LOS ANGELES — One program was for years a laughing stock of a football-minded conference. The other, the glimmering gem that was the definition for college football greatness.
No. 1 Indiana and No. 9 Alabama haven’t quite flipped in their stature, but the modern era has shone brightly for both programs before they meet in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl Game at 1 p.m. Thursday.
The Hoosiers (12-0) and Crimson Tide (11-3) have far more on their minds than the roses – the history of New Year’s Day football – in the 2026 edition of “The Granddaddy of Them All.” The Rose Bowl is now simply one rung of the ladder on the way to hoisting a national championship.
“Rose Bowl has a lot of tradition,” said Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, who reminisced over USC running back Sam “Bam” Cunningham’s four-touchdown performance in the 1973 Rose Bowl as a kid during the coaches’ press conference Wednesday morning.
“But this is a playoff game,” Cignetti added bluntly.
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said his team is taking a similar philosophy, taking the time to smell the roses once the season is wrapped and completed. Thursday is do or die.
“The playoff piece is above and beyond added to the whole Rose Bowl vibe and Rose Bowl feel,” DeBoer said. “We got to play our best football. There isn’t another day.”
The focus, the grit and determination built through Indiana and Alabama identities could be traced back to Cignetti and DeBoer’s respective roots – careers built from the ground up.
On his way to flipping Indiana on its head, Cignetti turned James Madison into a Sun Belt powerhouse after a 20-plus year career as an assistant – including five years under the legendary Nick Saban at Alabama – and head coaching gigs at Division II universities Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Elon.
DeBoer turned Fresno State into one of the Mountain West’s premier programs, before becoming Washington’s head coach and leading the Huskies to the national championship game in the 2023 season. Now serving as Alabama’s coach for his second season after replacing Saban, DeBoer faces off against Indiana, where he served as offensive coordinator in 2019.
Cignetti waxed poetic about his earlier days, waxing training tables, dealing with internet connection issues to receive film of opponents or playing in the postseason while the university is shut down and needing to double as maintenance staff. DeBoer said dealing with the small potatoes on a day-to-day basis is part of what has ingrained their respective programs with their DNA.
“I think when you’re putting it together and you’re so hands-on and wearing all the different hats that come along with being a small-college football coach,” DeBoer said, “it really forces you to have to think outside the box.”
Indiana senior linebacker Aiden Fisher, the heartbeat of the Hoosiers’ defense with 75 tackles and a pair of interceptions despite injuries this season, has seen that outside-of-the-box mentality of small programs since starting his career at James Madison with Cignetti. Fisher views Thursday’s game as a full-circle moment to Indiana’s victory over UCLA at the Rose Bowl a season ago – proof of Big Ten might and the precursor to the dominating journey to College Football Playoff favorites in 2025.
“We needed some hope, we needed some belief,” Fisher said. “We got that, and sellouts started happening right after.”
Indiana received belief – and the potential No. 1 selection in the 2026 NFL draft – from the transfer portal. Just two seasons ago, quarterback Fernando Mendoza ended his season with Cal by leading a rout of UCLA at the Rose Bowl.
After securing the Big Ten title by outlasting defending national champion Ohio State on Dec. 6, Indiana’s redshirt junior quarterback could churn another narrative into his Heisman Trophy-winning season by taking down the Crimson Tide on the Pasadena grass.
“Last year, we saw all the teams that had byes, they all lost,” Mendoza said of the lopening round of the College Football Playoff. “So we really got to take this opportunity day by day. The national championship is the ultimate goal.”
Alabama redshirt junior quarterback Ty Simpson, however, could throw a wrench into the movie-like season – Indiana’s first Rose Bowl trip since 1968 – if he were to outplay Mendoza despite entering as seven-point underdogs.
“This team are fighters,” Simpson said. “We’re never going to give up, no matter what the score is.”
One program, however, will exit the fight with the whiff of victory to earn a trip to the Peach Bowl semifinal, where No. 4 Oregon or No. 5 Texas Tech awaits.
Rose Bowl: No. 1 Indiana (12-0) vs No. 9 Alabama (11-3)
What: College Football Playoff quarterfinal
When: 1 p.m. Thursday
Where: Rose Bowl
TV/Radio: ESPN/ESPN Radio (710 AM)
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