The late Indiana football coach Terry Hoeppner knew he had to change the mentality of the entire program before he could make the Hoosiers competitive in the Big Ten.

So to give his players something to strive for, Hoeppner came up with a slogan that became the rally cry for the entire program, "play 13."

The concept was simple. If the Hoosiers finished with at least six wins during their 12-game regular season, they would qualify for a bowl and play their 13th game of the season.

Hoeppner passed away before the start of the 2007 season, but his players rallied for him and interim head coach Bill Lynch. The Hoosiers wore shirts emblazoned with his slogan and broke huddles saying, "play 13."

When they finally got a chance to take the field after Hoeppner's death, the Hoosiers finished the season 7-5, their most wins since 1993.

The seven wins earned the Hoosiers their coveted 13th game, and while they lost to Oklahoma State in the Insight.com Bowl, they had reached their goal.

With season-ticket sales at an all-time high, many around the program were filled with optimism that the Hoosiers were finally a Big Ten contender.

But two offseason events hampered the Hoosiers before summer workouts even began put Indiana back on its normal track to the bottom half of the Big Ten -- the Hoosiers are 3-7 overall and 1-5 in conference.

First, all-Big Ten wide receiver James Hardy, the school's all-time leader in touchdowns, catches and receiving yards left early for the NFL.

Then, starting quarterback Kellen Lewis was suspended for spring practice.

With Lewis back in the lineup during the summer, Lynch said he was still optimistic, especially with a favorable schedule that featured eight home games, the most in school history.

"The chemistry of a team and the make up, who you play, when you play them, all those kind of things factor into it," Lynch said. "I really thought we had a great preseason camp and a really solid first two weeks."

Then the Hoosiers entered their bye week, and, as Lynch put it, "crazy things" happened.

First, the Hoosiers lost three starters to injuries in two weeks.

Then, with the Hoosiers trailing against Michigan State in the third quarter, quarterback Ben Chappell hit wide receiver Terrance Turner for an apparent 97-yard touchdown pass, which would have put Indiana ahead. But a holding call in the end zone not only negated the touchdown, it gave the Spartans a safety and the ball.

Indiana never recovered.

"I've been in football a long time and never seen one of these years," Lynch said. "That's a crazy play, where we take the lead, then lose it."

While going through his team's season to this point, Lynch routinely utters the words, "played a good half of football."

Penn State coach Joe Paterno agreed with Lynch's assessment. He said Indiana's film shows a team that has talent but lacks the discipline that comes with experience -- evidenced by Indiana's 17 turnovers this season, the Hoosiers committed 11 during the entire 2007 season.

"Indiana looks like a very good at times. Other times they've killed themselves," Paterno said. "They're in the process of getting better, as a lot of good young teams are. One week they play very, very well, and the next week they play very well in parts of the game."

Because of the early season injuries, Indiana's starting lineups consist of three freshmen, seven sophomores, six juniors and six seniors.

But Lynch said he didn't want to make excuses, after all, he said, injuries and bad breaks happen to every team, but the good ones find ways to overcome them.

"You have a tough play in a game, you regroup. You have a guy go down and you regroup. And I think we've made a good effort to do it," Lynch said, "we just haven't done it well enough to win a football game."