BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Indiana has changed the preseason script.

The bowl drought has ended. The goals are higher. The flooded Memorial Stadium field has been repaired, and, for a little while, football may even take the glare off of the basketball program's NCAA infractions case.

Welcome to Bloomington, where players and coaches are not shy about raising the stakes for 2008.

"Playing 13 was the goal (last year), but now it's about winning a bowl game," running back Marcus Thigpen said. "We're trying to pick it up from where we started and complete the task. I think everybody was saying 'Play 13, not just win 13,' and I think we did set the bar too low."

If the Hoosiers learned anything in 2007, it was this: Never underestimate themselves.

A year ago, many wrote off Indiana's improbable dream of a bowl bid after coach Terry Hoeppner died from complications of a brain tumor in June. Instead, players turned the tragedy into a tribute.

For the first time since 1994, the Hoosiers produced a winning record and received a bowl invitation. They beat Purdue, winning the Old Oaken Bucket for just the second time since 1997, when Austin Starr hit a 49-yard field goal with 30 seconds left, and the team's inspired play finally started to generate the fan support Hoeppner had always envisioned.

The only real disappointment came in the final game, a 49-33 loss to Oklahoma State in the Insight Bowl. That set the Hoosiers on their new mission: Delivering the program's first bowl victory since 1991.

"We want to get there again and win this time," defensive end Jammie Kirlew said. "It would have been better if we had won, but you can see the progress and we're not ready to take steps any more. We're ready to take leaps, to get to the best possible bowl game we can — and win it."

Duplicating last season's success will be a challenge.

Indiana must replace its two biggest playmakers, receiver James Hardy and cornerback Tracy Porter, who have both moved on to the NFL.

The 6-foot-7 Hardy, Indiana's career leader in receptions, yards receiving and touchdown receptions, left school a year early and was drafted by Buffalo. Porter took his knack for creating turnovers to New Orleans.

Plus, the Hoosiers are in the midst of a quarterback competition.

Kellen Lewis threw for more than 3,000 yards and 28 touchdowns and rushed for 726 yards and nine TDs last season, but is trying to win back his starting job after a four-month suspension for violating team rules.

Coach Bill Lynch reinstated Lewis in July, but sophomore Ben Chappell, who threw only two passes last season, has been taking the snaps with the starters because he's more familiar with the terminology in Indiana's new no-huddle offense.

Lynch has not yet said who'll start for the season-opener Aug. 30 against Western Kentucky or whether he might consider using the quarterbacks in a rotation.

"We don't have to announce who it is," Lynch said. "We just have to have someone play quarterback."

Some of the pieces are in place.

Thigpen, who has been slowed by injuries playing at 182 pounds, has added 13 pounds in an effort to anchor the Hoosiers' backfield. Junior receiver Ray Fisher can't match Hardy's height, but now has a clear chance to live up to his high school nickname of "Big Play Ray."

And the seven linemen Hoeppner signed in his first recruiting class are expected to become the foundation of this new offense. The transition has come with its challenges.

"On the offensive line, it was very, very hard," tackle Rodger Saffold said. "You're used to a play, coming back to the huddle, going another play and coming back to the huddle. I think we've gotten to a point where we're not going to get tired any more and that will help us take our games higher."

Defensively, the Hoosiers have fewer holes.

Two years ago, Indiana finished last in the Big Ten in sacks. Last year, the Hoosiers finished tied for eighth in the nation with 42 sacks and have most of the front seven back including defensive end Greg Middleton, who led the nation with 16.

They also have eight of their top 11 tacklers back with a potentially strong secondary that includes Austin Thomas, Nick Polk and Chris Phillips.

The trickiest part will be improving a defense that got steamrolled by three teams last season and allowed nearly 160 yards rushing per game.

"We know what our weakness is and you've got to find your weakness and work on it," Kirlew said. "That's what we've been doing."

The Hoosiers' 7-6 record in 2007 got fans into a stadium that continues to undergo renovations. The next step, of course, is bringing home a bowl championship trophy.

"I think what the bowl experience taught us was, one, that we're good enough, and two, the game itself taught us we've got to get better," Lynch said. "The goal of the program is not to be a bowl team but to win bowl games and win a Big Ten championship."