Thursday’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl pitted a program with the third-most wins in the sport (Alabama) and the second-most losses (Indiana) against one another.
The game did not reflect that as Indiana (14-0) picked up a dominant 38-3 win to advance to the CFP semifinal at the Peach Bowl against No. 5 Oregon, which routed No. 4 Texas Tech, 23-0, in the Capital One Orange Bowl.
The Hoosiers clearly played like the No. 1 team in the country as they continue their remarkable turnaround under head coach Curt Cignetti. As deserving as they were to win the game after outplaying Alabama (11-4) in all facets, the loss is just the latest disappointing outcome with Kalen DeBoer at the helm of the Crimson Tide.
Kalen DeBoer’s tenure at Alabama just got even uglier after latest loss
It was a tall task when DeBoer took over for the legend Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa. After all, he led the Crimson Tide to six national titles in a 12-year span before DeBoer took over and set an incredible mark at the university.
Still, Alabama has not been great under DeBoer, going 9-4 in his first season before finishing 11-4 after losing two of its last three games this season. Past history aside, Alabama clearly got outplayed by Indiana and was not the best team on the field in Pasadena, suffering its first loss by 35 points since 1998.
Indiana doubled up Alabama in first downs, 22-11, while the Crimson Tide were an abysmal 3-of-11 on third down. Alabama was also outgained, 407-193, and was held to just 23 rushing yards, which should come as no surprise for a team that is 125th out of 136 FBS teams in rushing yards per game (97.6 YPG).
A bizarre decision to go for it on 4th-and-1 on its own 34-yard-line early in the second quarter set the tone for the rest of the game. Quarterback Ty Simpson’s struggles continued after going 12-of-16 for 67 yards with backup Austin Mack eventually entering the game in the second half.
Unlike the first-round win over eight-seed Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide were unable to rally from 17 down this time around. Not only did Indiana play complementary football, it simply did not give Alabama any shot of completing a comeback by not beating itself.
Indiana has the third-best defense in the country (11.8 PPG), but that is no excuse for Alabama’s embarrassing performance. Once the Crimson Tide fell behind, they hardly found any rhythm at all on offense and looked outmatched until the final whistle.
A lot of that past success at Alabama is why many fans refused to give Indiana any respect heading into the Rose Bowl. While the Hoosiers have never been known as a football school, Cignetti has completely turned the program around and has them in position to complete an undefeated season with two more wins.
As incredible as that is, it is equally as disappointing for Alabama, a team that experienced so much success under Saban that anything less than a national title was a letdown. After the program’s worst loss this century, the pressure continues to mount on DeBoer as Alabama searches for answers following a disastrous Rose Bowl performance.