Alabama running back Mark Ingram is expected to play in Saturday's SEC Championship game, despite suffering a hip-pointer last week against Auburn. But even if Ingram isn't 100 percent, Tide coach Nick Saban said backup Trent Richardson is more than capable of holding his own against the Gators.

Richardson has played in all 12 games and averages 47 yards per game.

"You know, Trent's played well for us all year long,'' Saban said. "And he's done a really good job whenever he's needed to. And certainly he had a tremendous opportunity in the last game and certainly took advantage of that opportunity by doing an outstanding job as a runner and as a receiver. But he's played a lot this year.  And we have a lot of confidence in him.  And we feel like him and Mark are sort of a good pair of running backs for us, and they've been a good pair for us all year long. And we have every confidence that Trent can go in there and do great things for us.''

That doesn't mean Alabama won't be relying on Ingram. The sophomore has 1,675 all-purpose yards and 15 touchdowns.

"I think he'll be fine,'' Saban said of Ingram. "We don't think he has a significant problem.  I think those things are a little bit painful, especially when you first get them. . .  But we feel like he'll be fine for the game.''