By MICHAEL MAROT

The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS – Bill Lynch walked into his news conference for the second straight week and tried to deflect the talk about a bowl-clinching victory.

Sure the goal is front and center for those close to the program, but the first-year Indiana coach has other concerns.

For the third straight week, the Hoosiers face an opponent that has been effective running the ball and for the second straight week, his team faces one of the conference’s top teams, Wisconsin. Plus, the Hoosiers are playing in one of the Big Ten’s most difficult venues.

“Wisconsin is a lot like what we’ve seen the last two weeks,” Lynch said Tuesday during his weekly news conference. “They’re very physical, and I assume they’re going to try to run the ball on us.”

While Lynch is busy focusing on the game within the game, others are looking at the big picture and trying to figure out when Indiana (5-3, 2-3) may finally win No. 6 and clinch its first postseason trip since 1993.

It’s hard to blame them.

Indiana had three chances to reach a bowl game last season and lost all three. It has had two more opportunities the last two weeks but lost at Michigan State and at home to Penn State, making the Hoosiers 0-for-5 in bowl-eligible clinching games over the past two seasons.

While Lynch insists his team isn’t fretting, it’s becoming increasingly clear that some players want their quest over.

“It almost sounds like a curse,” quarterback Kellen Lewis said after Saturday’s 36-31 loss to the Nittany Lions. “I don’t feel like it’s making us any tighter or any worse. We’ve just got to cut down on the mistakes.”

Finding solutions, however, has proven elusive.

At Michigan State, the Spartans steamrolled Indiana’s defense for 368 yards rushing in a 52-27 rout.

Last week the defense, while not stifling, was more effective. Indiana turned the ball over deep in its own territory three times, and the Hoosiers limited Penn State to field goals on each of those possessions to give them hopes for a comeback.

Lynch calls that progress.

“We believe in what we do, we’ve just got to do it better,” he said. “We did better last week than we did against Michigan State. It’s reading your keys and finding the right fit, and we held them to field goals. On the other side of it, you want to score touchdowns instead of kicking field goals.”

Still, it was the Hoosiers’ self-inflicted miscues that cost them a chance at ending the talk Saturday.

Lewis, twice the Big Ten’s offensive co-player of the week this season, fumbled three times. One ended a promising Indiana drive that reached the Penn State 19 and had put it in position for a go-ahead touchdown.

Holding onto the ball has been Indiana’s biggest problem all season.

The Hoosiers have 25 fumbles this year, an average of more than 3 per game, and have lost 11. Penn State, with 12, is the only Big Ten school to lose more fumbles.

Receiver James Hardy, who broke the school’s career record for touchdown receptions with two TD catches against Penn State, believes the Hoosiers have gotten over the loss.

“Spirit-wise, I think everyone has the right mind frame on what we need to do to bounce back,” he said.

But are the Hoosiers feeling pressure?

Perhaps. Immediately after Saturday’s game, Hardy acknowledged that he and his teammates must figure out how to win No. 6.

On Tuesday, Hardy reiterated the point while also suggesting that the Hoosiers won’t be satisfied with only six victories.