After an evening of rain in Pasadena, the Indiana Hoosiers washed away the load of historical past.
Coming into the Rose Bowl, School Soccer Playoff groups coming off first-round byes have been winless. In the beginning of the season, the Hoosiers led faculty soccer with essentially the most all-time losses. Throughout their sole earlier Rose Bowl look in 1968, the Hoosiers misplaced to USC.
Indiana’s soccer program spent most of its time caught within the Massive Ten convention basement, however that period is over.
Now, with new blood infused by head coach Curt Cignetti and an offense led by Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, the Hoosiers have turned the web page and shattered expectations.
After 1 / 4 of dismissing their rust following a three-week break, No. 1 Indiana rolled to a 38-3 Rose Bowl victory over No. 9 Alabama Thursday afternoon in entrance of a crowd of 90,278. It’s the largest postseason margin of defeat in Crimson Tide historical past.
When an ESPN reporter requested Cignetti moments after the win how his crew managed to deal with the Rose Bowl stress and proved the second wasn’t too huge for them, he responded, “Why ought to or not it’s too huge, as a result of our title’s Indiana?
”… We’ve come by in clutch moments. I’m pleased with the best way they’ve responded.”
1. Indiana coach Curt Cignetti is showered in rose petals as he lifts the Leishman Trophy after the Hoosiers’ win. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 2. Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza throws a touchdown pass in the second quarter. (Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times) 3. Indiana offensive lineman Carter Smith celebrates while lifting the Rose Bowl trophy. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 4. Fernando Mendoza celebrates with a rose in his mouth after Indiana’s win. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times) 5. Indiana defensive lineman Daniel Ndukwe tackles Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson in the second quarter. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Indiana scored its first touchdown on a 21-yard pass from Mendoza to Charlie Becker to make it 10-0. It was the first touchdown scored by a Hoosier at the Rose Bowl in program history, the perfect way to establish Indiana’s domination.
Indiana’s defense established its dominance during a pivotal stretch in the second quarter when Alabama could not afford to let the Hoosiers stretch their lead.
Facing fourth-and-one at the Alabama 34, Cignetti called timeout when it was clear the Tide were in a trick play formation. After the timeout, Alabama tried to get the Indiana defense to jump offsides but couldn’t get a penalty and burned a timeout of its own. The teams lined up one more time on fourth down, with Crimson Tide running back Daniel Hill passing to receiver Germie Bernard. Indiana’s Isaiah Jones and Rolijah Hardy combined to stuff Bernard for no gain and a game-defining turnover on downs.
“I really felt like, even during that point, I was committed to going for it and wanting to try to make it happen,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said of the decision to go for it on fourth down. “That’s where you’ve got to be careful as a head coach when you make those decisions because it can go the other way.
“… We had to take advantage of every possession for it to end up the way we wanted it to.”
Hoosiers fans celebrated the early success after taking over the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. The sea of cherry red fans planted their flag and made themselves heard. Any time the word Alabama was mentioned, Indiana fans booed and asserted home-field advantage. With the skies clearing after a morning of heavy rain, Hoosiers joyously broke out “Who’s your daddy?” chants.
Cignetti kept taking jabs at the Tide defense with heavy use of the run game early in the contest. When it was his turn to pass, Mendoza was nearly perfect. He finished 14 of 16 passing for 192 yards and three touchdowns. He was sacked three times, but Mendoza never turned the ball over.
Indiana linebacker Rolijah Hardy tackles Alabama tight end Josh Cuevas after a reception in the second quarter.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“I think that’s what you would always love to see as the head coach, things we used to preach when I was at Alabama, about changing the way they think, breaking their will, and that’s the best way to do it, running the football,” said Cignetti, who worked on the Alabama staff early in his career. “It takes a while. It doesn’t happen in the first quarter, the second quarter, it happens in the second half at some point, hopefully.”
Mendoza contributed to the strong Indiana run game, frustrating the gashed Tide defense. With all his receivers covered, he scrambled for a back-breaking eight-yard run in the third quarter to tighten Indiana’s control of the game.
The following play, Mendoza threw a 24-yard touchdown to Elijah Sarrat to make it 24-0. He finished with 38 rushing yards.
Entering the game, Indiana wanted to contain Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson. He gave up a critical first-half fumble and struggled to find seams in the Indiana defense. Simpson said he sustained a cracked rib on a hit in the first half, which kept him out most of the second half.
Crimson Tide second-string quarterback Austin Mack finished the game with 103 passing yards. Simpson finished the game with 67. Mack threw a 34-yard pass to Bernard in the third quarter, which led to a 28-yard field goal that made the score 24-3.
The Hoosiers tacked on a Kaelon Black 25-yard rushing touchdown to make it 31-3. He finished the game with 99 yards and one touchdown.
As clouds dissipated, the Hoosiers booked their ticket to the Peach Bowl, where they will face No. 5 Oregon in their pursuit of the ultimate team award — the national championship.
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti is showered in rose petals as he lifts the Leishman Trophy after the Hoosiers’ win Thursday over Alabama in the Rose Bowl.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
