'We Broke Them': Indiana Football Slays First SEC Dragon in Rose Bowl Dominance

PASADENA, Calif. — While smoke rose and confetti fell, Indiana football seniors Elijah Sarratt and Aiden Fisher climbed aboard a stage few thought the Hoosiers would ever reach and, taking advice from a Rose Bowl staff member, made a beeline for the white bucket full of roses.

They grabbed the bin, patiently waited for coach Curt Cignetti to hoist the Leishman Trophy overhead and, at last, showered Cignetti with the freshest floral in Pasadena. It was a Gatorade bath, only with roses — and Cignetti, with petals at his feet, flashed a smile as big as Sarratt’s seen in three years.

“Anytime you can have a moment like that, it's pretty cool,” Sarratt told Indiana Hoosiers On SI postgame. “You won't get too much of those from coach Cig. So, anytime you get one, you got to appreciate it.”

Nearly an hour after No. 1 Indiana’s 38-3 win over No. 9 Alabama on Thursday afternoon, Spieker Field at Rose Bowl Stadium had cleared and the once-buzzing venue had quieted. But an array of cream and crimson-colored confetti still graced the field, and stage, on which the Hoosiers savored the most recent in a fast-growing line of program-changing wins.

Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson stood on the outskirts of the south endzone, the scene still in his sight. And in his left hand, he clenched his latest — and perhaps greatest — piece of memorabilia: One rose from the aftermath of a party Indiana football had never been invited to.

“I'm going to hold on to this forever,” Dolson told Indiana Hoosiers On SI. “I don't know where it's going to go, but I’m going to hold onto it.”

These are the days Dolson — and Hoosier fans — have longed for but could’ve never imagined living.

A day where they could chant “Hoosier Daddy” to Alabama, a program so strong, so historically dominant, before taking victory formation with a 35-point lead. A day they could fill Rose Bowl Stadium with chants of “Hoo-Hoo-Hoo, Hoosiers.” A day they could take roses, and the Leishman Trophy, back to Bloomington.

That such a moment finally came aptly explains why Dolson will most remember what happened two hours before Indiana took the field Thursday afternoon.

When the Hoosiers’ five buses pulled into Rose Bowl Stadium just shy of 11 a.m. local time, they arrived to an abundance of crimson-clad fans lining the streets. The moment, Dolson said, was unbelievable — and showed how much passion surrounded the program.

“It got everybody just completely fired up,” Dolson said. “It was one of the moments I told my wife when I got here, ‘I don't think I'll ever forget the trip into the game.’ And I just can't thank our fans enough. And I really think it just got the day off to an unbelievable start.”

The momentum snowballed. After a quiet start — the first scoreless first quarter in the Rose Bowl since 2000 — Indiana kicked a field goal to open the second quarter, then scored touchdowns on five of its next six possessions.

Alabama, meanwhile, didn’t score until kicker Conor Talty made a 28-yard field goal with just under three minutes remaining in the third quarter. Indiana needed only six plays to respond with a touchdown.

The Crimson Tide’s rallying cry is “unbreakable.” Indiana not only won by 35 points, but it snatched the Crimson Tide’s identity — as early, senior edge rusher Mikail Kamara said, as the third quarter.

“Oh, we broke them,” Kamara said. “They got to a point where we broke them. I don't want to say anything crazy, but we broke them for sure. It was just kind of the body language demeanor. I mean, we've seen it game after game for us, us beating the other team, and kind of seeing what that looks like.

“So, we got to a point, for sure, where I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, it's over with.’”

Cignetti, an assistant coach at Alabama from 2007–10, said postgame the Crimson Tide’s coaching staff in those days often preached changing the way their opponents think during games. On Thursday, Cignetti used the same recipe — a ground-heavy approach — to help Indiana beat Alabama at the same game it once mastered.

The Hoosiers rushed for 215 yards and two scores, spearheaded by senior running backs Kaelon Black and Roman Hemby. Black rushed 15 times for 99 yards and one touchdown, while Hemby added 18 carries for 89 yards and a score of his own. Indiana had more first downs rushing (14) than Alabama had total (11).

Indiana had success through the air, too. Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza completed 14-of-16 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns, marking the fourth time this season he’s had more touchdown passes than incompletions.

Defensively, the Hoosiers suffocated the Crimson Tide, who mustered only 197 yards of offense and gained just 23 yards on the ground. Indiana tallied three sacks and six tackles for loss while holding Alabama to 3 of 13 conversions on third and fourth down.

In the second half, the Hoosiers outgained Alabama, 228–100, and turned a 17–0 advantage into a 38–3 win. They ran through arm tackles en route to 129 rushing yards, while Alabama had -6 rushing yards over the final 30 minutes.

Stats aside, Indiana redshirt junior linebacker Isaiah Jones said the Crimson Tide’s physicality diminished as the Hoosiers’ lead increased.

“I think anyone that watched the game, you can kind of see some of those running backs, some of those linebackers, started playing a little different,” Jones said. “Our offense was doing a great job, just they were punishing their defense. Some of their defense stopped tackling hard.

“When you kind of break a team’s will like that, it's hard to come back.”

Indiana insists it throws names, schools and rankings out the window when it takes the field. The Hoosiers want to focus solely on attacking the team across from them and play with a clear and free mind.

But Thursday mattered more. Not just for the College Football Playoff, not just for winning the Rose Bowl for the first time in school history and not just because Alabama played an integral part in Cignetti’s background.

Since their sudden ascent to national prominence under Cignetti began last season, the Hoosiers hadn’t faced an SEC team. Kamara said Indiana has heard jeers from the SEC about its strength of schedule and general quality of performance, though redshirt junior defensive tackle Tyrique Tucker acknowledged much of it came from fans.

Still, Indiana wanted to send a message Thursday — to Alabama, the SEC and anyone still yet to believe Cignetti’s team is less pixie dust and more an unrelenting juggernaut.

“We proved we're a legit team,” senior tight end Riley Nowakowski told Indiana Hoosiers On SI. “People are continuing to doubt us, just because our history might not be a story, but every single time we go out there, we're trying to prove we belong here and we're a good team.

“So, that’s exactly what we did — we went out there, we proved we belong.”

Indiana, which won its first bowl game since 1991, gave Alabama its worst loss since 1998. The Hoosiers made more history Thursday, becoming the first team to win a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game after receiving a bye. The first six teams to play were 0–6 entering the Rose Bowl.

The Hoosiers have long emphasized trying to shake the shackles of their past, one bare of trophies. Their last Rose Bowl trip was in 1968, and Dolson noted a few members of that team were in attendance Thursday in Pasadena to watch the Hoosiers’ 2025 squad take another step toward immortality.

Indiana has defied laws — and re-defined reality — since Cignetti arrived. The Hoosiers aren’t unbeaten by chance. They’ve now defeated three teams currently in the top 10, all away from Memorial Stadium, and sent the Crimson Tide back to Tuscaloosa needing to rethink the strength of their “unbreakable” culture.

“If you didn't know by now, I feel like this woke a lot of people up,” Kamara said. “We kind of expected this. We expected this since fall camp. We expected this since we beat Oregon. We expected this all year.

“So, we just got to continue to slay these dragons and make it to the Natty, so we can really shut everybody up.”

Indiana understands it will always have “haters and naysayers,” Black said. The trick is staying away from rat poison, a phrase Cignetti learned from Nick Saban at Alabama, and focusing on maximizing each day.

The Hoosiers certainly made the most of Thursday.

Mendoza stood on stage with a rose clenched between his teeth. Redshirt junior left tackle Carter Smith strolled to the locker room with the Leishman Trophy raised toward a sea of Indiana fans hanging over the tunnel, filled with joy and emotion only those who lived through the dark days could understand.

The only question surrounding Indiana on its way home is where its players will keep their rose petals. Nowakowski said he’ll let his sister handle it. Black plans to keep his in his backpack on the flight home and find a spot in his house.

Dolson, meanwhile, won’t let his out of sight. It’s more than a petal, but a sign of how far his program has come — the one he witnessed as a student from 1984–88, the one he helped turnaround by hiring Cignetti in November of 2023 and the one he’ll watch face Oregon on Jan. 9 in the Peach Bowl.

Embracing the mentality Cignetti has instilled in his program, Dolson said he’s taking a focus-forward approach. But he’ll forever have the rose to remember, and savor, the emotions from the night Indiana slayed another college football giant.

“Seeing our fans at the end of the game as we were on the field, just looking up into the crowd, was something I'll never forget,” Dolson said. “And I've been around IU a long, long time.”

Long enough to grasp the improbability of moments like Thursday ever happening to this program — evermore the reason to keep, and smell, the roses from perhaps the best New Year’s Day in Indiana University history.