What became an identifiable
"IU look" was shown in 1967, a return to a red shell with two one-inch white
stripes flanking the red center ridge, and a white block I on each side. A
very good frosh squad that had defeated the Ohio State freshmen 13-9 under
Findlay, Ohio's Harry Gonso took over the team. The other QB from that team,
John Isenbarger, was moved to HB and "Psychedelic" Jade Butcher took up a
permanent post at wide receiver over a number of upperclassmen. During the
off-season, Pont had forty-eight members of the team lose weight to enhance
their speed and movement and then shuffled his personnel. Two key moves
involved halfback Terry Cole (later with Colts, Steelers, and Dolphins)
moving to fullback and Doug Crusan went from offensive guard to defensive
tackle, and it all came together as if the coach had somehow planned the
miracle. Crusan led a revived defense, although he would be the Dolphins 1968
first round choice and a mainstay as an offensive tackle on their Super Bowl
teams and the super-sophs became known as the "Cardiac Kids" for their last
minute and sometimes last second finishes. The heart-stopping play that the
team became known for was complete with the non-orchestrated fourth down
dashes from punt formation that seemed to satisfy Isenbarger but flustered
even his own teammates and coaches. "Punt John Punt", quoting a telegram sent
to him by his mother, became a popular area bumper sticker as the Hoosiers won
their first eight games before stumbling against Minnesota 33-7. The comeback
19-14 squeaker over Purdue earned them the Rose Bowl berth where they lost to
USC 14-3 but the 9-2 finish and number six national ranking remains the high
point in IU football annals.
1968 was, by IU standards,
a fine year at 6-4 with much of the same cast returning from the Rose Bowl
team but the defense was suspect all season. Isenbarger and Gonso both lost
time to injury which dampened the offense although the offense by any
standards, was very effective. The team put up 2370 rushing yards and 1480
through the air and broke eight school offensive records. QB Gonso passed more
frequently than in '67 and set the IU TD career passing record at twenty-one.
Despite his knee injury Isenbarger rushed for 669 yards and set a new school
punting average. Butcher's forty-four receptions also set a school record and
he repeated his 1967 feat of catching ten TD passes.
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