Indiana Finds Motivation To Keep Bowl Hopes Alive

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana has taken enough hits this season.

There was the call at Michigan that cost the Hoosiers a chance to rally. There was the annual blowout loss to Ohio State, and the inexplicably poor performance at Virginia. There was the flu outbreak that struck half of the defensive starters before the Virginia game, and the doubters who spent much of homecoming week contending nothing had changed in the football program.

On Saturday, the Hoosiers started delivering some hits of their own, starting with a season-salvaging 27-14 victory over Illinois.

"You've just got to keep playing the next play," receiver Tandon Doss said. "You know eventually it will come, but it's something we've got to get better at each and every week."

The victory ended Indiana's five-game losing streak in Big Ten play and gave the Hoosiers (4-3, 1-2) a reasonable shot at becoming bowl eligible for only the second time since 1994.

Yes, Illinois was reeling almost as much as the Hoosiers. The Fighting Illini (1-5, 0-4) have now lost four straight overall, five straight conference road games and will endure another week of a quarterback controversy that will heat up after Juice Williams lost two second-half fumbles, both of which led to Indiana touchdowns.

But this was exactly what Indiana needed - a victory that may have been won long before the Hoosiers stepped onto the field thanks to a change in the practice regiment.

"This week of practice was so different from the last two weeks," defensive end Jammie Kirlew said after Saturday's 27-14 victory over Illinois. "It kind of reminded us early in the season when we had that fire underneath us, we had that confidence, we knew what we could do, we kind of lost it the last two weeks."

What coach Bill Lynch did was bring back intensity.

He allowed more hitting, focused more on tackling fundamentals and the necessity of having a balanced offense.

The result: Indiana won the turnover battle 3-1 and their 149 yards rushing opened up the passing lanes for Ben Chappell, who took advantage of play-action fakes to repeatedly burn the Illini.

Chappell went 23 of 38 for 333 yards and three TDs. Doss caught seven passes for 130 yards and Mitchell Evans ran nine times for 84 yards.

And Chappell couldn't have picked a better night to post career bests in yards and TD passes.

"It will get his confidence back up, get him rolling," Doss said. "He's more confident now. He's talking to us in the huddle a lot more, he's seeing things, he's letting us know where to be and where he's going to throw the ball."

The Hoosiers need that kind of performance the rest of the way.

They visit Northwestern next week, then head to Iowa - the only Big Ten team that still has a perfect record. After that they host Wisconsin, head to Penn State and finish at home against instate rival Purdue.

Indiana needs two wins in that stretch to play in the postseason, and the players understand that means they cannot afford a slip up.

"I think coach Lynch did a great job getting that fire back under us and we definitely want to use this as momentum for the rest of the season," Kirlew said.

Saturday's victory certainly should help keep things in check.

Indiana took advantage of Illinois' miscues all night. Chappell produced two scores in the final minute of the first half, throwing a 29-yard TD pass to Damarlo Belcher and then leading the Hoosiers on a 38-yard drive to set up Nick Freeland's second field goal. That turned a 7-3 deficit into a 13-7 halftime lead.

And after Williams' two second-half fumbles, Chappell hooked up with Doss on a 44-yard TD pass and Troy Wagner on a 13-yard score to make it 27-7 with 10:48 left, sealing the outcome.

Will it be enough to keep the Hoosiers rolling?

"We had a couple of weeks where we didn't play to our ability, but we are back to being the football team we thought we were when we came home from Michigan," Lynch said. "I think there's a little confidence and a little enthusiasm back. That goes a long way, but it's a new challenge next week."