Ty Simpson may have guided Alabama to the CFP, but one Big Ten defense still lives rent-free in his head. The former Tide QB couldn’t get past the Hoosiers in the Rose Bowl, and since then, he has made sure to give ample due to the national championships. Simpson’s latest comments on Indiana even drew a response from the Hoosiers’ defensive coordinator, Bryant Haines.

“Adorable,” wrote Haines on his X this Saturday, sharing the video clip of Simpson. “We also saw everything they were doing on every single snap. It’s just that we exploited those cues. And didn’t get frozen and crushed by them.”

In the 2025 Rose Bowl, IU’s defense, led by Haines, held the Tide to their lowest point total in a bowl game since 1964. The Hoosiers’ defense “suffocated” the Alabama offense, holding them to just 193 total yards. However, the game-changing moment came in the second quarter. DB D’Angelo Ponds, who earned the Defensive MVP title for the Rose Bowl, forced a pivotal fumble by Simpson that IU converted into a TD.

With Indiana leading 3–0, Alabama attempted a “pop pass” on 4th-and-1 from their own 34-yard line, but IU’s LB Isaiah Jones recorded a critical fourth-down stop and recovered Simpson’s fumble. Then LB Ro Hardy teamed with Jones for a major stop, preventing the pop pass and turning the momentum permanently toward Indiana. IU’s front seven effectively neutralized Alabama’s ground game, holding them to a season-low 23 rushing yards.

While former Bama QB Ty Simpson spoke highly of IU’s defense, he also noted its lack of complexity.

“From my point of view, they [Indiana] don’t do much. They do the same thing every down,” said Simpson during his interview on the Downs 2 Business podcast with OSU’s Caleb Downs and Josh Downs. “And so when I got the ball, I knew exactly what was gonna happen. They just didn’t mess up, bro. They were in the exact spot they were supposed to be, and they were so well coached. It was so much different than the SEC, where they’ll play man and they’ll do these unorthodox coverages.”

“I knew what they were gonna do. We couldn’t really run the ball. We didn’t really throw it. It was crazy to me how it happened,” added the Bama QB.

Simpson’s day in the 2025 Rose Bowl was cut short; after suffering a cracked rib and struggling to a 12-of-16 for 67 yards performance, the Hoosiers’ relentless pressure forced him to the bench in the third quarter, leaving backup QB Austin Mack to manage Alabama’s only scoring drive.

Indiana’s defensive transformation under Bryant Haines

Curt Cignetti’s assistant first joined the IU as a defensive graduate assistant in 2012. Then he returned to Bloomington in 2024 as the DC and LBs coach alongside head coach Cignetti. Under Bryant Haines, IU’s defense underwent a massive transformation, becoming one of the nation’s most dominant units. Before his arrival, the defense was one of the least productive units in the Big Ten, struggling with consistency and a lack of aggressive playmaking.

However, in 2025, the defense saw its peak. The Hoosiers’ scoring defense ranked No. 2 nationally with 11.7 PPG, and total defense ranked 4th with 266.0 YPG. Unlike traditional defenses that react to offensive movements, Haines prioritizes dictating the flow of the game by attacking an offense’s specific rules and exploiting its weaknesses.

On top of that, Haines evolved the scheme to switch seamlessly between 4-down and 3-down fronts, allowing him to use versatile “hybrid” players who could rush the passer or drop into coverage interchangeably. With this kind of defensive strategy, the IU DC won the Broyles Award. So his coaching ability, being praised by Ty Simpson, is not just talk.