Alabama, the 'SEC juggernaut,' is trying to embrace underdog status against No. 1 Indiana at the Rose Bowl: 'It's what you want'

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LOS ANGELES — At least for fans, the Rose Bowl matchup this week is a bit unusual.

Alabama being there isn’t much of a surprise. The Crimson Tide have played in more Rose Bowls than any team outside of the Big Ten or Pac-12, leagues that used to have the path to that game under the old bowl system. This season marks their third appearance in the past six years.

But it’s Indiana, not the Crimson Tide, that will walk into the stadium in Pasadena on Thursday afternoon as a massive favorite coming off an undefeated regular season that ended with a conference championship and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. Yes, Indiana.

“It’s crazy to think in 2025 that Alabama is thought about in this way,” Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson said on Tuesday. 

Alabama has been surviving, just barely, so far this postseason. The Crimson Tide fell 28-7 in the SEC championship game to Georgia, and took one of the last spots in the College Football Playoff despite entering with three losses, including a bad one to unranked Florida State to start the year. They then had to rally from a 17-point hole to beat Oklahoma earlier this month in the first round on the road. Alabama put up 27 unanswered points to spark that rally and set up its Rose Bowl matchup with Indiana on Thursday afternoon.

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Indiana, on the other hand, has only lost two games since Curt Cignetti took over the program ahead of the 2024 campaign. The Hoosiers beat everybody on their schedule this season behind Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, including then-top-ranked Ohio State 13-10 in the Big Ten title game to secure their first conference championship since 1967.  That gave them a first-round bye in the playoffs, too.

While Alabama hasn’t been perfect by any means, seeing the Crimson Tide enter a playoff game as a massive underdog — Indiana opened as a 7-point favorite on BetMGM — is a strange sight. But, it’s one that they are fully behind.

After all, it’s been working for them so far.

“It’s what you want, honestly,” Simpson said. “We talk about having our backs against the wall, being the underdog … We kind of embrace it as a team. I do, especially, just because everybody kind of wrote us off and didn’t expect us to get here. The point of proving people wrong is what we want. We’re all here for it.”

In order to actually prove people wrong, they’ll have to shut down Mendoza and the Indiana offense. That’s something nobody’s been able to successfully do this season. Mendoza is just 20 yards shy of hitting the 3,000-yard mark. He’s completed better than 71% of his passes and thrown just six interceptions, too, before he ran away with the Heisman Trophy earlier this month. 

The Indiana defense has been remarkable, too. They held Ohio State to just a single touchdown in what was by far the Buckeyes’ lowest-scoring game since their season opener, when they managed just two touchdowns against Texas, and have only allowed seven passing touchdowns by opponents all season long. More than likely, especially with their struggles running the ball, it’s going to take a big day from Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson in order for Alabama to pull off the upset.

“They’re undefeated for a reason. They’ve got a very good football team,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “They play well. From our standpoint, there’s a belief in who we are. That’s what you really gotta focus on, is who are we? What we’ve been through and what we’ve overcome is what we’re proud of.”

While they may be the favorites, and have had seemingly all the attention in the sport all season, Mendoza knows the danger that comes with overlooking any Alabama team.

“Everybody knows Alabama,” Mendoza said. “They’re an SEC juggernaut … They're gonna be a tough team, and I think that Oklahoma game speaks testament to how resilient they are. They’re a tough team to kill.”

A win for Indiana on Thursday would be nothing short of historic. It would mark the program’s first-ever playoff victory, after they were knocked out in the first round of the postseason last year by Notre Dame, and it would signal to the world even more so than they already have that the school’s transition from a basketball institution to a legitimate football program isn’t a fluke. 

“Last year we were just happy to be here,” Indiana cornerback Amare Ferrell said. “This year we’re meant to be here.”

But to actually back that up, they’ll have to get past the “SEC juggernaut” first.

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