On paper, Indiana couldn’t have played their entry into the 2025 playoffs any better. The Hoosiers defeated Ohio State, secured the No. 1 seed, and got a bye in the first round. Still, Curt Cignetti doesn’t sound like a coach savoring the perks of privilege as the Hoosiers prepare for their Rose Bowl matchup against Alabama on January 1.

“It is what it is, so you make the most of it,” Cignetti said in the December 29 interview with Indiana Sports Beat Radio, describing Indiana’s efforts to make the lengthy separation productive. “And the way we approached it until we knew the opponent, we treated it like two bye weeks. And now we have almost two weeks to prepare for the opponent.”

On the surface, nearly two weeks to prepare seems like a luxury, but the four-week gap without live football pauses momentum and disrupts rhythm. That’s where the tension really shows. In their first game following a bye, No. 1 Oregon was blitzed by No. 8 Ohio State the previous year.

Every top seed that benefited from a first-round bye in the first 12-team CFP, including Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, and Arizona State, lost their first playoff game last year after more than three weeks had passed since the last game. The lower seeds that did play, however, continued to be competitive and progressive. That highlights the danger of extended layoffs that Cignetti clearly understands.

When asked if he enjoyed the wait, Cignetti didn’t dodge the question. “Would I prefer to play earlier? Yeah, I probably would to be quite honest with you,” he said. That single line cuts against the entire assumption that byes are universally good. The timing just makes things tougher for Indiana, whose roster is aware of how fragile rhythm can be.

The transfer portal opens eight hours after the Rose Bowl kickoff. They win, and the Hoosiers are suddenly preparing for the Peach Bowl while juggling portal recruiting. Cignetti also used the opportunity to voice a larger concern regarding the college football calendar that stretches beyond Indiana’s immediate situation.

“I definitely think the calendar could be improved, and that would be unanimous amongst the coaches,” he said. “Whether you got to move the start of the regular season up a week and then start playing in the playoffs when the season ends, so there’s a little bit better time to devote to high school recruiting and portal recruiting. We’re all looking, I think, for that solution. What you’re dealing with in college football is just you don’t have one guy in charge. If you had one person calling the shots, I think it would be a lot cleaner. Hopefully we’ll make some progress in that regard.”

Still, despite the scheduling challenges, Cignetti remains focused on his team’s preparation. ” So, we’re excited about playing. We’re off to a good start. And it’ll be a tremendous challenge,” he said. And that’s where the spotlight shifts because while Indiana is juggling a crowded calendar, Alabama is running out of margin entirely.

Can Alabama afford another slow start?

Alabama already used up its escape act once, and that’s what makes this Rose Bowl feel so unforgiving. It was awful enough to fall behind Oklahoma by 17 points, but that type of slow burn could quickly turn deadly against No. 1 Indiana. ESPN’s Joey Galloway and Kirk Herbstreit didn’t sugarcoat it either: Kalen DeBoer’s situation is now or never.

Galloway’s advice was simple. “Alabama has to get off to a better start. That’s number one. I don’t think that they can come and all of a sudden have a run game that’s going to dominate this game.”

Just enough of a run game to stop Indiana from teeing off on Ty Simpson. Because asking your quarterback to carry everything, again, against one of the strongest defenses in the country? That’s a losing script. The problem is that Alabama’s season-long numbers support the concern. The running game has been ineffective.

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Even Ryan Grubb has admitted it, saying, “I’ve used the throw, the deep ball early and run later, run early, throw the deep ball after… But for us, whether the ball’s going down the field or running the football, we just have to be more consistent with the ball moving forward, period.”

Lotzeir Brooks’ big plays and Simpson’s heroics against Oklahoma filled in the gaps. Those cracks seem more like open wounds against Indiana, a defense that thrives on disruption and feeds on backfields.

And then there’s the edge Indiana brings. Bryant Haines, the defensive coordinator, said, “Maybe we eat,” half-joking and half-warning. Beneath the jab is an elite scoring defense, unrelenting pressure, and a coordinator who has recently signed a new contract and enjoys 100% trust from his head coach.