Indiana Football to Honor 2007 Insight Bowl Team Saturday

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

The 2022 Indiana University football team is not going well by virtually any measure. Coming off of a bye week, the Hoosiers are hoping to change things around and the program will be honoring a team from the past that accomplished what this current iteration strives to get to: a bowl game. This Saturday, Indiana will honor the 2007 football team that reached the Insight Bowl under interim head coach Bill Lynch. Lynch moved from offensive coordinator to the head coach spot as Terry Hoeppner took a leave of absence to battle brain cancer. On June 19 of that year, Hoeppner passed away. The 2007 team rallied around each other and won 7 games, earning a trip to Tempe, Arizona, for the Insight Bowl to play Oklahoma State.

Bill Lynch will join Jane Hoeppner (wife of Terry) in Bloomington and Tom Allen commented on the upcoming event in his weekly media availability. “Really excited to have coach Lynch back, Jane Hoeppner as well,” Allen said. “And just all the Hoeppner family has meant to this program and coach Hoeppner and his tremendous legacy.”

The 2007 season began with some promise for Indiana as they beat Indiana State, Western Michigan and Akron before entering conference play. They lost 27-14 to Illinois but responded with a surprising 38-20 victory in Kinnick Stadium over Iowa and then a 40-20 win over Minnesota. IU stepped back out of the conference and beat Ball State on November and knocked off Purdue, 27-24 in an emotional Old Oaken Bucket Game. The Hoosiers lost to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in a high-scoring Insight Bowl game but the bowl berth was IU’s first since 1993 and Indiana winning games and playing hard in honor of its late head coach captured the country’s attention in a way IU football rarely had. The Hoosiers were led by Tracy Porter on defense and receivers James Hardy and Marcus Thigpen on offense and were only blown out in one game all season (at Wisconsin). This was a memorable season and fans can honor the memory of its achievement this Saturday when the Hoosiers take on Penn State at 3:30.