The College Football Playoff is gaining viewer momentum as it heads into this week's semifinals. Last week's quarterfinals saw a 14% increase in viewership from last season, averaging 19.3 million viewers. Six of the eight games rank in the top 10 most-viewed this season. Indiana's win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl averaged 24.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched CFP game since 2024. Miami's victory over Ohio State and Mississippi's comeback against Georgia also saw significant viewership increases. This is the last year ESPN will have all quarterfinal games, with changes coming next year.
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Indiana and Oregon will meet in the Peach Bowl next week for a College Football Playoff semifinal. Neither school has ever won a national championship. The winner in Atlanta will be the favorite to accomplish that feat in the national title game on Jan. 19. The Hoosiers beat the Ducks in Eugene three months ago before going on to the Big Ten title and a blowout victory over Alabama in the Rose Bowl as the CFP's No. 1 seed. Oregon has won eight consecutive games since that loss to Indiana, capped by a 23-0 pasting of Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl.
Alabama rallied from a 17-point deficit once in the College Football Playoff, but there would not be a repeat performance against No. 1 Indiana in a 38-3 loss in a quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl. The Crimson Tide tried everything possible to stage a historic comeback on the site of so many memorable moments for the program, from a 1926 win that marked the arrival of southern football as a powerhouse on par with the rest of the country to a 2024 overtime loss that would be legendary head coach Nick Saban’s final game, and star quarterback Ty Simpson having to take himself out of the game in the second half because of a cracked rib did not help matters.
Fernando Mendoza threw three touchdown passes, Indiana’s defense thoroughly throttled Alabama, and the top-seeded Hoosiers roared into the College Football Playoff semifinals with a 38-3 victory in the 112th Rose Bowl. Mendoza passed for 192 yards in his first game since winning his school’s first Heisman Trophy, but the hard-nosed Hoosiers won the Rose Bowl for the first time in school history by dominating the Crimson Tide at the line of scrimmage. Indiana scored the game’s first 24 points before pouring it on with fourth-quarter rushing TDs from Kaelon Black and Roman Hemby, wrapping up a jubilant win in the 112th edition of the Granddaddy of Them All.
Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson says a cracked rib sidelined him in the second half of the Crimson Tide’s 38-3 loss to top-seeded Indiana in the Rose Bowl. Simpson got hurt when an Indiana player’s helmet hit him in the torso and caused a fumble after he made a courageous scramble through the Hoosiers’ defense for a first down late in the first half. He had an X-ray at halftime that revealed the injury, Simpson said after the College Football Playoff quarterfinal ended. Simpson acknowledged that he might have tried to do too much on that play after he came up one yard short of a first down on an earlier run.
Indiana beats Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl to advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Indiana football is rewriting its reputation and giving Bloomington something to be excited about. A team that was once an afterthought in its community has unleashed a new brand of Hoosiers fans, who are travelling in masses from Bloomington to Pasadena to witness the program’s biggest game since 1968. Top-seeded Indiana will face No. 9 Alabama in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. Hoosiers football has reached new heights over the past two years under Curt Cignetti, and they look to reach new heights this postseason.
Omar Cooper Jr.’s game-winning catch for No. 1 Indiana against Penn State is the kind of play that gets remembered forever, especially if the Hoosiers go on to claim their first national title. Cooper is ready to take the next step in that push in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl against Alabama on Thursday, having recovered from a right leg injury that knocked him out of the Big Ten championship victory over Ohio State in the first quarter on Dec. 6. A full-strength Cooper is capable of making catches like the toe-tapping score in the back of the end zone against the Nittany Lions with 36 seconds remaining which gave Indiana its first win in Happy Valley and kept its chances of a first undefeated regular season and undisputed conference crown in play.
Nick Saban coached his final game for Alabama just two years ago in the Rose Bowl when his Crimson Tide lost to Michigan. Alabama is returning to that storied turf this week as underdogs against unbeaten Indiana, which has become the sport's newest powerhouse in the two years since the Saban era ended. Alabama is in the Playoff for the first time under coach Kalen DeBoer, who realizes he'll never win over his new fan base without a strong national title run. It’s a decade too soon to know whether Curt Cignetti is building the sport’s next titan, but there’s no denying his first two seasons have been more impressive than Saban’s start at Alabama.