Ingram restored a little faith
Talented back’s tying score came after fumbling his first carry against OU
AUSTIN — Down one touchdown with 18 seconds left in regulation at the CottonBowl, Texas linedup for first-and-goal.
Two yards and 11 Oklahoma Sooners stood between the Longhorns and overtime. No timeouts remained. They had to be perfect.
At that pivotal juncture, UT turned to junior running back Keaontay Ingram. He broke left into the flat, diverging from a mass of white jerseys breaking right, and hauled in senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger’s touchdown pass. It was a similar play to one against LSU last season on which he dropped a ball on fourth down in the end zone of what turned out to be a 45-38 loss.
More than anything, that moment against OU demonstrated the faith Texas has inIngram. Even after he fumbled on his first carry against the Sooners. Even after his goal-line leap gone wrong in the prior week’s 33-31 loss to TCU.
“I reminded him (Ingram) that as much as we love this, it is just a game. It’s not life or death,” Ehlinger said after the loss to TCU on Oct. 3. “But I told him it’s certainly not on him. Therewere a lot of different things that happened. Everybody made a ton of mistakes.”
Ingram touched the ball only six more times that afternoon. Part of that decision stemmed from the game script; the rest of the benchingwas designed as a mental reset for a player who’d fumbled away his last two carries.
“We felt it best for him to regain his composure,” Texas coach Tom Herman said. “He was sick about it. And we felt it was important for him to take a step back for a little bit.
“So no other reason other than he needed a break after losing the fumble on the very first carry to get his mind back towhere it needed to be. And he did, to his credit, so we put him back, andwe’ve got a ton of confidence in him.”
Despite Ingram’s gameextending score, Texas (2-2, 1-2 Big 12) lost to Oklahoma 53-45 in a five-hour game that required four overtimes. Otherwise, the running back’s redemption
would have been a bigger postgame story.
It’s also a story that has been told before, just a bit differently each time.
Ingram’s career has been defined by its fluctuations. The former Carthage AllAmerican is singularly focused and notoriously hard on himself, sometimes to a fault, which has led to a remarkable variety of performances over the past three seasons.
His first three Big 12 games of 2020 illustrate that volatility.
Ingram gained 109 yards on 15 touches in an overtime win over Texas Tech, then followedwith 92 yards on 14 touches in the loss to TCU. But his final numbers against Oklahoma were middling: seven touches, 21 receiving yards, 15 rushing yards, one fumble and one touchdown.
Those bouts of inconsistency also plagued Ingram under former offensive coordinator Tim Beck.
In eight wins last season, Ingram scored eight touchdowns and averaged 14.4 touches and 97.9 total yards of offense; in five losses, those numbers dipped to 11.6 touches and 62.4 yards with only two touchdowns.
When put in the right position, with a solid game plan and sturdy blocking, Ingram is capable of turning a game on its head. He’s got the wiggle, the explosiveness, the pass-catching ability and the determination.
And while he needs external help — both from offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich and a shaky offensive line — Ingram can also help his own cause. Part of that path to betterment is learning when it’s time to aim for the heroic touchdown dive and when it’s time to tuck it and live for another play.
“You can’t do toomuch,” Herman said. “You’ve got to play within the system, play the way you’re coached to play. And I could be talking to anybody on our team.”
Ingram might not have even been in the game on that first-and-goal against Oklahoma had sophomore tailback Roschon Johnson
not aggravated a shoulder injury in the first half. But an opportunity arose, and Ingram answered the bell on this occasion.
That might spark a renewal of confidence in Ingram moving forward, which could be critical for a team that had three running backs combine to gain 29 yards on11 carries in the loss to Oklahoma.
“We’ve got to improve up front,” Herman said. “We’ve gotta get our guys better up front and make sure our backs are seeing and reading the right people and hitting the right holes. But the recipe for a good running team is to continue running the football.”
What’s been clear over the past three seasons is Texas looks better when Ingram gets in a groove.
It’s also clear coaches haven’t always trusted the talented junior. But that call against the Sooners showed there’s still faith in Ingram.
“To call his number there at the end shows all the trust that we have in him,” Ehlinger said following Saturday’s loss. “He’s a great player.”