Thursday’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal on the Rose Bowl pitted a program with the third-most wins within the sport (Alabama) and the second-most losses (Indiana) towards each other.
The sport didn’t mirror that as Indiana (14-0) picked up a dominant 38-3 win to advance to the CFP semifinal on the Peach Bowl towards No. 5 Oregon, which routed No. 4 Texas Tech, 23-0, within the Capital One Orange Bowl.
The Hoosiers clearly performed just like the No. 1 group within the nation as they proceed their outstanding turnaround underneath head coach Curt Cignetti. As deserving as they had been to win the sport after outplaying Alabama (11-4) in all aspects, the loss is simply the newest disappointing end result with Kalen DeBoer on the helm of the Crimson Tide.
Kalen DeBoer’s tenure at Alabama simply obtained even uglier after newest loss
It was a tall job when DeBoer took over for the legend Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa. In any case, he led the Crimson Tide to 6 nationwide titles in a 12-year span earlier than DeBoer took over and set an unimaginable mark on the college.
Nonetheless, Alabama has not been nice underneath DeBoer, going 9-4 in his first season earlier than ending 11-4 after shedding two of its final three video games this season. Previous historical past apart, Alabama clearly obtained outplayed by Indiana and was not one of the best group on the sector in Pasadena, struggling its first loss by 35 factors since 1998.
Indiana doubled up Alabama in first downs, 22-11, whereas the Crimson Tide had been an abysmal 3-of-11 on third down. Alabama was additionally outgained, 407-193, and was held to only 23 speeding yards, which ought to come as no shock for a group that’s a hundred and twenty fifth out of 136 FBS groups in speeding yards per sport (97.6 YPG).
A weird choice to go for it on 4th-and-1 by itself 34-yard-line early within the second quarter set the tone for the remainder of the sport. Quarterback Ty Simpson’s struggles continued after going 12-of-16 for 67 yards with backup Austin Mack ultimately coming into the sport within the second half.
Not like the first-round win over eight-seed Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide had been unable to rally from 17 down this time round. Not solely did Indiana play complementary soccer, it merely didn’t give Alabama any shot of finishing a comeback by not beating itself.
Indiana has the third-best protection within the nation (11.8 PPG), however that’s no excuse for Alabama’s embarrassing efficiency. As soon as the Crimson Tide fell behind, they hardly discovered any rhythm in any respect on offense and seemed outmatched till the ultimate whistle.
Quite a lot of that previous success at Alabama is why many followers refused to give Indiana any respect heading into the Rose Bowl. Whereas the Hoosiers have by no means been referred to as a soccer faculty, Cignetti has utterly turned this system round and has them in place to finish an undefeated season with two extra wins.
As unimaginable as that’s, it’s equally as disappointing for Alabama, a group that skilled a lot success underneath Saban that something lower than a nationwide title was a letdown. After this system’s worst loss this century, the strain continues to mount on DeBoer as Alabama searches for solutions following a disastrous Rose Bowl efficiency.
