This was supposed to be the year when IU ended its five-year stretch without a bowl berth.
The players expected to reach the six-win mark in 2013 after IU finished with a 4-8 record last season with four losses by a combined 10 points.
"It would just be a great way to end my senior year and it would let me know that my last four years here haven't been a waste," senior wide receiver Kofi Hughes said at the Big Ten Media Days in Chicago, Ill. in July, referring to the Hoosiers making a bowl game.
Redshirt senior kicker Mitch Ewald, who also represented IU at the media days, said the team's goal is to one of the top three teams in the Big Ten every year rather being a bowl team.
"I think if we were saying that was our goal, that would be an extremely huge understatement," he said. "There's no number of games that we want to win, we want to go out there and play really hard and try and win every single game."
Flash forward four months and IU is officially eliminated from bowl contention after its 42-14 loss to No. 3 Ohio State on Saturday.
In the post-game press conference, IU Coach Kevin Wilson said he never talked to the team about making a bowl game.
"We talk about constant improvement, getting better every day," he said. "We're making some strides. It ain't where you need to be."
The loss weighed heavily on the shoulders of the IU players. Several Hoosiers were teary-eyed and choked up when talking to the media in the post-game press conferences.
Did the players think IU was going to make a bowl game?
"Absolutely," junior running back D'Angelo Roberts said. "Nobody says to themselves that we're not going to be bowl team so we come in with the mindset to be a bowl team and unfortunately that's out of the picture for this year."
Most of the IU players have at least one more year of eligibility--76 of the 105 players invited to fall camp are underclassmen--to work to attain an elusive bowl berth but for many of the team's leaders, this is their last go round.
"I've got some guys that I've got a lot of respect for that have hung through some thick and thin with us," Wilson said. "The guys that are on the end of their eligibility--Bolser, DuWyce Wilson, Kofi Hughes, Stephen Houston, Greg Heban, Mitch Ewald, I got a lot of respect (for them)."
While the Ohio State loss certainly stings, the Hoosiers don't have time to dwell on the past. They host in-state rival Purdue (1-10, 0-7) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in a battle for the Old Oaken Bucket.
"I think we're just going to take it one day at a time, continue to work and try to win this game for every senior we have and everybody who cares about the Hoosiers," Roberts said. "Last game of the season, last game for some people forever. I think we want to take those players out because we were the start of Coach Wilson and he's taken care of us and we belong and grow and adapt as a team."
"This is going to be a rough week as far as emotionally but physically we need to come out and take care of business and prepare for the team we got in front of us."
Wilson said IU has a great opportunity on Saturday because unlike many college football programs, the Hoosiers have a strong rivalry.
"It's a trophy game, it is the last game of the year," he said. "I want to have my best week as a coach and put our kids in position to have the best week they can and see if we can get the five (wins), see if we can get three conference wins...and play as well as we can and see if they can be good enough to get us a victory for these guys in their last go"
