The season that was, game 7: Indiana 31, Iowa 28

Date: 10/14/06
Location: Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, Ind.
Box score/stats
Attendance: 31,392

From the time that Ball State pulled ahead of the Hoosiers early in the second game, the 2006 season always seemed just about ready to spiral out of control. After IU righted the ship against Ball State, setbacks continued: Hep's absence, the tough home losses to SIU and Connecticut, the Wisconsin blowout, the early deficit against Illinois. Yet, after IU beat Iowa, the Hoosiers were somehow 4-3 overall, 2-1 in the Big Ten, and seemingly in bowl contention. As in the Hoosiers' two previous wins, IU spotted the opponent an early lead (21-7 for Iowa). Iowa outgained the Hoosiers by about 50 yards and the turnover battle was even (two per team). The stories for the Hoosiers were the proficiency of the running game (13-84 for Demetrius McCray, 5-26 for Josiah Sears); and Kellen Lewis's finest game (19-25, 255 yards, 3TD, 0 INT); certainly, the IU defense played well enough to win. Two of the Hawkeyes' four second half possessions ended in turnovers, including Will Meyers's memorable interception of Drew Tate in the waning minutes, when the Hawkeyes were in field goal range. Also, this game marked the beginning of what we can hope is a long history of quality play by Lewis and James Hardy against quality opponents: Hardy caught 8 passes for 104 yards and all three of Lewis's TDs.

Let's hope we see lots of this: