Analysis: A fitting ending to the 2015 season

In many ways, the controversial missed field goal in overtime Saturday against Duke was a fitting way for the 2015 Indiana football season to come to an end.

It was a season of close calls, both in victory and defeat.

Let’s don’t forget that the season began with IU needing to make a defensive play on a two-point conversion attempt in the closing seconds to escape with a 48-47 victory over Southern Illinois.

Indiana had to hang on to beat an eventual bowl team in Western Kentucky, 38-35.

There was a close game with then No. 1 Ohio State, a gift wrapped 55-52 loss to Rutgers where the Hoosiers squandered a 19-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

There was the Michigan game where the Wolverines scored a touchdown on the final play of regulation to force overtime and then won in the extra session.

And then there was Duke Saturday in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium where Indiana led 41-34 late before the Blue Devils scored a touchdown in the final minute to force overtime.

But I will tell you this. As gut-wrenching of a defeat as Indiana suffered in its most recent postseason appearance may have been, IU football was still extremely entertaining in 2015.

And that’s a start. I don’t think Indiana football will ever be a powerhouse type of program that will mow through the Big Ten schedule and end up playing consistently in a New Year’s Eve bowl situation. That may happen once in a while but in a division that also includes Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State, I think that’s asking a lot.

So the reality is that Indiana is going to have a lot of 6-6 or 7-5 type of seasons and very likely be playing in lower level bowls.

I’m not saying that I speak for all Indiana fans but I think if the Hoosiers played an entertaining brand of football (sure, a little better on the defensive side would help) and made it to a bowl game every year that most IU fans would be happy with that outcome. Of course there will be some who continue with the line of thinking that there’s no reason Indiana shouldn’t be a football powerhouse. The whole ‘If Northwestern, Illinois and Purdue can do, then why can’t IU?’ way of thinking is still prevalent with some.

But one thing all three of those programs do not have in common right now with Indiana is that they are in the other division. And I think the East is just a tad bit tougher than the West. Sure you have Wisconsin and Iowa and usually Nebraska but overall I would trade divisions if I were IU in a heartbeat.

It still comes down to the fact that Indiana had a very entertaining 2015 season in which it scored the most points in school history for one season. In the last four games, Indiana scored 40 points or more in each game. IU boasted two 1,000-yard running backs for the first time in school history and its career record-holding quarterback and some sure-handed receivers, too.

The defense … well … it always come back to the defense. And the reality Saturday was that it was the defense combined with special teams that hurt the Hoosiers. That long kickoff return for a touchdown was a momentum squelcher. And the fumble by Mitchell Paige on the punt return hurt, too.

Still, for me the bottom line was that Indiana was fun to watch in 2015. I go back to my last bowl experience with Indiana in the Insight Bowl in the ‘Play 13’ season after Terry Hoeppner had died and I remember that game was not so much of a game. I think Austin Starr put IU up 3-0 and then it was 28-3 midway through the second quarter. Oklahoma State just ran all over Indiana that day.

What the 2015 season showed me about IU football was that the Hoosiers are closer. Next season IU will have eight home games to utilize in an attempt to make rare back-to-back bowl appearances. That hasn’t happened at IU in more than 25 years.

And that’s what we’ll all be keeping an eye on as the 2016 unfolds. Until then, IU fans can talk about what could have been and whether last-second field goals should always be reviewable or not.