The Alabama Crimson Tide is headed to the Rose Bowl for the ninth time in the history of the program after an epic comeback victory on the road against the Oklahoma Sooners in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

Surviving in Norman gives Alabama the right to face off against the undefeated and top-ranked Indiana Hoosiers for the right to advance to the Peach Bowl which would be the CFP semifinals.

As for the showdown in Pasadena, it’s a game for the Crimson Tide 100 years in the making.

When Alabama takes the field on January 1, 2026 in Pasadena, it will mark exactly 100 years since the first time the program played in the Rose Bowl in 1926, a day which would go down in college football history.

On that fateful day in 1926, a nationally-unknown Crimson Tide program played in their first ever bowl game.

Facing off against a powerhouse Washington Huskies program which they were heavy underdogs against, Alabama — led by star halfback Johnny Mack Brown — became the first southern team to win the Rose Bowl in a triumph that came to be known as “The Game That Changed the South.”

A century of college football history later, the Tide went on to play in the game seven more times, most recently in a 2024 heartbreaking overtime defeat to eventual national champion Michigan, in what would be the final game Nick Saban ever coached.

Now, his successor Kalen DeBoer, has a chance not only to avenge that loss two years later — but start to establish his own legacy as a potential future Tuscaloosa legend himself.

And once again, Alabama finds itself as the underdog in Pasadena, and still finds itself doubted.

Perhaps it’s not about kicking off a century of southern domination in the sport of college football this time around, but it might just be about re-establishing it during what has been a golden era for the Big 10 Conference.

When the two teams take the field, they will be celebrating a tradition as old as the sport itself. And perhaps Alabama can take another step towards reminding the rest of the country that in order to get to the finish line and promised land, you still have to go through the mighty Crimson Tide.