Indiana football fans would like nothing more than to erase the memory of one of the more heartbreaking losses in program history.
Tennessee can no longer claim it won the Gator Bowl over IU following the 2019 season, but nothing really changes in the Indiana record book.
And certainly the pain remains.
On Jan. 2, 2020 in Jacksonville, the Hoosiers appeared on track to win their first bowl game since 1991.
With 8:50 remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter, Indiana had a 22-9 lead and was in possession of the football. One more long drive by IU was all that was seemingly needed to put Tennessee away and give the Hoosiers their third nine win season in program history.
And then the wheels came off. Indiana went three and out, and a floundering Volunteer offense suddenly found itself.
Tennessee went 10 plays and 82 yards as they found the end zone for the first time in the game and cut Indiana’s lead to 22-16 with 4:21 remaining.
The Hoosiers were still in a position to run down the clock on their next possession — but they didn’t get the ball back. Instead, the Volunteers successfully converted an onside kick that has a special place in IU football infamy, and they scored another touchdown just :28 seconds later.
On Saturday we learned that none of that ever really happened. Kind of. Sorta. From the Tennessee perspective anyway.
Tennessee’s football program must vacate all of their 11 wins from the 2019 and 2020 seasons under former coach Jeremy Pruitt as part of penalties handed down by the NCAA stemming from recruiting violations, school officials told ESPN on Saturday.
But the NCAA does not retroactively award vacated wins to the teams that lost. In fact nothing is likely to change in the IU record book. It’s still going to be counted as a loss. A quick review of the record books of teams who have lost bowl games in the past, only to see the other side subsequently vacate their win, shows the game still reported as a loss.
So from now on that Gator Bowl will be known as the game nobody won, and Indiana lost. And somehow that sounds about right.
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