The streak will have to wait another season.
As junior quarterback Richard Lagow’s final heave fluttered out of hands, the hope that IU would notch its first bowl victory since 1991 was extinguished.
Another heartbreaking loss to a ranked opponent. Another fourth quarter lead in a bowl game lost.
As much as the loss felt eerily similar to the majority of the losses from this season, there was one major difference: Tom Allen was IU’s head coach.
His energy was infectious and his passion nearly unwavering. From the opening kickoff to the last Hail Mary pass, Allen had his players believing in him and fighting for each other.
“Just proud of our guys,” Allen said. “Obviously extremely disappointed. Tired of being close. I want to see us break through, but I can’t say enough about how hard our kids played, how hard they worked and how they’ve taken a tough situation and really came out against a really good football team and had our chances.”
Elevated to head coach, Allen’s job moved beyond just making sure the defense was winning games for the Hoosiers to having a role in all three units Wednesday.
The defense did what it had done all season long and kept the game close.
While the offense sputtered like it had for the majority of the season due to a slew of turnovers, the Hoosiers drove the ball right through the stout Utes’ defense in the fourth quarter to take the lead. There was no wavering from a unit that could have mailed it in after countless mistakes.
They bought into what Allen was preaching.
Allen was given an extremely difficult task this past month having to rally his team after the tumultuous resignation of Kevin Wilson. It would have been easy for IU to come out flat and uninspired given the circumstances, but that was never going to be the case under its fiery coach.
Belief is such a powerful thing and it was clear the IU players believed in Allen. He wasn’t able to secure the long awaited breakthrough moment for this program, but there was nothing he did Wednesday that suggested it wouldn’t come as soon as next season.
While it’s time to move beyond hope, you can now expect the moment will occur, given what Allen accomplished as IU’s defensive coordinator. IU's defensive transformation went better than anyone could have expected.
Give him time to fix what derailed the offense and the special teams this season and this program can become something special.
IU has a boatload of talent returning next year, even if a few players decide to leave early for the NFL.
“I’m excited for what we’re building here,” Allen said. “The future ahead of us is extremely bright. So it’s an awesome experience for me. My first college head-coaching job was in a bowl. That doesn’t happen very often.”
While it was another opportunity squandered for IU, Allen’s not going to waste many more of them. Without a doubt, this won’t be the last bowl Allen coaches in. Under him, IU is more than ready to develop into a great program.
And it all starts with belief.
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