Indiana football HC Curt Cignetti’s ‘mystique’ take ahead of Rose Bowl

The Indiana football program is currently gearing up for the Rose Bowl game against the Alabama Crimson Tide, with a spot in the College Football playoff semifinal game on the line. Indiana earned a bye in the first round of the playoffs after defeating Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game, while Alabama punched their ticket to the Rose Bowl with a road win over Oklahoma two weeks ago.

Recently, Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti got 100% honest on how the mystique surrounding the Alabama program factors, or does not factor, into Indiana’s approach to the game.

“You probably know more about the mystique than they do. Our guys just know what they see on tape,” said Cignetti, per Brett McMurphy of On3 Sports on X, formerly Twitter.

The Alabama mystique has certainly fallen off significantly in recent years, as the Crimson Tide have not won a national championship since the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and last year, missed the playoffs altogether in what was the first year for head coach Kalen DeBoer.

Overall, teams don’t fear the Crimson Tide the same way they did during their dynastic run under Nick Saban, but that doesn’t mean that the Hoosiers will have an easy task on their hands on Thursday afternoon. If Alabama is able to replicate the performance it had after their shaky start in Norman against Oklahoma, Indiana could have a very difficult challenge on their hands.

In any case, Alabama and Indiana are slated to kick things off on Thursday afternoon in what could be rare rainy weather conditions in Southern California. Kickoff is set for 4:00 pm ET, with the winner taking on either Oregon or Texas Tech, with a spot in the national championship game on the line.

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