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By Cole Sullivan
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The No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide entered their Rose Bowl quarterfinal matchup against the Indiana Hoosiers as underdogs, but the game was never particularly close. Alabama trailed 17-0 at halftime and ultimately suffered a lopsided 38-3 loss.
The defeat marks the end of head coach Kalen DeBoer’s second season in Tuscaloosa. While DeBoer made strides this year — most notably reaching and advancing in the 12-team College Football Playoff — the performance still fell short of the standard Alabama established for more than a decade under Nick Saban.
ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit was highly critical of Alabama’s effort, particularly before halftime and again in the fourth quarter when the deficit ballooned to 28 points. Calling the game alongside play-by-play partner Chris Fowler, Herbstreit did not hold back in his assessment of DeBoer’s team.
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“It feels like Alabama — it’s just strange to see,” Herbstreit said when the Tide trailed by 17. “They’re just existing. They’re just out there. Nobody is penetrating. Nobody is playing with any fire. It’s almost like they feel defeated, like there’s nothing we can do. Nobody is making an impact play, or even trying… Hands on their hips. They’re just kind of out there.”
Later in the fourth quarter, Herbstreit added: “Bama has definitely hurt themselves as far as their reputation on this big stage—not just this year, but overall.”
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In their defense, while the performance was not a good one, Indiana remains undefeated this season and owns wins over Oregon, whom they’ll face again in the CFP semifinals next week, Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship, and now the Crimson Tide.
The Hoosiers entered the playoff as the No. 1 overall team, and the winner of next week’s matchup between Indiana and Oregon will advance to the national championship to face the winner of Ole Miss and Miami, both of whom pulled off impressive upsets to reach the semifinals.
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