No. 1 Indiana crushes No. 9 Alabama in Rose Bowl to advance to playoff semifinals

1 week ago 2

After a night of rain in Pasadena, the Indiana Hoosiers washed away the weight of history.

Entering the Rose Bowl, College Football Playoff teams coming off first-round byes were winless. At the start of the season, the Hoosiers led college football with the most all-time losses. During their sole previous Rose Bowl appearance in 1968, the Hoosiers lost to USC.

Indiana’s football program spent most of its time stuck in the Big Ten conference basement, but that era is over.

Now, with new blood infused by head coach Curt Cignetti and an offense led by Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, the Hoosiers have turned the page and shattered expectations.

After a quarter of brushing off their rust following a three-week break, No. 1 Indiana rolled to a 38-3 Rose Bowl victory over No. 9 Alabama Thursday afternoon in front of a crowd of 90,278. It is the largest postseason margin of defeat in Crimson Tide history.

"We've come through in clutch moments," Cignetti said during his ESPN postgame interview. "I'm proud of the way they've responded."

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza throws a touchdown pass to wide receiver Camden Jordan.

Indiana scored its first touchdown on a 21-yard pass from Mendoza to Charlie Becker to make it 10-0. It was the first touchdown scored by a Hoosier at the Rose Bowl in program history, the perfect way to establish Indiana’s domination.

Indiana’s defense established its dominance during a pivotal stretch in the second quarter when Alabama could not afford to let the Hoosiers stretch their lead.

Facing fourth-and-one at the Alabama 34, Cignetti called timeout when it was clear the Tide were in a trick play formation. After the timeout, Alabama tried to get the Indiana defense to jump offsides but couldn’t get a penalty and burned a timeout of its own. The teams lined up one more time on fourth down, with Crimson Tide running back Daniel Hill passing to receiver Germie Bernard. Indiana’s Isaiah Jones and Rolijah Hardy combined to stuff Bernard for no gain and a game-defining turnover on downs.

Hoosiers fans celebrated the early success after taking over the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. The sea of cherry red fans planted their flag and made themselves heard. Any time the word Alabama was mentioned, Indiana fans booed and asserted homefield advantage. With the skies clearing after a morning of heavy rain, Hoosiers joyously broke out “Who’s your daddy?” chants.

Indiana linebacker Rolijah Hardy tackles Alabama tight end Josh Cuevas after a reception in the second quarter.

Cignetti kept taking jabs at the Tide defense with heavy use of the run game early in the contest. When it was his turn to pass, Mendoza was nearly perfect. He finished 14 of 16 passing for 192 yards and three touchdowns. He was sacked three times, but Mendoza never turned the ball over.

Mendoza contributed to the strong Indiana run game, frustrating the gashed Tide defense. With all his receivers covered, he scrambled for a back-breaking eight-yard run in the third quarter to tighten Indiana’s control of the game.

The following play, Mendoza threw a 24-yard touchdown to Elijah Sarrat to make it 24-0. He finished with 38 rushing yards.

Entering the game, Indiana wanted to contain Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson. He gave up a critical first-half fumble and struggled to find seams in the Indiana defense. Tide coach Kalen DeBoer eventually benched Simpson, who had been limited by injuries part of this season, at halftime.

Indiana running back Kaelon Black scores on a touchdown run in the fourth quarter against Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

Crimson Tide second-string quarterback Austin Mack finished the game with 103 passing yards. Simpson finished the game with 67. Mack threw a 34-yard pass to Bernard in the third quarter, which led to a 28-yard field goal that made the score 24-3.

The Hoosiers tacked on a Kaelon Black 25-yard rushing touchdown to make it 31-3. He finished the game with 99 yards and one touchdown.

As clouds dissipated, the Hoosiers booked their ticket to the Peach Bowl, where they will face Oregon in their pursuit of the ultimate team award — the national championship.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Read Entire Article