Lee Corso back in Indiana with ESPN College GameDay, 1979 Holiday Bowl

BLOOMINGTON – This weekend's visit to ESPN College GameDay had special meaning for everyone involved Saturday – it meant IU's 1979 Holiday Bowl team could celebrate with its beloved coach.

Lee Corso led the Hoosiers to the program's first bowl victory 45 years ago, a dramatic victory over previously undefeated BYU in the Holiday Bowl. This team had planned their reunion for this weekend months in advance. When GameDay, where Corso has been a fixture since its inception, announced last week that it would be planning a Saturday stop in Bloomington for the first time, the date was a happy coincidence.

“The Holiday Bowl team was very tight-knit. We were a family in every sense of the word,” said Terry Tallen, one of that team’s captains. “(Corso’s participation in the reunification) means the world to us.”

ESPN College GameDay in Indiana: Live updates from the wild Bloomington scene

That team honored its coach and his anniversary with several events this weekend, including a dinner Friday where Corso worked in a room full of about 75 former players, assistants, coaches, support staff and more.

And perhaps the most memorable moment of the weekend came in the lead-up to College GameDay, when Corso and his team rode a double-decker bus to the set set up on the south lawn of Memorial Stadium.

The moment was a nod to Corso's first game as Indiana's head coach, when he promised fans a special warmup and then had his team stretch and prepare on the practice field before taking a double-decker bus from there to Memorial Stadium. Corso even wore the iconic red sweater that he often wore on the IU sidelines during his 10-year tenure.

“To be completely honest, for me, the most important thing that means the most to me is the fact that we get to see him in person,” said Mark Deal, who served as a graduate assistant at Corso and is now an associate athletic director at IU . “I’m thrilled that GameDay is here. I'm thrilled we're 7-0. But the chance to be with the coach again? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

This year's reunion, the first official meeting since the team's 40th birthday^Th in 2019, was saddened to hear the news of Tim Clifford's death last week. Clifford was quarterback of that team and won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as Big Ten MVP before eventually being drafted into the NFL by the Bears.

Teammates plan to bring Clifford's No. 14 jersey onto the field when they are honored between the first and second quarters of Saturday's game against Washington.

In the meantime, they cheer on an undefeated team in the national rankings that makes them proud with their achievements.

The 2019 reunion was followed by an eight-win season, and that season coincided with Curt Cignetti's undefeated start to life in Bloomington. Holiday Bowl team members joke that they should think about a similar gathering every year.

“As former players, we love what Curt Cignetti and his team are doing there,” Tallen said. “It’s obviously a joy to watch Curt’s team now. He is an excellent head coach. He's a real CEO guy. I would call it a precise, military operation, the way the team plays. You don't make mistakes. Nothing is loose there. It’s just precision.”

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