Yes, Alabama fans, the 2026 Rose Bowl really was as bad as it looked. The Crimson Tide has long been college football's bowl leader in total games played and won. Going back exactly 100 years, never before had the Crimson Tide been beaten so badly in a bowl game.
Until Thursday evening in Pasadena, Alabama's worst bowl loss was in 1972, when the Nebraska Cornhuskers dominated from start to finish in the Orange Bowl. Alabama's 1971 team lost to the Cornhuskers, 38-6. In Nashville's 1998 Music City Bowl, the Crimson Tide also lost big. On a bitterly cold afternoon, with sleet stinging the faces of Alabama fans, Virginia Tech manhandled the Tide to a 38-7 win. The game was close at halftime, but the Hokies owned the second half, scoring 28 unanswered second-half points.
Worst Alabama Crimson Tide Bowl loss ever puts DeBoer in bad company
Now, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer will have to live with having a bowl game loss, worse than one of Alabama's widely perceived worst head coaches ever, Mike Dubose (1997-2000). No matter what DeBoer and Alabama achieve in the future, some Alabama fans will never forgive him for what happened against the Indiana Hoosiers.
After the Rose Bowl loss, Kalen DeBoer's media session was hard to watch. Of course, the mood was sad, but what appeared to bother Kalen DeBoer the most was the pain felt by the players who joined him.
DeBoer did not make excuses, though he did say, "There's a fine line between what we had out there today, and being at the very top." Perhaps that is true, but Alabama fans in Rose Bowl Stadium and those watching the telecast did not see a fine line. They saw a chasm. Kalen DeBoer will have a major challenge convincing Alabama fans to put the defeat behind them.
DeBoer spoke the hard truth when he said of himself and the team, "Frustrated. Upset. It doesn't sit well with us. But after today, all we can do is move on." Moving on is all that can come next, but the memory of being thoroughly outplayed and outcoached may never be erased.
Note: Alabama Crimson Tide Bowl history provided by Sports Reference