ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY PRUDENTIAL: ALABAMA VS INDIANA

January 1, 2026

Kalen DeBoer

Germie Bernard

Tim Keenan

Alabama Crimson Tide

Postgame Press Conference

Indiana - 38, Alabama - 3

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by head coach Kalen DeBoer, Germie Bernard and Tim Keenan.

KALEN DEBOER: First of all, you've just got to give a tip of the hat to Indiana and just everything that they did today in the game.

And I think for us, it's a lot of emotions right now shared in the locker room. We can be upset because losing doesn't sit well with us, and we can be frustrated about it, but that's what our program is going to be, is upset when these types of situations happen. We've got to use it to fuel us moving forward.

I think obviously I'm going to be proud, proud of these guys and proud of who they are and what we accomplished this year. We came up short of our goal. And I think the other emotion would be just sad for the guys. And these are going to be two of them right here. Hard to look them in the eye because the emotions that go through me, when I think what they've given to me and given to this program every single day, everything they've got.

Our guys, going back to a year ago, were all in, and they committed to each other. They committed to this season, and it showed up in the actions. It wasn't just actions that happened this fall; it happened every single day going back to early January.

So, again, frustrated, upset. And it doesn't sit well with us, but after today, all we can do is move on.

Q. Germie, just reflecting on your decision to follow Coach DeBoer from Washington to Alabama, how happy are you made that decision what have the two years at Alabama meant to you?

GERMIE BERNARD: It's one of the best decisions I've made. I'm grateful that Coach DeBoer allowed me to have the opportunity to come back to Washington and then follow him here to the University of Alabama. He's made a big impact on my life, and he's helped me grow, not just as a football player but as a young man growing up in this crazy world. He has -- he's a great leader and he's only helped me elevate my career.

Q. Football is played at the line of scrimmage so often. How would you assess the way you guys played with that Indiana front that seemed to do pretty well today?

TIM KEENAN III: Indiana did a great job of doing, playing their game and stuff like that. Evidently I wasn't good enough to do my job better. Defense, we didn't make the stops that we needed to and stuff like that. So they capitalized on our mistakes. Indiana had a great plan for us and they executed well.

Q. All during the week in talking about Indiana, you gave them a lot of credit for what you saw on film and such. But was there anything at all that surprised you about what they did today? Or was it stuff you had seen that you just didn't handle as well as you wanted to?

GERMIE BERNARD: Not necessarily. We've done a great job of watching film. Our coaches did a great job at putting a great game plan together for us. But it just comes down to us being able to execute it. And we didn't execute to our best abilities. And like Tim said, they just capitalized off all the mistakes we made. It made it a rough game for us.

TIM KEENAN III: Pretty much what he said. They came out, they did what they had to do.

Q. What are you going to remember about this team and this season?

GERMIE BERNARD: I'd say, our motto this year was "unbreakable." I think that our team is very resilient. We trust and believe in each other. We always have faith in each other. I'm just going to remember how resilient this team is and how our brotherhood was.

TIM KEENAN III: Same. How we handled adversity at times and stuff like that, I really appreciate these group of guys. I would go to war with them again if I had to. But that's what I have to say about this team, the love that we play with, the brotherhood that's there, and it's really a family there.

GERMIE BERNARD: I want to give glory to my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, for allowing us to have this opportunity, for allowing this team to be here together in California and enjoy this moment. Even though it didn't go the way we wanted it still is a lot to be grateful for.

Guys like you know T.K., he went through injury and wasn't able to play throughout the season. Guys were able to play in this game that weren't healthy throughout the whole year and were able to walk off the field healthy. So it's a lot to be grateful for. And I just want to give glory to Jesus Christ for this opportunity.

TIM KEENAN III: Thank God always.

Q. Coach, you spoke about just going through adversity throughout the season. Obviously, today's game didn't end the way you wanted. How do you take this and fuel this to the next season as far as some of the feelings and the emotions that you're going through right now?

KALEN DEBOER: Yeah, hit on that. You've got guys that are moving on and it's the last game they play here. They've got careers at the next level. Then you've got guys that you want to start laying the groundwork for the future.

And I know because I've been doing this long enough, and I have experiences that I can fall back on, that the fine line between what we had out there today and being at the very top is such a fine line.

And you've got to go back to starting over from scratch with putting the people around you, the right people, committing to something, a common goal together and the actions following it.

So it's such a fine line. It may not feel like it when you're in this moment right now and what happened today. But I can tell you, it's a fine line between being here and being at the top.

But we've got to do the work. We've got to put the work in. You've got to believe. You've got to be consistent. You've got to have discipline. We'll get back to work and start all over again.

Q. What were you thinking on that fourth-down call? Could you explain that a little bit?

KALEN DEBOER: Just felt like it was going to be one of those games where you've got to take advantage of possessions. Obviously, when you fall short, it's the wrong decision, right?

We don't get the first down, give them a shorter field. They make a nice play on third down, nice throw and catch. And it's a belief in the guys on offense, a belief in the guys on defense that worst-case scenario we can hold them to a field goal. It obviously didn't work out that way.

But I try not to be reckless but try to be aggressive. We wanted to make sure, you saw we put a group out there, the punt/tried the hard count, just giving me a little more time to think about what my decision would be, get some of the guys on the sideline to talk through the play call.

I really felt like, after even during that point, I was committed to going for it and wanting to try to make it happen. And, again, that's where you've got to be careful as a head coach when you make those decisions because it can go the other way.

But I think you're just looking at the game, we had to take advantage of every possession for it to end up the way we wanted it to. So that was one of them.

Q. Obviously, there have been some great moments this year for this team and difficult moments, like today, and you've been involved in some great moments in your career. Could you take a step back and tell us what you think of this Indiana team. They're No. 1, they haven't been beaten. How good is this team?

KALEN DEBOER: Yeah, very good, because I think we have a good team. And they did a nice job. They led with a trigger man, made the throws, third-down conversions, just kept them on the football field.

They continued to wear us down at the end of the game with the run game.

They execute, they just execute at a high level, and everyone feeds off each other on both sides of the ball. It's not just one thing.

Again, you've got to tip your hat to Coach Cignetti and what he's done here and obviously they're all aligned and doing a good job executing. And that's what they did today.

Q. Could you just speak to the quarterback change, Ty's toughness, and how you thought Austin played?

KALEN DEBOER: Ty had an injury, obviously, and he really wanted to try to go out there. And we treated him there at halftime. He gave it a series.

I know he feels like he let down the team, and there's no way that that's the case. He went out there, tried to battle. That's who he is, so I'm never going to let that be a thing where he let us down in any way. So making sure he knows that.

And Austin being ready to go, he did some nice things when he got on the football field there tonight. And just get put in a tough spot when you're trying to catch up and it's the third quarter already.

Again, proud of all of our team, but that was the situation with Ty.