Alabama Using Unfamiliar Tactic to 'Fuel the Fire' Against Indiana in Rose Bowl

LOS ANGELES — Alabama is set to take on the underdog role against Indiana in the Rose Bowl.

Read that sentence again. No. 9 Alabama, the 18-time national champion, is not expected to defeat No. 1 Indiana, one of the losing-est programs in the history of college football.

Just a couple of years ago, that sentence would sound absolutely ludicrous, but Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti has turned the Hoosiers around in remarkably quick fashion. IU took down defending national champion Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship a couple of weeks ago, continuing an undefeated season.

"Coach Cignetti and Indiana certainly deserve where they're ranked," Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said on Wednesday. "There's a 0 at the end of their record right now. So no one's beat them."

Alabama's season has been a bit different. The Crimson Tide squeaked into the College Football Playoff after losing three games, including the SEC Championship against Georgia. It's been a tumultuous ride, as UA proceeded to win eight consecutive games after losing the season opener to Florida State.

"For us, I think, we've kind of had this edge about us because of the ups and downs that I referred to earlier of how the season has gone," DeBoer said. "When we have an edge to us, it seems like — that edge can come in a lot of different ways, but our guys have done a good job having a confidence, but also feeding off the people that maybe doubt what we're capable of.

"So in the end, it still goes back to what our day-to-day attitude is, what our effort is, what we're trying to do in our process of getting to being our best on game day. I think the guys certainly have embraced and fed into anything they see or hear. They kind of add and throw it on the text thread and things like that. You want to use it to fuel the fire."

Going head-to-head with a team that's playing in its most important contest in school history is something "you want," according to Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson.

"We talk about having our backs to the wall, being an underdog," Simpson said on Tuesday. "It’s crazy to think that in 2025 Alabama is thought about this way. We kind of embrace it as a team. I do especially just because everybody, like I said, wrote us off, didn’t expect us to get here. The point of proving people wrong is what we want. We’re all here for it."

"This team are fighters. I said that earlier, just how resilient we are. We’re never going to give up no matter what the score is. Our offense is very explosive. We just got to do our job. We got to understand that when everybody communicates, does their job, not make things bigger than what they are, we’ll go up the field. That’s what we’ve shown. We’ve shown spurts of it. It’s not as consistent as we want it to be."

If there's any game where Alabama needs to be consistent throughout, it's this one. Over the past week, whenever a Crimson Tide player or coach has been asked about the Hoosiers, they've all used the same word: discipline.

Simply put, Indiana doesn't make many mistakes. Reigning back-to-back AP Coach of the Year Curt Cignetti is like Palpatine and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza is Darth Vader.

But then again, teams seem to always do some extra preparation for Alabama. It's the mecca of college football, and every opponent does everything in their power to pull off the often impossible.

"We felt like that all year. We felt like everyone is against Alabama," Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson said on Tuesday. "That’s the chip that we use to play with on our shoulders just to keep that edge that we had every since is the first game of the season when we took that loss. It was definitely disrespect. We don’t take that lightly for sure."

"We’ve pretty much been the underdog all year," Alabama safety Bray Hubbard said on Tuesday. "Mostly after Week 1, everyone has kind of doubted us even though you look at rankings, we would be the higher rank than somebody. They’re like, well, I don’t think they can do this, but we just keep proving people wrong. That’s what we have to do every week."

It's a big day in Pasadena, California.

Alabama is the underdog against the only undefeated team in the FBS.

Can the Crimson Tide, who has often called itself "unbreakable" this season, pull off the upset in "The Grandaddy of them All" this afternoon?

Alabama Using Unfamiliar Tactic to 'Fuel the Fire' Against Indiana in Rose Bowl

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