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 quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl on Thursday in Pasadena, Calif.
The Hoosiers advance to the semifinals and will take on fifth-seeded Oregon on Jan. 9 in the Peach Bowl.
Indiana (14-0) became the first top-four seed to win 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 fifth-seeded 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.
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 early in the second quarter, with Isaiah Jones and Rolijah Hardy stopping Germie Barnard just short of the first-down marker.
Five 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 1-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.
