Like many/most reading this, I've been to many Bucket games. The most memorable for me is the 2007 Bucket game in Bloomington. That was our "Play 13" season following Coach Hep's death. Austin Starr secured the W with a 49-yard FG with under a minute left, and the crowd at Memorial Stadium went wild.
A month later we got trounced by Mike (I'm a Man) Gundy and his Oklahoma State team in Tempe, but the goal of making it to a bowl game had been achieved.
Many times over the years, though, the Bucket game was a meeting of two bad football teams, with little more than bragging rights at stake. A win provided some solace over the long winter that followed and a glimmer of hope for next season.
Fast forward to this year, the first 11-0 start in IU football history, a #2 national ranking and a legitimate shot at a national title. The Bucket game, thankfully, is not the climax of the season for IU this year. That said, we need to crush that god-awful football team in West Lafayette, finish the regular season undefeated (for the first time since Bo McMillin's 9-0-1 Hoosier team in 1945), and set our sights on Ohio State or whoever ends up being our opponent in Indy on December 6.
I know there's an outside chance we could make the B1G championship if we lose to Purdue, but that's not something I want to contemplate. IU controls its own destiny. Beat PU and we're guaranteed at least two post-season games. Go IU!
@big-ryan I was at the 2007 game also. As soon as the field goal was made I turned to the guy next to me and said, "It's great to win this and so make a bowl game but it also means we keep our coach for next year. We all know how that turned out.
@lbw You're right about that! Things went downhill pretty quickly.
Even though he had passed away, the 2007 Hoosiers was Coach Hep's team. Emotion helped carry us at the end, but that team had some serious talent including a few guys who became Sunday players. Greg Middleton led the country in sacks. Jammie Kirlew was also excellent on the DL. Matt Mayberry at linebacker was impactful. Tracy Porter and Leslie Majors were outstanding in the secondary. On offense, we had Rodger Saffold on the OL and playmakers in Marcus Thigpen, the late James Hardy, and QB Kellen Lewis. And, of course, on special teams we had Austin Starr (great name!). Fun team to watch.