College Football Betting – How Will Ingram’s Absence Affect the Tide?

College football bettors who got wind of the injury suffered by Alabama’s Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, along with his arthroscopic knee surgery, are asking themselves the same question – how will Ingram’s absence affect the Tide? Well, we are going to explore that subject, which relates to Ingram’s understudy, sophomore Trent Richardson. The season starts on Saturday when ‘Bama plays host to San Jose State. In the college football betting odds, they are 37-point favorites in that game, -105 favorites to win the SEC and a favorite at +525 to win the BCS National Championship.

NCAA College Football Betting Odds
To Win the Southeastern Conference

ALABAMA        -105
Arkansas          +800
Auburn             +800
Florida             +250
Georgia            +800
Kentucky          +6000
LSU                  +900
Mississippi      +3500
Mississippi State +6000
South Carolina    +1600
Tennessee        +1800
Vanderbilt        +10000

Due to an arthroscopic procedure that he has undergone on his left knee, Mark Ingram, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, will miss this weekend’s season opener, where his Alabama Crimson Tide is a 37-point college football betting favorite over San Jose State.

But you probably knew that already (if you read our intro, you most certainly do). Let’s talk about what that means for Alabama’s chances for winning the SEC and repeating as BCS national champions.

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Coach Nick Saban says that Ingram "will be back soon," and that would not be such an unusual thing to happen, considering that a lot of players have done that in the past. But what kind of shape will the Tide, which is a -105 college football betting favorite to win the SEC, be if they have to play more games and even move into the conference schedule without him?

The responsibilities of the featured back in the ‘Bama offense in Ingram’s absence are going to fall to Trent Richardson, who ran for 751 net yards (5.2 per carry) in his freshman season. That ranked him 10th in the SEC last season, even with Ingram was rambling for 1658 yards and 17 scores. Do you know what that means?

Two things – Richardson is another star recruit that went to a powerhouse program, and Alabama has an offensive line that probably ranks among the top ten in all of college football.

Richardson played his high school ball at a high-level program at Escambia in Pensacola, FL, and evoked memories of Escambia alum Emmitt Smith with 2090 yards as a senior. Rivals.com, a respected source of recruiting information, ranked him as the #2 high school running back available as he came out of school. Alabama, which is the +425 college football betting favorite to repeat as national champions this year, grabbed him.

This is a kid who knows how to play under pressure as well. Richardson gained 109 yards in the BCS title game against Texas and scored two touchdowns for Alabama – one for 49 yards in the second quarter, and a two-yard run for the last score of the game. He combined with Ingram to rush for 225 yards, and while the frosh ran for more yards per attempt in the game (5.7 to 5.3), it was Ingram who took home the MVP award in the game.

Quarterback Greg McElroy has explained that Richardson is more of a "between the tackles" runner than Ingram, and that is just fine, because if they aren’t going to attack one way, they can attack another way. The college football betting line is somewhat prohibitive the first week against San Jose State, but if Ingram can’t make post the next week for the first big test against Penn State, I would not be panicked one bit if I was planning to make a college football bet on the Crimson Tide. If Richardson and the Alabama O-line could move it against Texas, which was the nation’s toughest team against the run last year, they can put together a game plan to move it against anybody.

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