Fernando Mendoza threw for 192 yards and three touchdowns to lead top-seeded Indiana to a 38-3 blowout of ninth-seeded Alabama in a College Football Playoff quarter-final at the Rose Bowl on Thursday in Pasadena, California.
The Hoosiers advance to the semi-finals and will take on fifth-seeded Oregon on 9 January in the Peach Bowl.
Indiana (14-0) became the first top-four seed to win a game in the 12-team CFP, after teams with a bye went 0-6 to start the expanded playoff era, including fourth-seeded Texas Tech’s loss to Oregon earlier Thursday.
The victory was the Hoosiers’ first in a bowl since the 1991 Copper Bowl and their first-ever Rose Bowl victory.
Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winner, threw more touchdowns than incompletions, going 14 of 16.
Indiana had more rushing yards (215) than the Crimson Tide had total yards (193).
The Hoosiers’ Kaelon Black rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown while Roman Hemby ran for 89 yards and a score. Both scored touchdowns early in the fourth quarter.
The bowl loss was the biggest in Alabama history. The Crimson Tide (11-4) had not lost a bowl by more than 32 points. It was also their largest loss of any kind since 1998.
Indiana controlled the game from the start, forcing Alabama to punt on its first drive before the Hoosiers engineered a 16-play drive that lasted nearly nine minutes, ending in a Nicolas Radicic 31-yard field goal.
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer then decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Crimson Tide 34 moments later in the second quarter, with Isaiah Jones and Rolijah Hardy stopping Germie Bernard just short of the first-down marker.
Four plays later, Mendoza hit Charlie Becker for a 21-yard touchdown for a 10-0 lead and kept the momentum firmly on Indiana’s side.
Late in the quarter, D’Angelo Ponds delivered a big hit on Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, knocking the ball out and appearing to injure Simpson. Jones recovered the ball and Mendoza led Indiana on an 11-play, 58-yard touchdown drive.
The drive ended on Mendoza’s one-yard scoring pass to Omar Cooper in the closing seconds of the half, putting the Hoosiers up 17-0.
Simpson returned for the opening drive of the second half but after the Crimson Tide went three-and-out, and Mendoza led a nearly six-minute touchdown drive to make it 24-0, Simpson was replaced by Austin Mack.
Simpson completed 12 of 16 passes, but had just 67 yards through the air, with just two of his completions going for longer than eight yards.
Mack threw for 103 yards, going 11 of 16 in relief of Simpson.
Alabama finally got on the board late in the third quarter on Conor Talty’s 28-yard field goal.
Oregon 23-0 Texas Tech
Matayo Uiagalelei forced a fumble that set up an Oregon touchdown, Jordon Davison rushed for two scores and the fifth-seeded Ducks smothered No 4 Texas Tech in a 23-0 win in the College Football Playoff quarter-final at the Orange Bowl on Thursday.
Dante Moore threw for 234 yards and Atticus Sappington kicked three field goals for Oregon (13-1), which will play either No 1 Indiana or No 9 Alabama in the Peach Bowl – a CFP semi-final – on 9 January. The winner will return to Miami Gardens for the national championship game on 19 January.
Texas Tech (12-2) entered the game ranked second nationally in scoring (42.5 points per game) and fifth in total offense, but never found its footing. The Red Raiders turned the ball over four times, failed on three fourth-down attempts and produced four three-and-outs.
Quarterback Behren Morton finished 18 of 32 for 137 yards and was stripped by Uiagalelei early in the third quarter in Tech territory. Uiagalelei returned the fumble into the red zone, and Davison scored on the next play to give Oregon a 13-0 lead.
Morton then threw a red-zone interception early in the fourth quarter, before Oregon’s defense stopped Texas Tech on fourth down at its own 30 midway through the final period. Davison’s one-yard touchdown plunge with 16 seconds remaining completed the scoring.
Oregon’s Dante Moore threw for 234 yards in Thursday’s win. Photograph: Megan Briggs/Getty Images
The result continued a striking trend in the expanded playoff. Thursday’s game was the sixth quarter-final under the 12-team format introduced last season, and the sixth time a team coming off a first-round bye lost to an opponent that played the opening weekend.
In 2024, Boise State, Arizona State, Georgia and Oregon were all eliminated in the quarterfinals after byes, while Miami added to the list on Wednesday by defeating Ohio State at the Cotton Bowl. Across those six games, bye teams have led for less than five minutes of regulation combined.
Texas Tech hoped to buck that pattern. Instead, Oregon recorded their first shutout of an AP top-10 opponent since 2012. It was the Ducks’ 113th game against a top-10 team – and the first time they allowed no points.
After expressing dissatisfaction with their defense following a 51-34 first-round win over James Madison, Oregon delivered a performance that left little room for complaint.