To say that there haven't been a lot of great moments in the history of Indiana University football is more than an understatement. In 108 seasons of football the Hoosiers have won exactly two conference titles. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the University of Chicago has seven Big Ten football titles, and they quit playing big-time football in 1939.
Terry Hoeppner looked to be the one who could turn it around. He was that rarest of breeds, a proven college coach who didn't consider a stint in Bloomington to be an act of violence against his professional reputation. Hoeppner arrived from Miami University in 2005 and quickly installed self-confidence in his Hoosiers. He wasn't able to get them to a bowl game in his first two seasons, but anybody who followed the Big Ten had to figure it was just a matter of time.
Time, unfortunately, was running out. Hoeppner had a brain tumor and, following a rigorous course of treatment, the university announced that he would not coach in 2007. A few days after IU's announcement, Hoeppner died.
There are times you just wish the clock could stand still for a few days or weeks. But it doesn't, ever. The Hoosiers had only a little time to grieve for their coach. Most of us quietly wrote off Indiana's upcoming season, figuring the Hoosiers couldn't recover from the tragedy. We were wrong, of course.
Hoeppner's right-hand man was Bill Lynch, a very well-regarded offensive coordinator, but a coach whose previous stint as head coach at Ball State (1995-2002) had rather mixed results. He did lead the Cardinals to a bowl game in 1996 but never had a winning season after that, even enduring back to back 1-10 and 0-11 seasons. So there was yet one more reason to lower one's expectations.
Suddenly it was the first Sunday in October and IU was 5-1. Two more victories would cinch the Hoosiers their first bowl bid since 1993. The stretch run proved difficult, however. IU lost at Michigan State, at home to Penn State, and then again at Wisconsin. A home game with Ball State provided win #6, good enough for theoretical bowl eligibility, but not good enough to guarantee a postseason appearance.
The Hoosiers just fell short against Northwestern, 31-28, making the season closer against Purdue an even more meaningful game than usual. Not long after halftime IU was up 24-3, but Purdue tied the game with 3:39 to go. Indiana drove as far as they could, then, with 30 seconds to play, Austin Starr hit a 49-yard field goal to guarantee Coach Hoeppner's dream of "playing 13" would finally come true.
The Hoosiers went to the Insight Bowl to face Oklahoma State, a team apparently coached by a 40-year-old man. IU lost, 49-33, and it wasn't as close as the score might indicate. All's well that ends well, but even without a Hollywood ending, the 2007 season proved Hoosiers can play sports other than basketball, too.
