Crimson all over

 Well, alrighty, then. Alabama it is.

Alabama, which erased a 17-0 deficit to Oklahoma in Norman last night, outscoring the Sooners 34-7 the rest of the way in a 34-24 win.

Alabama, losers of three games (including to Oklahoma a little over a month ago), and last seen getting squashed by Georgia in the SEC title game.

Alabama ... whom a lot of folks un-doctrinated by the SEC thought was an absolute imposter in the College Football Playoff, and who only got in because the selection committee knew Tuscaloosa's zip code by heart.

Well. I guess the Crimson Tide and their more-insane-than-most fan base have earned the right to gloat a bit this morning.

They are, after all, headed to the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day to play No. 1 Indiana, and what a weird sentence that is to write. It sounds hella more normal to write "No. 1 Alabama is headed to the Rose Bowl to play Indiana," but these are not normal times. These are the times when Indiana goes 12-0, beats No. 1 Ohio State to go to 13-0 and win the Big Ten championship, and heads off to Pasadena for the first time in 58 years.

You can expect those Harry Gonso retrospectives any day now. Or perhaps a Dave Koronowa retrospectives, given that the IU kicker scored the only points for the Hoosiers in a 14-3 Rose Bowl loss to O.J. and USC.

More likely we'll see a feature or two on Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer, because he was Indiana's offensive coordinator in 2019. People love that cross-pollination stuff. 

(He was also the head coach on the other sideline when the Fort's very own Saint Francis Cougars lost to Sioux Falls in the 2006 NAIA national championship game. Just sayin'.)

Anyway, it's gonna be the Crimson Tide vs. the Cream and Crimson in the Rose Bowl, which is a lot of crimson for any bowl. The Blob thinks Indiana's the better Crimson -- hell, I think Notre Dame's better than the Tide, though we'll never know -- and will move on to the CFP semifinals.

If not, we'll all just have to endure more gloating from Paul Finebaum and the rest of the snooty SEC shills. And if that's not motivation enough for the Hoosiers to bring their "A" game, I don't know what is.

And so as odd as it feels to take a rooting interest after all my years as a professional sports scribbler, I say this: Go, Indiana. Please.