The 2007 Indiana University Hoosiers, currently the last team to make an appearance in a bowl, pose for a team picture prior to the 2007 Insight Bowl.
In the final installment of a look back at the bowl history of the Indiana Hoosiers football squad, we review their last three appearances -- a 24-0 win over Baylor in the 1991 Copper Bowl, a 45-20 loss to Virginia Tech in the 1993 Independence Bowl and their latest appearance a 49-33 loss to Oklahoma State in the 2007 Insight Bowl.
The 1991 Indiana University Hoosiers are the last team to claim a victory in a postseason bowl. Their 24-0 win over Baylor on New Year's Eve 1991 in the Copper Bowl was the only shutout victory by the squad in the postseason. Above, the team poses for a preseason photo.(Photo courtesy IU Athletics)
The 1991 season was filled more twists and turns than one of the wooden rollercoasters at Holiday World.
For the Hoosiers it would end with the first shutout in Indiana's bowl history -- a 24-0 win over Baylor in the Arizona desert.
"Baylor was a very good football team," IU head coach Bill Mallory told the Daily World. "Grant Taeff was their coach and they were ranked in the top 10 throughout the year.
"They were a very good team, very talented. Grant had some good teams along the way there and they were impressive. I noticed when they were out there warming up that they were some good looking players."
Not only did the Hoosiers recover from their disappointing loss the year before to Auburn in the Peach Bowl, but they claimed the Old Oaken Bucket (Purdue), Old Brass Spittoon (Michigan State) and the Bourbon Barrel (Kentucky) rivalries in one season for the first time.
They also had to play one game without their leader, head coach Bill Mallory, who had been suspended by the Big Ten for disparaging comments directed at game officials following a 24-16 loss at Michigan.
Mallory accepted the one-game hiatus in lieu of a $10, 000 fine by the conference.
After a 49-27 loss to the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in South Bend on the opening weekend, Indiana rattled off wins over Kentucky (13-10), Michigan State (31-0) and Northwestern (44-6) in their next four games.
The only stumbling block during that time came in the form of a 27-27 tie at Missouri.
Then came the loss to the Wolverines that led to Mallory's suspension.
What followed was a comeback win over Wisconsin in Madison.
Mallory, who accompanied the team, left two hours before the game and missed witnessing a 17-0 halftime deficit turn around to become a 28-20 victory.
The Hoosiers finished with a 2-2 mark stopping Minnesota (34-8) and Purdue 24-22 while dropping decisions at Iowa (38-21) and Ohio State 20-16) in between.
"We got on them and pretty well dominated the game," Mallory said. "They were the favorite but our kids could have cared less.
"There was no question our kids had lost a tough one the previous year (bowl game) and they remembered that."
The trip to Tucson became a showcase for the Hoosiers. Led by Offensive MVP Vaughn Dunbar and Defensive MVP Mark Hagen, the Cream and Crimson wasted little time getting started.
Quarterback Trent Green and Dunbar both set new school records in the New Year's Eve win.
Dunbar scored once and rushed for 106 yards on 28 carries for a season total of 1,8065 yards. It surpassed Heisman Trophy runner-up Anthony Thompson's record by a dozen yards in 1989.
For Green it was the culmination of a season that saw him break Steve Bradley's 1984 record of 2,544 passing yards.
Green threw for a total of 165 yards in the game which pushed his yearly total to 2,627.
The Hoosier signal-caller set the tone early when he put IU in front 7-0 in the first quarter with a 1 yard run.
Baylor's only answer of the frame came on the next series when a fourth down fake field goal attempt ended with an incomplete pass at the Indiana 10.
IU added 10 more markers to the scoreboard in the second quarter as Scott Bonnell drilled a 27-yard field goal then added the extra point after Dunbar's 5 yard jaunt into the end zone with 12 remaining until halftime.
Things got tighter in the second half, but thanks to a pair of brilliant defensive efforts the dice continued to roll in favor of the Hoosiers.
Indiana free safety Damon Watts and linebacker Joe Miller came up big at key times to thwart a pair of scoring drives by the veer offense of the Bears.
Watts' recovered Baylor quarterback J.J. Joe's fumble in the Indiana end zone with 51 seconds left in the third quarter to silence one threat.
The Bears shot themselves in the foot prior to Watts' heroics when they were unable to take advantage of a pair of penalties whistled against the Hoosiers.
A face mask penalty at midfield and a pass interference call in the end zone put the ball at the IU 3-yard line.
But Watts saved the day when Joe fumbled the ball attempting a handoff.
Miller's interception of a Joe pass ended the Bears' next possession and set up Green for the game's final tally.
The 12-play, 60 yard drive was consummated when Green went the final 4 yards, it pushed the gap to its final margin and the Bears never recovered.
Dunbar finished the contest rushing for 82 yards on 16 carries with one score while Green was 11 of 21.
Hagen's defensive honors came after a night that saw him collect 11 total tackles -- two for losses -- and one broken up pass.
The game was almost even everywhere but the scoreboard as the two teams posted similar numbers in almost every category.
Indiana's win in the Copper Bowl was followed up with a disappointing 5-6 mark the following season, but in the next year things got back on track for Mallory's Hoosiers as they mustered an 8-4 record and an invitation to the Independence Bowl where things got a little strange to say the least.
In a matter of seconds the Virginia Tech Hokies turned a 1-point nail-biter into a cruise to the final gun.
The 1991 season began with a flurry for the rebounding Hoosiers. They rattled off wins over Toledo (27-0), Northern Illinois (28-10) and Kentucky (24-8) before finally being derailed by Wisconsin (27-15) in their Big Ten opener.
But it would only be a temporary setback as Mallory's squad won their next four straight. Two on the road at Minnesota (23-19) and at Northwestern (24-0) were supported by Memorial Stadium wins over Iowa (16-10) and Michigan State (10-0).
Fortunes turned against the Hoosiers in their next two contests -- road losses at Penn State (38-31) and Ohio State (23-17) -- before a win for the Oaken Bucket over Purdue (24-17) at Bloomington.
In Frank Beamer's first bowl appearance, the 22nd ranked Hokies and the 20th ranked Hoosiers met in Shreveport, La. and for two quarters it appeared the game would be tight throughout.
But things would change quickly as the second quarter wound down.
The Hoosiers struck first thanks to the strong arm of quarterback John Paci. His 75-yard connection with flanker Thomas Lewis staked IU to a 7-0 lead.
But the Hokies found a way to answer when Dwayne Thomas hauled in a 13 yard scoring strike from Virginia Tech quarterback Maurice DeShazo to even things.
The game continued to be nearly even as the second quarter began to unfold. First the Hokies jumped in front thanks to a 6 yard run from Joe Swarm.
A pair of Indiana field goals and the Hoosiers were within striking distance at 14-13 with 35 seconds left before the intermission.
Here's where things went awry very quick for IU.
With the ball sitting at the Tech 49, Paci went back to pass but was hit by a pair of defenders.
The ball squirted loose and found its way into the hands of defensive end Lawrence Lewis who sprinted 20 yards for the score.
Next came an even stranger twist.
Indiana returned the ensuing kick off to the VT 42 where Paci threw for 9 yards.
The Hokies defense thought the clock expired and started to leave the field, but the officials ruled a timeout had been called by IU with one second left.
That gave the Hoosiers a chance to lineup for a 51 yard field goal attempt by Bill Manolopoulos.
The kick was tipped by VT's Jeff Holland and went airborne into the hands of defensive back Antonio Banks.
He waited for the blocking to develop and ran untouched 80 yards to paydirt and a 28-7 lead, one that was never seriously challenged by Indiana the rest of the night.
"We just dug too big of a hole," Mallory said. "And against a very good Viriginia Tech team you couldn't do that.
"You could tell they were going to be something special (in the future). Up to that point it was nip and tuck, a one-point difference, then we gave up those two touchdowns and it was never the same after that."
Neither team scored in the third quarter and Virginia Tech found paydirt three times in the fourth before Indiana's Lewis ended the scoring with a 42 yard scoring reception from Chris Dittoe who replaced Paci.
Lewis was the leading receiver for the game hauling six passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns.
It turned out to be a very long wait for the Hoosiers and their fans before another trip to a bowl game was in the cards.
Finally in 2007 the opportunity came in the wake of a team tragedy.
Prior to the start of the season head coach Terry Hoeppner had died from complications of a brain tumor leaving the team to assistant coach Bill Lynch.
The Hoosiers started the year with wins over Indiana State (55-7), Western Michigan (37-27) and Akron (41-24) before dropping their Big Ten opener to Illinois 27-14.
The first conference win of the year came at the expense of the Iowa Hawkeyes (38-20) and the momentum continued the following week with a 40-20 victory over Minnesota.
Three losses followed as Michigan State (52-27), Penn State (36-31) and Wisconsin (33-3) all throttled the Hoosiers.
The string of losses ended with a 38-20 win over visiting Ball State before Northwestern handed Indiana 31-28 setback.
IU salvaged their season with a 27-24 Oaken Bucket win over the Purdue Boilermakers.
That setup a showdown with the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Insight Bowl at Tempe, Az.
But the emotion of beating their in-state rivals along with the loss of their coach before the start of the year couldn't overcome five touchdowns on five straight possessions by the Cowboys.
Led by quarterback Zac Robinson's three scoring tosses and two runs, Oklahoma State dashed to a 49-33 victory.
After the first of two Austin Starr field goals, the Hoosiers briefly led 3-0 but OSU answered with four straight scores to jump ahead 28-3.
Marcus Thigpen's 4 yard reception from Kellen Lewis put the Hoosiers on the board for a second time late in the second quarter.
But Robinson's second score of the first half left little doubt about the final outcome and staked the Cowboys to a 35-10 halftime lead.
Indiana got four more scores as the second half unfolded but had little answer for an OSU offense that posted two more touchdowns.
Kellen Lewis ran the ball in from a yard out early in the third quarter while Josiah Sears, Austin Starr and James Bailey all found the end zone in the fourth quarter.
Oklahoma State answered with Dez Bryant's 11 yard catch from Robinson and 1 yard run from Jeff Crosslin in the fourth.
Lewis lead Indiana's muffled offensive attack with 93 yards on 10 carries while Thigpen carried 11 times for 63 yards.
Lewis threw for 204 yards on 22 of 43 passing with no interceptions and a pair of TD passes.
Indiana now awaits their next trip to the postseason, when and where it will be remains to be seen.
But if past history is any indication, they'll likely be a competitive team when they do get another chance.
"The thing about it is if you have an opportunity to go to a bowl it's really a good experience for the players and it's a positive," Mallory said reflecting on his own forrays. "Naturally you go to win, but again you have to take a look at your season and what got you there -- you have to look at the positives.
"All the bowls were good and they really treated us well."
Tucson, Az.
Shreveport, La.
IU -- Lewis, 75 pass from Paci (Manolopoulos kick)
VT -- Thomas, 13 pass from DeShazo (Williams kick)
VT -- Banks, 80 return blocked field goal (Williams kick)
VT -- Freeman, 42 pass from DeShazo (Williams kick)
IU -- Lewis, 42 pass from Dittoe (Manolopoulos kick)
Tempe, Az.
OSU -- Bryant, 24 pass from Robinson (Bailey kick)
OSU -- Bowman, 14 pass from Robinson (Bailey kick)
OSU -- Bryant, 11 pass from Robinson (Bailey kick)
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