The No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers will take on the No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl Game. The Hoosiers earned a first round bye with a 13-0 record and a Big Ten Championship. The Crimson Tide beat Oklahoma 34-24 in the first round. This is the first-ever matchup between the Crimson Tide and the Hoosiers.
CFP Quarter Final at the Rose Bowl: Alabama Crimson Tide
Date & Time: Thursday, January 1 at 4pm
Venue: Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA
TV: ESPN
Crimson Tide at a Glance
Head Coach: Kalen DeBoer
Record at Alabama: 20-7 (12-4 in SEC)
Overall Record: 124-19
This Season: 11-3 (7-1)
Crimson Tide Season Leaders
Passing: Ty Simpson – 293-of-457 (64.1%), 3,500 Yards 28 Touchdowns 5 Interception
Rushing: Jam Miller –504 Yards on 130 Carries 3 Touchdowns
Receiving: Germie Bernard – 60 Catches for 802 Yards 7 Touchdowns
Tackles:– Deonte Lawson (LB) 85 Tackles (46 solo), 4 Tackles for Loss, 1 Sack
Crimson Tide Current Rankings
CFP: 9th
AP: 11th
Coaches: 11th
SP+: 15th Nationally (Off: 25 Def: 9 ST: 108)
Impact Players for the Crimson Tide
QB Ty Simpson
WR Gerime Bernard
DB Zabien Brown
Biggest Questions Facing the Crimson Tide
1. Can they run the ball against Indiana?
Alabama’s struggles running the ball are well documented. The Hoosiers have fourth best rush defense in the country, just behind Oklahoma. Against the Sooners, Alabama ran for 28 yards. The game before that Alabama ran for negative-three yards against Georgia.
2. How will Ty Simpson handle IU’s defensive pressure?
Indiana has great made quarterbacks look human all year and Bama’s Ty Simpson struggled under pressure all season. The Hoosiers had 39 sacks on the season and Alabama allowed 29 (100th nationally).
3. Can the Tide force Indiana into mistakes?
If you watched the Tide’s first round game against Oklahoma mistakes were the theme. Alabama forced the issue with aggressive play calling, but OU made some killer mistakes. Can the Tide defense force turnovers and special teams miscues that helped them against the Sooners.
Program Overview
While Alabama had another 10-win season, beat Georgia in Athens and played in the SEC Championship game, their inclusion in the College Football Playoff was heavily scrutinized. The Crimson Tide was shocked in a season opening loss to Florida State, who ultimately missed the postseason, lost at home to Oklahoma and were uncompetitive in the SEC title game against Georgia.
For Kalen DeBoer, it was always going to be a case of being the guy after THE(™) guy. That hasn’t been easy. He missed the Playoff in year one and just snuck in this season. While 20 wins over two seasons looks successful on the surface, Alabama has lost their identity. DeBoer has also been linked to every “good” job opening this season and most recently the vacancy in Ann Arbor.
While they did advance to the Rose Bowl, Alabama fans are still not sold on DeBoer and he may just not be a long term fit in T-Town. It seems that with every deficit or loss, DeBoer is on the hot seat, but he has done enough to put away the pitchforks for now
Alabama Offensive Preview
As most IU fans know DeBoer is an offensive mastermind. He is an aggressive play caller, uses tempo well and is aggressive. There’s a reason he was chosen to replace Nick Saban. He’s a damn good coach. However, this Alabama offense is flawed. IU will have to watch for the “Sugar Huddle”, Penn State used it well, that Alabama will run to try and catch the Hoosiers defense off guard.
Quarterback Ty Simpson looked like a Heisman contender until the middle of the year. His completion percentage dropped from 69.3-percent in the season’s first four games to just 58.1-percent over the last six. When Simpson struggles, Alabama usually struggles. In Tide losses this year he has just four touchdown passes and two interceptions and completes under 60-percent of his passes. He struggles with pressure and has been sacked 30 times.
Alabama’s offense has also become one-dimensional as they have struggled to run the ball all year. In the win over Oklahoma in the first round the Tide ran for just 28 yards. In Alabama’s two postseason games so far, they have run for just 25 total yards. Jam Miller returned to the lineup in the first round win, but ran the ball just seven times for 11 yards. For the 2025 season, Alabama is averaging just 3.43 yards per carry and seem to lack the toughness up front that Tide teams of the past were known for. The Alabama offensive line has graded out as 81st nationally in 2025 according to Pro Football Focus.
Alabama has all the talent in the world at wide receiver, but sophomore Ryan Williams has seemingly forgotten that he was an elite receiver. He has been plagued with drops and has made most of his big plays on screen passes in space. He has 43 catches for 636 yards with four touchdowns, but the expectations for him were so much higher.
Germie Bernard is the Crimson Tide’s most productive receiver and gets the ball in all facets of the game. He has 909 all-purpose yards and nine total touchdowns. When in doubt, Simpson tries to find Bernard. Isaiah Horton has eight touchdown catches as well. Tight end Josh Cuevas returned from injury and is a major part of the Alabama offense. He is their best tight end in both the blocking and passing game.
Alabama’s offense has great individual pieces, but their whole is not as good as all of their parts. They are one-dimensional and going up against IU’s run defense does not look promising. The Hoosiers need to be aware of misdirection and Alabama using offensive lineman Kayden Proctor in the backfield and at tight end to try and get a blocking advantage.
Alabama Defensive Preview
Alabama’s defense is giving up 17.9 points per game as well as 5.67 yards per play. They are far from an elite unit, but are opportunistic and thrive on turnovers. Corner Zabien Brown turned two games on their head with pick sixes. His interception return for a touchdown tied the game before half time Friday night against Oklahoma. Bray Hubbard leads the Tide with four interceptions. Alabama has 20 turnovers created on defense.
Alabama has been without their star defensive lineman LT Overton. Keon Keeley is the statistical leader on the defensive line behind Overton. He has three sacks on the season.
Hoosier fans should be familiar with the defense as Kane Wommack leads the bunch. So it is no surprise that it is led by three really good linebackers. Yhonzae Pierre had 1.5 tackles for loss in the first round win over Oklahoma and Justin Jefferson added two more tackles for loss and nine total tackles. Deonte Lawson paced the Tide in tackles against the Sooners with 10 and is Bama’s leading tackler in 2025 with 85.
Wommack has done an excellent job making in-game adjustments and that helped Alabama go on a 27-0 run against the Sooners. He’s great at disguising pressure and will send blitzers even if it makes them susceptible to a big play now and again.
Alabama Special Teams Preview
As of publishing 1.5 of the first round games have been played and special teams, or lack there of, has played a major role in who wins or loses. Alabama has been up and down on special teams this year. Field goal kicker Connor Talty is just 15-of-22 on field goals with a long of 48 yards. He can miss from anywhere on the field as well. Talty has missed kicks from 28, 36, 43, 47 and 53 yards out. He also handles kickoff duties, but has just 40 touchbacks on 72 kickoffs.
Punter Blake Doud has been solid. On 48 punts this season he has a 42.3 yard per punt average. He has forced 22 fair catches and pinned opponents inside their own 20-yard line 16 times.
The hidden yardage game has come into play in some of Alabama’s games as well. The Crimson Tide has allowed opponents to make some big plays in the return game. Alabama allowed 380 yards on 22 kickoff returns, including one that was returned for a touchdown against Wisconsin. In their loss to Oklahoma in November, the Sooners returned a punt for a touchdown. Alabama has surrendered 122 yards on punts.
The Crimson Tide have multiple dangerous returners as well. Cole Adams is their primary punt returner and averages 8.2 yards per return and Lotzeir Brooks has 269 kick return yards.
Alabama has blocked two kicks, but has allowed allowed two kicks to be blocked.