Bill Moor Celebrates a Hoosier Championship

One Hoosier fan's journey from the 1968 Rose Bowl to witnessing the most improbable championship in college football history

BY BILL MOOR // POSTED JANUARY 25, 2026

Like most I.U. alums, it is still hard for me to fathom that our undefeated and unrelenting Hoosiers are No. 1 in the land.

Come on, let's all join in: Hoo-Hoo-Hoosiers!

Or maybe that should be Who-Who-Whoosiers. As in who are these guys ... who wrote this fairytale script ... and who would have ever guessed just a few years ago that this could happen?

And I thought that nothing could come close to comparing to the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series in the fall of 2016. But that's another story.

Even though I am a 1971 graduate, I have to admit that I hadn't followed the (mis)fortunes of my alma mater's football program that closely — especially when I got out of sports writing in 1997. And we do live In Notre Dame country.

But Coach Curt Cignetti has me back in Cream and Crimson — better known as red and white.

How could I not resurface as a fan after Indiana won the Big Ten championship by beating defending national champion Ohio State and then steam rolling Alabama and Oregon in the college football playoffs before out-lasting Miami in the national championship game?

It has to be the best “rags to riches” story in college football history. Until this season, the Hoosiers had the most defeats in Division I football — 715 to be exact. Northwestern scooted around them in November with 717 losses. Rutgers is the next target with 708.

Hoosier fans have had to settle for their school's basketball program for bragging rights. Until last year's 11-2 record under Cignetti, the footballers only had 18 winning seasons in the previous 80 years. Bloomington, you might say, was where the careers of three-star recruits went off to die.

I was lucky, though.

During my freshman year, I watched I.U. win a Big Ten co-championship and go on to the 1968 Rose Bowl with a 9-1 record. Unfortunately, the Hoosiers fell to top-ranked USC and their star tailback, a guy named O.J. Simpson.

Unlike this season's often dominating team, those Hoosiers eked out many of their victories in the final minutes. Thus, they were labeled the Cardiac Kids.

Although quarterback Harry Gonso, running back John Isenbarger and receiver Jade Butcher got the headlines, the defense was outstanding. Two of the starting linebackers, Ken Kaczmarek and Jim Sniadecki, were proud products of South Bend St. Joe.

It was Kaczmarek who forced Purdue All-American fullback Perry Williams to fumble just before the goal line as time ran out in the 19-14 Indiana victory. That sent them to their improbable journey to the Rose Bowl — I.U.'s first ever bowl.

I was a pledge in a frat that boasted more than a dozen football players — four of them starters — on that team. One of them, center Steve Applegate, had relatives in my hometown of Kokomo and he and his family were going to visit them after that victory over Purdue. So I had to high-tail it back home to arrange a date for him that evening. I was definitely more nervous about that than the game.

He later said he got a great shoulder massage. I didn't ask any more.

I was afraid that my dad, a Purdue grad, might show some sour grapes when Steve came to our house before the date that my sister helped me arrange. He acted admirably, much to my relief, but did congratulate Steve on the “big upset.”

Later, my dad was gracious enough to offer to pay my way to the Rose Bowl since I had worked through high school in the family restaurant.

And here's how I responded: “Geez, Dad, I have finals coming up in a couple of weeks (the fall semester started later back then) and I really need to hit the books hard over Christmas break. How about you pay my way the next time they go?”

Ha, ha. The joke was on me.

Indiana's victory over Alabama in the playoffs this season was the first time since my freshman year that the Hoosiers had returned to the Rose Bowl — 58 years later. I wish my dad was still around to make good on his offer.

Silly me. I really thought the Hoosiers were going to continue to have magical seasons like the one in 1967. I should have remembered that they had been 1-8-1 the previous season. And by the time I was a senior, they were back to 1-9.

They had a few — very few — highlights during the following years. Lee Corso's 1979 team beat a highly-touted BYU squad in the Holiday Bowl for I.U.'s first ever bowl victory. Mishawaka High grads Chuck Alexander and John Roggeman were key players on that team.

As a late-leaving sports writer from the winning locker room, I heard someone singing the I.U. fight song. Curious, I peeked around a corner and saw Corso himself under the shower and belting out the tune for his own entertainment.

Under Bill Mallory in 1987, the Hoosiers beat both Ohio State and Michigan, but couldn't handle Iowa or Michigan State. They were 6-1 in the Covid year of 2020 before losing to Ole Miss in the Outback Bowl. They had a Heisman Trophy runner-up in Anthony Thompson in 1989 and later on, Antwann Randle El was the first college player to throw 40 touchdown passes and run for another 40 in a career.

I actually thought that the player with the potential to be the best Hoosier ever was Quinn Buckner, who played two seasons as a defensive back and kick returner. But Buckner apparently thought that Corso was more a comedian than a coach and Bobby Knight was ready for his floor leader to concentrate only on basketball. Probably a good idea since the Hoosiers went 63-1 over the next two seasons.

Ironically, Buckner's father had been a fullback on Indiana's only other Big Ten football championship team in 1945. But like I said earlier, the Hoosiers only have had 18 winning seasons since then (including the last two under coach Cignetti).

And now — deep breath — we Hoosier fans find ourselves with a national championship, a coach of the year, a Heisman Trophy winner in Fernando Mendoza, and a state-of-the-art revamp of the football stadium planned.

I could break out into the lyrics of “Hail to Old I.U.” but I don't know the words except for Gloriana and Frangipana.

And to be honest, I'm still pretty speechless anyway.