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Indiana dominated Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl on Thursday to send the Hoosiers to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
This was the most lopsided playoff loss for the Crimson Tide in program history. It was also Alabama’s largest margin of defeat in a 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 didn’t live up to Curt Cignetti and his dominant Hoosiers during the coach’s two transcendent seasons.
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Roman Hemby (1) of the Indiana Hoosiers runs with the ball in the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at Rose Bowl Stadium on January 1, 2026, in Pasadena, California. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza passed 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 following up with fourth-quarter rushing touchdowns from Kaelon Black and Roman Hemby, capping off a jubilant victory in the 112th edition of the “Granddaddy of Them All.”
Charlie Becker, Omar Cooper Jr. and Elijah Sarratt caught TD passes, while Black rushed for 99 yards. Indiana outscored Alabama 407-193, steadily delighting a decidedly pro-Indiana crowd that celebrated its struggling team’s first Rose Bowl appearance since 1968 with chants of “Hoosier Daddy?” in the last minutes.
The Hoosiers head to the Peach Bowl on Jan. 9 for a CFP semifinal rematch with fifth-seeded Oregon, which beat 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 Big Ten victories.
Indiana is two wins away from the first national championship in school history after becoming the first team to advance from a first-round bye in the current 12-team playoff format. The first six bye teams – including the first two this season – couldn’t come back strong after a very long hiatus, but the Hoosiers took care of business while improving to 25-2 under Cignetti.
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Roman Hemby (1) of the Indiana Hoosiers runs with the ball in the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at Rose Bowl Stadium on January 1, 2026, in Pasadena, California. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
The Crimson Tide’s second season under Kalen DeBoer ended in the same place as its final season under Nick Saban two years ago. Alabama was outplayed a week after an impressive road win over Oklahoma, passing for just 151 yards before the final insignificant minutes of that blowout.
Ty Simpson passed for 67 yards before backup Austin Mack replaced him in the third quarter. Mack immediately started the Tide on a 65-yard drive leading to a short field goal, but the Hoosiers responded with two touchdowns.
Indiana dominated the famous Rose Bowl turf, which remained pristine despite nearly 24 hours of constant rain before kickoff. The storms cleared as the Hoosiers took the 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 went 84 yards and 16 plays in nearly nine minutes before Nicolas Radicic’s 31-yard field goal on the first snap 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 the leaping Becker four plays later for a 21-yard touchdown.
Simpson fumbled in Indiana territory after a courageous first run late in the first half, and the Hoosiers methodically drove for Mendoza’s 1-yard TD pass with 17 seconds left to Cooper, the hero of Indiana’s dramatic victory over Penn State.
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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 Rose Bowl of the College Football Playoff at the Rose Bowl on Thursday, January 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 TD pass to a leaping Sarratt.
The victory is the latest step in a two-season turnaround for 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 rolled through their schedule this fall before beating defending national champion Ohio State for the Big Ten title and moving into first place in the AP Top 25 for the first time.
