SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. ? Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy has a theory about bowls.

He’s noticed the team that wants to be there the most often wins the game.

“That’s always a question when you are playing a bowl game, who’s going to be the team that’s more excited to be here?” said Gundy, whose Cowboys will face Indiana in the Insight Bowl today in Tempe’s Sun Devil Stadium.

The Cowboys (6-6, 4-4 Big 12) are in a minor bowl for the fourth time in six years.

Indiana, by contrast, is making its first postseason appearance since 1993. The Hoosiers (7-5, 3-5) have been smiling since they beat archrival Purdue 27-24 on Nov. 17 to guarantee themselves a holiday trip.

“For a lot of us, it’s like being little kids again,” said fullback Josiah Sears, a captain.

Advantage, Hoosiers?

IU coach Bill Lynch doesn’t think the novelty of playing in a bowl game will help his team.

“Once it’s kickoff tomorrow night, I don’t think it’s a factor,” Lynch said.

But Indiana also is motivated by the memory of coach Terry Hoeppner, who died in June at 59 after an 18-month struggle with brain cancer. The Hoosiers have made Hoeppner’s “Play 13” slogan a reality.

In college football, 13 is a lucky number, because that’s how many games a bowl-eligible team can play.

Hoeppner had bowl dreams from the moment he took over the once-downtrodden program three years ago.

“When he first came, he was asked the question when the football banquet was,” said Lynch, who was promoted from offensive coordinator to replace Hoeppner. “At the time, Indiana hadn’t been to a bowl game in quite a while. He said the football banquet is in January, after the bowl game. Everybody kind of laughed at him.”

No one’s laughing now. On Sunday, Gundy said Indiana is a better team than the one Oklahoma State faced in the Independence Bowl last year – Alabama.