‘You remember the intensity of the game’: Old Oaken Bucket provides one last test and motivator in a year of struggle for Indiana football

Saturday afternoon marks the second-straight rivalry and trophy game to close out the season for the Indiana football program. While head coach Tom Allen did not make the schedule, he’s excited how it unfolded, especially with some of the disappointment this year.

Indiana (3-8; 1-7) was eliminated from bowl contention two weeks ago — but the motivation and attention to detail is easier for Allen when it came to the last two weeks.

“Yeah, there’s no question (it’s motivating), and I don’t set the schedule,” Allen said last week about two trophy games to end the year. ” … Obviously even this past season, you saw the response a year ago, and it’s no different this year. We definitely have a lot to play for, and we understand that it’s a testament to your character as a person, as a team, and as a program when you don’t allow the circumstances on the outside to dictate your focus, your effort, how you do things on a daily basis and eventually how you perform on game day.”

Despite a close loss to Michigan State a week ago, there’s more to play for in the season-finale; The Old Oaken Bucket. It’s a rivalry between Indiana football and Purdue that dates back to 1925. While it is a rivalry, there needs to be more teaching this year for Indiana than in years past.

With so many newcomers and transfers to this roster, with a majority out of the state of Indiana, it’s as much teaching about the rivalry as it is prepping for Purdue.

“Every single day this week we are going to have an alumni video speaker that is going to challenge our guys about the bucket and then with a video, as well,” Allen said. “So just constant every single day just to continue to educate our guys and make them understand how big this game is.”

While this is still a trophy game and for bragging rights, this will have a different level of excitement than years past. In the last six matchups, at least one of the teams had a chance at a bowl game or a bowl game appearance already confirmed. In two of the seasons, one of the programs had to win this game to reach bowl eligibility.

This year won’t be the case for either. As Indiana enters 3-8 overall, Purdue mirrors that record. Indiana is the only one-win Big Ten team in league play.

“Yeah, I mean, to me you have — continue to have some tough, close losses like we’ve had these last couple weeks and some tough — last couple seasons have not been what anybody wants here. So yeah, you just keep building. The very things you build this upon, you lean on that and the foundation of who you are and what you do, and you choose to find ways to keep making adjustments and finding a way to stay the course and continue to move forward and build,” Allen said. “That’s where it’s been frustrating, because we haven’t seen the growth and the fruit of some of those things. But there’s also a principle that you don’t grow weary doing things the right way. And if you just stay the course, you’ll reap the harvest if you don’t give up.

“I said this before, I’ll keep saying it, I’m not positive because life is easy and everything works out for you. I remain positive because life is hard, and sometimes life is not fair, and we experienced that on Saturday. You’ve got to find a way to just stay the course. You have a great foundation that you believe in, you build off of, and you don’t waver from that. But you just battle and you fight and you just claw and fight and scratch to continue to build what you want to build.

“We’ve got to keep getting better, and we’ve got a great opportunity this week to be able to get some momentum for the off-season.”

Indiana has not only struggled over the last three years — just a 3-23 record in Big Ten play — it has also lost four of the last five Old Oaken Bucket games.

Despite any struggles, winning on Saturday can be a memory every player takes with them forever. It could also be the first win — and only win for some — they get in the rivalry.

Take it from Indiana football offensive coordinator Rod Carey — you remember these games.

“You remember all of the emotions … There are a lot of things you can’t remember as far as specifics, but you remember the intensity of the game,” Said Carey, who from 1990-93 won three Bucket games at IU. “That has stayed with me my entire life … it’s a special game, it certainly is.”

So, it’s about maintaining the same level of focus and motivation that Indiana had in game one — all the way in week 13; the final time this group will run out on the field together.

“Yeah, you know, that’s the challenge. That’s what’s really, really hard about this. What I did this week was talk a little bit about the game and some things that we feel like we needed to do better to give ourselves a chance to win, and then moved right on to Purdue and the bucket,” Allen said. ” … Something really, really tough (things) happens, maybe something that you caused, sometimes things that you don’t cause, sometimes unfair things happen. Well, the response to that is really the key. We’re just training them for that and talking them through the mindset that it takes to do that and how you approach that, how do you go about that.

“It can be harder as every more difficult thing you experience keeps coming your way to stay true to what you believe in, but at the same time even though it gets tested and gets tried, we call this the fires and the trials of life, sometimes those have a way of strengthening us if you respond the correct way. They build a resiliency and a toughness and a grit and a fight that only difficulties can build.

“We just never stop talking about that. But it is about what’s next and focus on what’s in front of us and not what’s behind us and not dwelling on the past, learning from it and pressing on. To me that’s the approach and that’s what we’re going to do again this week.”

Indiana football looks to flip the recent script of the rivalry this weekend and put somewhat of an exclamation point on an otherwise ‘frustrating’ and disappointing season.

SEE ALSO: Indiana Football vs Purdue: Key players, notes and opening spread

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