some unpleasant ones. Here are the winners and losers from Week 4:

Mark Ingram put The Tide on his back on the way to victory (Getty Images) The top-ranked team in the nation took a punch in the mouth from a game rival. They rebounded in the late rounds and pulled out a close decision. Now, they live to fight another day. The most impressive thing about #1 Alabama's 24-20 win over #10 Arkansas in Fayetteville was the resolve and adjustments that the team made in the 2nd half after trailing by 17-7 at the half. Two key things happened: 1) After Greg McElroy threw two drive-killing interceptions (including one in the end zone), the Tide ran their offense through Mark Ingram. He had a huge 2nd half and was successful on several Wildcat-formation runs. Ingram's TD run with 3:39 remaining provided the difference on a short drive that almost exclusively that was executed on his back. Additionally, the Tide offense worked an effective change-up with Trent Richardson. His 20-yard catch and run TD with 1:05 left in the third quarter closed the margin to 20-14. The top-ranked team in the nation took a punch in the mouth from a game rival. They rebounded in the late rounds and pulled out a close decision. Now, they live to fight another day. The fatal flaw for the Razorbacks may have been their inability to run the football and their reliance on Mallett to move the ball down the field. Alabama was given opportunity after opportunity from a Razorback offense that couldn't give the Tide defense enough to respect from the run. Conversely, Alabama's strength in the run game probably wore down Arkansas defense, which had played well through three quarters. With a charged crowd at home and momentum on their side, the Razorbacks had hoped for a big upset that would have propelled them to the front of the SEC West and into the discussion for an SEC title. Instead, Alabama did what champions do. They survived a big test and remain unscathed. Coming up for the Tide is a yet another showdown, this time with #7 Florida heading into Tuscaloosa in a rematch last year's SEC championship won by the Tide. Another contender will enter the ring. It will be interesting to see where and how the Tide will answer the bell.