For Alabama fans, the Rose Bowl was grotesque, gory and often disturbing to watch -- the type of visual content they hadn't seen in the College Football Playoff era.
Kalen DeBoer did all he could not shield his eyes in the fourth quarter during the worst loss of his coaching career, a 38-3 pounding at the hands of Indiana in a game that was never competitive after a fourth-down failure in the second quarter opened the onslaught.
Alabama's run game was nonexistent, third-down conversions were an issue and by the end of a black-and-blue first half, it looked as if the Crimson Tide were already scoreboard-watching in preparation for their flight home.
"We can be upset because losing doesn't sit well with us," DeBoer said in the aftermath. "We can be frustrated about it. That's what our program's going to be. We've got to use that emotion moving forward, but we're also proud. Proud of what we accomplished.
"It's hard to look at the players in the eye because they gave the program all they had. Our guys were all in. They were committed and it showed up in our actions throughout the season. It doesn't sit well with us but after today all we can do is move on."
It's going to be hard to ask the Alabama faithful, a group accustomed to winning big in the postseason, to "move on" from that one.
This was Alabama's worst loss since the turn of the century, which includes the Crimson Tide's mutilation at the hands of Clemson in the national championship game to end the 2018 season.
2025 Rose Bowl:
Indiana beat Alabama, 38-32018 National Championship: Clemson beat Alabama, 44-162003:
LSU beat Alabama, 27-32000:
Mississippi State beat Alabama, 29-7
It also marked Alabama's most lopsided loss in a bowl game (35 points) and lowest point total in a postseason matchup since Bear Bryant's Crimson Tide ended the 1960 Bluebonnet Bowl in a 3-3 tie with Texas.
The once ferocious Crimson Tide is receding under DeBoer after a late-season fade this fall included a failure-to-show in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia and a mistake-filled mess in early November at home to Oklahoma.
Thursday's performance was the worst of the DeBoer era, pushing the program to a lower point than what it faced after opening the season with the lackluster outing against Florida State.
Alabama now has three straight losses in bowl games for the first time since Bryant lost four straight from 1971-1974.
DeBoer is the first Crimson Tide coach to lose four or more games in consecutive seasons since Mike Shula in 2003-04. Shula was not retained after the 2006 campaign, giving way to Nick Saban, who embarked on an era of greatness to which all succeeding coaches at Alabama will be compared.
Mendoza finished with more touchdown passes (3) than incompletions (2), going 14-of-16 for 192 yards with one of his best passer ratings of the season.
Alabama came into its CFP quarterfinal with the SEC's best secondary, giving up just 168.4 yards per game and 6.2 yards per attempt. The Tide were torched by Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza.
Indiana tallied more rushing yards (215) than Alabama managed total yards (193), much of that damage coming between the tackles.
Struggling to show in big games was not a problem for the Crimson Tide under the previous regime, but that's something that will need to be corrected moving forward under DeBoer and staff. Alabama trailed 17-0 in the first half of its first-round CFP win at Oklahoma before mounting a comeback, which would've been DeBoer's third loss in three tries against Brent Venables since taking over in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama has eight total losses over the last two seasons after posting that same number of setbacks over five previous years combined. The dynasty was beginning to fade late under Saban, but not like this.
DeBoer's stock took a hit this season, this latest loss being the most embarrassing of his impressive career. He entered the 2025 campaign with a 15-3 career mark against nationally ranked competition as a head coach, an .833 winning percentage that was tops in the Power Four ranks. DeBoer added four top-25 wins to that total over a four-week stretch midseason before momentum shifted downward with ranked losses to Oklahoma, Georgia and now Indiana to end it.
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