ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY PRUDENTIAL: ALABAMA VS INDIANA

December 30, 2025

Bray Hubbard

Alabama Crimson Tide

Press Conference

Q. When you watch Indiana's offense, what stands out? What do you think makes them really good offensively?

BRAY HUBBARD: They just play sound. They play clean across the board. I think that's what's most impressive. Obviously, Fernando does a great job of getting his playmakers the ball.

That's one thing you have to prepare for. He can make every throw. His receivers are doing a good job when the ball is in the air, they attack it.

Q. The fact that he's a Heisman winner, does it add a chip at all, any extra juice at all for you guys trying to stop the Heisman winner?

BRAY HUBBARD: I mean, yeah, but at the end of the day, it's another game for us. We got to prepare, prepare to dominate.

Q. Their RPO stuff is really good. Are there things they do within that that makes it really good, or is it just who they have that's running it?

BRAY HUBBARD: I think it's both really. Obviously Fernando does a really good job of creating his (inaudible) and being able to get the ball out and what he sees. So we have to be prepared for that and (inaudible).

Q. I would imagine you haven't probably watched a whole lot of him prior to the last few weeks. What kind of impressed you about him?

BRAY HUBBARD: He can make every throw. There's a throw, I think it was against Iowa, he was on the left hash. He threw a hole shot across the field. It was probably 30 yards down the field, but across the field, so that's a very impressive throw for a quarterback to make. It's probably one of the hardest throws for any quarterback to make.

Like I said, he can make every throw, and that's what the challenge is. He does a great job of running the offense and making sure all his guys are on point. So we have to play sound and be prepared.

Q. The guys that he has around him, what impresses you, who impresses you?

BRAY HUBBARD: They all impress me. They do a good job, like I said, of going up and attacking the ball. So we have to play physical on defense. We have to try and get the ball out. That's going to be the key is we have to create turnovers and takeaways. That's really the key.

Q. Is it hard to find an offense like that that is really clean, mistake-free? Is that rare?

BRAY HUBBARD: No, I don't think it's rare, but they do a really good job of it. In the SEC we play a lot of different offenses, and a lot of them are very clean, so we have another challenge this week.

Q. Is there an offense you've played that's kind of comparable to Indiana in the SEC?

BRAY HUBBARD: Yeah, but no. I mean, everybody is so different. Obviously every team is going to be clean. I think Georgia was a very clean offense both times we've played them. Tennessee, they ran a very efficient offense. They were hard to stop.

I mean, really everyone in the SEC that we faced was very clean and efficient, so...

Q. You guys watch the weather at all? Are you guys monitoring that at all? If it rains a lot, how that would change things?

BRAY HUBBARD: No, not really. Not really. Not for us.

Q. It's been a big topic outside. I wondered if you guys do.

BRAY HUBBARD: No, not for us.

Q. Morning or night workout?

BRAY HUBBARD: Morning.

Q. Would you rather have a shoe named after you or an award named after you?

BRAY HUBBARD: An award.

Q. Favorite road trip snack?

BRAY HUBBARD: I like the peanut-butter-filled pretzels.

Q. The song right now that gets your mind right?

BRAY HUBBARD: I listen to so many different songs, I couldn't even tell you.

Q. Give me an artist.

BRAY HUBBARD: Josh Turner, because that's what I was listening to this morning.

Q. If you could steal one of your teammate's skills, who and what would that be?

BRAY HUBBARD: Red's ability to just do a back flip whenever he feels.

Q. What's your most used emoji?

BRAY HUBBARD: Probably the laughing face.

Q. Everyone says the laughing face. Describe the Rose Bowl in one word?

BRAY HUBBARD: The granddaddy of them all.

Q. What are your New Year's resolutions? Do you have any?

BRAY HUBBARD: I haven't even thought about it.

Q. You have something bigger on your mind.

BRAY HUBBARD: Yeah. National championship.

Q. Say that again.

BRAY HUBBARD: National championship.

Q. What stands out to you about this Indiana offense? What have you seen from them on film either recently or if you caught any of their games throughout the season as well?

BRAY HUBBARD: Yeah, they play very clean across the board. The thing I saw from their quarterback, he does a good job of managing the offense and getting the ball to his playmakers and not turning the ball over. They're just efficient.

Q. You've had a lot of time now to watch the film since the Oklahoma game. Fernando is pretty good. How does he differ? How similar is he to some of the quarterbacks you've already seen?

BRAY HUBBARD: Yeah, I mean, he does a really good job. He's very efficient. He's a game manager. He does a great job of getting the ball to his playmakers. That's what is probably most impressive.

When he gets the ball to his playmakers, I think in past games the receivers do a really good job of attacking the ball, so that's something we've had to prepare for. They're going to go and (inaudible). So that's something we've been working on all week.

He has playmakers, like I said, all around him. Obviously he's the Heisman for a reason, and he can make every throw in the book, so that's what we prepare for.

Q. Anything the coaching staff has harped on this week as far as really paying attention so tendencies or things you can do to neutralize Indiana? They've been so efficient all year long. Are there any tells?

BRAY HUBBARD: Oh, yeah, every team has their tells. At the end of the day, they're going to run what they're going to run, but we just have to (inaudible) and play fast and execute.

Q. The Oklahoma game things were going so well. You kept that offense in check. When things are going well for four quarters, give us an idea of how it's sustained, how you guys are able to put together a game plan, able to execute it, and really make it go for four quarters, how does that differ from a week where it doesn't exactly come together?

BRAY HUBBARD: I mean, I think the key to it is starting fast and finishing strong.

Q. It's that simple, huh?

BRAY HUBBARD: It's that simple.

Q. Is there moments that can get away? Like, just have to be focused the entire time?

BRAY HUBBARD: I mean, that's -- you are there for one reason, to play the game for four quarters. You got 60 minutes to go in there and get a win and get out. That's what we say all the time. It's a 60-minute ball game. It's not 30 minutes. It's not a half. It's a full 60-minute ball game. That's what you have to be prepared for.

Q. What's your New Year's resolution?

BRAY HUBBARD: Win a national championship.

Q. Is that something that is on your mind constantly right now, winning a national championship?

BRAY HUBBARD: Yeah. We're in the playoffs. That's the main goal. That's my New Year's resolution is win a national championship.

Q. Kane wears that cap over his chest. What do you think he keeps in that little bag?

BRAY HUBBARD: Who was it?

Q. Kane Wommack.

BRAY HUBBARD: I don't know. I didn't even know he wears one.

Q. What is he like as a defensive coordinator? Why do you guys feel like you've been so good at creating havoc on defense?

BRAY HUBBARD: I mean, he talks to us about creating takeaways. We have a certain we go through every day before practice to get the ball out, getting interceptions, blocking it out. We do it all. He harps on it every week, how to create takeaways. He puts it out there, and we go execute.

Q. Why do you think Deontae always seems to be there when you punch the football loose?

BRAY HUBBARD: I guess because we're both into the boundary. He is always around the ball, and I'm always around the ball. I don't know. I think it just happens.

We were talking about it. He was, like, Dude, every time you get the ball out, it happens to come to me. I didn't realize at the time. I sat down and I was like, Yeah, you're right, that's crazy. So...

Q. A little connection there?

BRAY HUBBARD: Yeah.

Q. Just a quick question. Do you have any New Year's resolutions?

BRAY HUBBARD: Win a national championship.

Q. Have you thought anything about next season?

BRAY HUBBARD: No. I've been asked, even by the coaches, and I've been straight. Win a national championship, that's my main goal. I told somebody. I was, like, it's not like we're in some normal bowl game that you play on New Year's Eve, whatever, and (inaudible). We are in the playoffs.

Q. (Inaudible).

BRAY HUBBARD: Obviously I've put a lot of good things on tape. There's always things that you would like to get back, but I've put a lot of good things on tape. (Inaudible).

Q. What's it like being here?

BRAY HUBBARD: We just got here yesterday. We got in here about -- I forgot -- probably 7:00, 8:00. We haven't really seen much, but we were here my freshman year. It's pretty cool out here. It's definitely different from where I'm from in Mississippi in Tuscaloosa. It's definitely different, so...

Q. I was asking the guys that were here back in 2023, what is it like being back here again? Is it a surreal moment? Is that game a motivating factor to win this game?

BRAY HUBBARD: Yeah, I think you could say it's a motivation. We would have loved to get the national championship that year. We're back here and playing in a historic bowl game in college football. We're excited about it.

Q. What's it been like watching Zabien Brown this season with the pick six so crucial. How has he really developed?

BRAY HUBBARD: Yeah, he does it in practice. He says it all the time and preaches it to us. Every week he says, do it in practice, do it in the game. He does it in practice all the time.

He's got it on lockdown. It's impressive. I think all his picks have been pretty much pick sixes. Even in Tennessee when I didn't know it was happening. I was in coverage, and I just seen him running down the field.

Then the Oklahoma game, I'm dropping out. I just hear the crowd go silent, and I see Zabien just taking off. I'm, like, Oh, my gosh, he's gone.

Actually, I saw the quarterback. I thought the quarterback was going to tackle him. He missed. So I was, like, Man, let's go.

Q. Coach was saying after the Oklahoma game that you guys were begging to go to man coverage. Just how comfortable is it for this defense to recognize the switch when you can go into man coverage?

BRAY HUBBARD: Yeah, I think last week put a lot of pressure and got him uncomfortable, got him to move around in the pocket. That forced him and giving him different looks, disguise on coverages that we're playing. Obviously that's where we're running this week.

Obviously he's the Heisman for a reason. He's done a really good job, so we have to do a really good job disguising.

Q. They haven't turned the ball over that much. Only eight times this year. You are good at getting takeaways. How do you do that in this game?

BRAY HUBBARD: Yeah, just executing. Whatever is called, whatever is put out there for us, we have to go execute. We have to take punches with the ball. When the ball is in the air, we have to go get it.

Q. It feels like your DBs are fearless. Where does that mindset come from?

BRAY HUBBARD: I think that's just in us. Obviously we don't want to let each other down. We just go out there and are playing for each other. 11 bodies are representing. We just go out there, fly around, and try to take the ball out.

Q. Do you have a New Year's resolution?

BRAY HUBBARD: Win a national championship.

Q. What's the challenge going up against Fernando Mendoza, Heisman Trophy winner?

BRAY HUBBARD: Man, obviously he's the Heisman for a reason. He can make every throw in the book. You see it on film. He makes every throw.

He's got great talent around him with his receivers. They do a good job of when the ball is in the air, they go and attack it. Obviously he's a game manager, so...

Q. He seems very poised and collected at all times. How do you (inaudible) --

BRAY HUBBARD: It starts early. We have to hit him early, but obviously he does a great job. There's been times in games, the Big Ten Championship, you saw he got hit like the first play. He gets right back up and goes back.

Q. I was just talking about the underdog mentality being kind of flipped against an Indiana team. What's that been like the last few days?

BRAY HUBBARD: We've pretty much been the underdog all year. Mostly after Week 1, everyone has kind of doubted us even though you look at rankings, we would be the higher rank than somebody. They're like, well, I don't think they can do this, but we just keep proving people wrong. That's what we have to do every week.

Q. Do you like that?

BRAY HUBBARD: Yeah, I love it.