Indiana continued to manhandle opponents in its dream season, crushing Alabama 38-3 on Thursday in the Rose Bowl game in Pasadena, Calif. It was Indiana's first-ever game as the No. 1 team in the country, and it was their first postseason win ever. It was also just their fourth-ever bowl win.
PASADENA, Calif — Thursday's Rose Bowl game was the first time ever that Indiana had played a football game as the No. 1 team in the nation.
They certainly looked the part.
The No. 1-seeded Hoosiers completely dominated No. 9-seed Alabama from start to finish in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal. They rolled to an easy — and very convincing — 38-3 victory over one of the sport's absolute bluebloods.
The Hoosiers are now 14-0 on the season.
With the win, Indiana advances to the College Football Playoff semifinals. They will take on No. 5 seed Oregon on Friday, Jan. 9 in Atlanta. The two teams met earlier this year, with Indiana winning 30-20 on Oct. 11 in Eugene, Ore.
Here are the highlights from the game, broken down a quarter at a time.
First quarter
Alabama won the toss and deferred, and Indiana did nothing on its first drive. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza got sacked twice as Indiana went three-and-out. That was a good sign for Alabama, which has struggled to get pressure on passers for much of this season.
Alabama got two first downs, but then had to punt themselves. Indiana was forced to start their possession on its own 3-yard line.
But the Hoosiers put together a beautiful drive. Mendoza was 6-for-6 passing — the big play was a 30-yard completion to sophomore wide receiver Charlie Becker.
Indiana ran 16 plays and got to the Alabama 12-yard line when the quarter ended with the score tied at 0-0. It was the first Rose Bowl game since 2000 that ended with a scoreless first quarter.
FIRST QUARTER SCORE: Indiana 0, Alabama 0.
Second quarter
Indiana faced a fourth-and-10 coming out of the break, and settled for a Nico Radicic field goal from 31 yards out, giving Indiana a 3-0 lead.
On Alabama's next possession, it had fourth-and-1 at their own 34-yard line. First they tried to draw Indiana offside, but it didn't work. Then they set up to punt, but didn't. They eventually went for it with a gadget play, a pass from running back Daniel Hill to Germie Bernard, but the Hoosiers sniffed it out for no gain.
With a short field, Indiana quickly scored. After an Indiana holding call, Roman Hemby rushed fore 21 yards, and then Mendoza found Charlie Becker over the middle for a 21-yard score. The PAT from Radicic was good and the Hoosiers led 10-0.
After an exchange of punts, Alabama was on the move and quarterback Ty Simpson scrambled for what looked to be a first down, but he got hit by De'Angelo Ponds and Aiden Fisher and fumbled. Isaiah Jones recovered.
The Hoosiers took advantage and scored again on an 11-play, 58-yard drive that ran out the half. Mendoza hit Omar Cooper Jr. on a cross route for a score with 17 seconds left in the half. Alabama took a knee and the half was over.
SECOND QUARTER SCORE: Indiana 17, Alabama 0.
Third quarter
Alabama received the second half kickoff but went three-and-out. Indiana took over at its own 21-yard line, but marched right down the field again. They went 79 yards in 10 plays, and scored on a 24-yard pass from Mendoza to Elijah Sarratt with 7:46 to go in the quarter. That gave the Hoosiers a 24-0 lead.
Alabama then had its only scoring drive of the game . They went 65 yards on nine plays behind backup quarterback Austin Mack, who was 4-for-5 passing, and got a Conor Talty field goal to make it 24-3.
THIRD QUARTER SCORE: Indiana 24, Alabama 3.
Fourth quarter
Indiana had only two possessions in the fourth quarter, and they both looked the same. They had long drives that ended with an explosive running back. Kaelon Black scored on a 25-yard run on the first drive and Roman Hemby scored on an 18-yard run on the second drive to give Indiana its 38-3 lead.
Indiana's defense was still lights out, with Alabama failing to move the ball at all on its two drives. The Crimson Tide finished with just 23 yards rushing on 17 carries, a 1.4 yards per carry average. They threw for only 170 yards.
FINAL SCORE: Indiana 38, Alabama 3.