NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
Indiana dominated Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl on Thursday to send the Hoosiers to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
It marked the most lopsided postseason loss for the Crimson Tide in program history. It was also Alabama’s largest margin of defeat in any game since a 42-6 loss to Arkansas on September 26, 1998.
Indiana hadn’t won a bowl game since the Copper Bowl in 1991, but history has been no match for Curt Cignetti and his dominant Hoosiers during the coach’s two momentous seasons.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
Roman Hemby (1) of the Indiana Hoosiers runs the ball in the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals at Rose Bowl Stadium on January 1, 2026 in Pasadena, California. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza threw for 192 yards and three touchdowns in his first game since winning his school’s first Heisman Trophy.
Indiana scored the game’s first 24 points before going ahead with quick fourth-quarter touchdowns from Kaelon Black and Roman Hemby, concluding a jubilant victory in the 112th edition of the “Granddaddy of Them All.”
Charlie Becker, Omar Cooper Jr. and Elijah Sarratt caught touchdown passes, while Black rushed for 99 yards. Indiana outscored Alabama 407-193, consistently delighting a decidedly pro-Indiana crowd that celebrated its team’s first Rose Bowl appearance since 1968 with chants of “Hoosier Daddy?” in the final minutes.
The Hoosiers head to the Peach Bowl on Jan. 9 for a CFP semifinal rematch with fifth-seeded Oregon, which defeated Texas Tech 23-0 earlier Thursday in the Orange Bowl. Indiana beat the No. 3 Ducks 30-20 in Eugene in October in one of Cignetti’s most impressive victories in the Big Ten.
Indiana is two wins away from the first national championship in school history after becoming the first team to advance after a first-round bye in the current 12-team playoff format. The first six bye teams, including this season’s first two, couldn’t come back strong from an extra-long layoff, but the Hoosiers took care of business and improved to 25-2 under Cignetti.
GEORGIA WATCHES BYE IN FIRST ROUND OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF AFTER DOMINATING ALABAMA IN SEC CHAMPIONSHIP
Roman Hemby (1) of the Indiana Hoosiers runs the ball in the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals at Rose Bowl Stadium on January 1, 2026 in Pasadena, California. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
The Crimson Tide’s second season with Kalen DeBoer ended in the same place as its final season with Nick Saban two years ago. Alabama was outplayed a week after an impressive road win over Oklahoma, managing just 151 yards before the meaningless final minutes of this blowout.
Ty Simpson threw for 67 yards before backup Austin Mack replaced him in the third quarter. Mack immediately got the Tide going on a 65-yard drive that led to a short field goal, but the Hoosiers responded with two touchdown drives.
Indiana dominated the famed Rose Bowl turf, which remained pristine despite nearly 24 hours of steady rain before kickoff. The storms cleared as the Hoosiers took a lead in the first half and blue skies appeared in the second half.
After the first scoreless first quarter in a Rose Bowl in 26 years, Indiana’s second drive stretched 84 yards and 16 plays in nearly nine minutes before Nicolas Radicic’s 31-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter.
Indiana’s defense then stopped Alabama on fourth-and-1 at the Tide 34, and Mendoza fired a long, high pass to a leaping Becker four plays later for a 21-yard touchdown.
Simpson fumbled in Indiana territory after a valiant first-down scramble late in the first half, and the Hoosiers methodically broke up Mendoza’s 1-yard touchdown pass with 17 seconds left to Cooper, the hero of Indiana’s dramatic victory over Penn State.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pak Gazette APP
Indiana Hoosiers defensive back D’Angelo Ponds (5) forces a fumble from Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson (15) after a hit during the second quarter of the College Football Playoff Rose Bowl at the Rose Bowl on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026 in Pasadena, California. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
After halftime, Mendoza led a steady 79-yard drive that ended with his 24-yard touchdown pass to a leaping Sarratt.
The victory is the latest step in the two-season turnaround of a program that had the most losses in college football history before Cignetti took over. After winning 11 games and reaching the CFP last season, the Hoosiers tore through their schedule this fall before beating defending national champion Ohio State for the Big Ten title and rising to the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 for the first time.
