Feel-Good Story

While the Irish have been setting all of the wrong records this year (which, honestly, has really freed up my Saturday afternoons), my alma mater, Indiana, has had one of its best seasons since the early nineties.

After the tragic death of head coach Terry Hoeppner just before the season began, it looked like it would be another rough year for IU football fans. But the team came together and managed to pull off a 7-5 season, possibly getting the chance to "play 13," which was their former coach's mantra.

Even better was how they came to their seventh win. After fumbling on a possible game-winning drive against Penn State and then giving up a last-second touchdown to lose the game to Northwestern, the Hoosiers were stuck at 6-5. A loss in their final regular season game against rival Purdue would leave them at 6-6 with only a 2-6 record in the Big Ten, making a bowl game (and a winning season) an impossibility, and IU had only beaten Purdue once in the last ten years.

The game was a roller coaster ride. IU built up a twenty-one point lead, only to see it disappear as Purdue took over in the second half. And when Purdue tied the game, it seemed like all the wind had gone out of the Hoosiers' sails. But talented (and turnover-prone) QB Kellen Lewis got the Hoosiers just close enough, and kicker Austin Starr did the rest.

The blonde woman handing out the free hugs is Coach Hep's widow, who may have been the happiest person on the field that day, and that's saying a lot.

Of course, IU has to win their bowl game to make this a truly happy ending. But it's still one of the better stories of the season. It's too bad the game wasn't shown nationally. I had to follow it online down here in ATL, and then get live play-by-play of the game-winning kick over the phone from my sister. It was still exciting, but it would've been better to actually see it happen...