BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Kevin Wilson is entering his fifth year as Indiana's coach, and he has yet to take the Hoosiers to a bowl game.

You might think that would lend a pressing sense of urgency to this spring, because even though Wilson has so far had the full support of athletic director Fred Glass, few coaches can last a half-decade without a postseason berth. Yet Wilson wants to make sure his team is in no hurry right now.

"We've kind of been in slowdown mode," Wilson told ESPN.com on Tuesday. "We want to get this team to where it's tough, physical and playing hard and not get too hyper worrying about the end result. Because we're kind of close."

A healthy Nate Sudfeld would go a long way toward helping Indiana to a winning season. AP Photo/Matthew Putney

Close in this case includes a 5-7 record in 2013 and a 4-8 mark last year. Those are nothing remarkable, but for a program that has made just one bowl game since 1993, near misses take on added meaning.

Besides, the Hoosiers showed their potential last year by beating eventual SEC champions Missouri on the road in September. They also went toe-to-toe with national champion Ohio State in Columbus for three-and-a-half quarters on Nov. 22 before losing 42-27.

"We weren't lucky to beat Missouri, and we weren't lucky to be with Ohio State," quarterback Nate Sudfeld said. "When we're on, we can play with anybody. We're just inconsistent."

Never was that more apparent than during the three-game stretch that included the Missouri win last season. Indiana lost at Bowling Green the week before winning in Columbia, then followed up that potential momentum-changing victory by losing 37-15 to Maryland at home.

The Hoosiers then really went into a nosedive after Sudfeld and his backup, Chris Covington, were both injured at Iowa. But Wilson liked the way the team bounced back to play Ohio State tough and beat Purdue in the season finale to snap a six-game losing streak.

"That gives us confidence, I think, that we're trending better than our record and our numbers say," Wilson said. "We could have really gone south last year. But our Achilles' heel has been inconsistency."

Much of that inconsistency, Wilson says, stems from the team's youth. The talent level and size on the roster is noticeably higher than it was a few years ago, and he has never been afraid to play freshmen if they were the best players at their position. But the result of that has been a lack of veteran leadership.

Wilson hopes some changes to the offseason program helps fix that. The Hoosiers started practice a little later than normal, beginning on March 26, and did not build in a spring break. They will hold their spring game on April 18 and then have three more practices after that. Wilson wanted the players spending more time this winter lifting weights and working on skill development, especially in the back end of the defense and at wide receiver.

Practices thus far have been simplified but intense. Tuesday's workout included a period of the Oklahoma drill and plenty of hitting for the sixth installment of a spring. The offense has only run about five plays all spring but is repeating them over and over again.

"We're trying to build this team to be tough enough, mature enough, and have enough talent to consistently have a good effort, a good performance," Wilson said. "Because when we've been good, we've played with folks. We've shown that. And then we've shown we can easily fall off."

Instilling a physical mindset in the spring is key, Wilson said, to competing in the rugged Big Ten East Division. And the offense should get a major boost back to previous levels simply with the return of Sudfeld, a senior who has a chance to be one of the league's top quarterbacks if he can stay healthy all year. Again, though, consistency there is a key.

"We can show up one game and put up 50 points like it's nothing," Sudfeld said, "and the next game, we'll be out of sync."

Indiana will have a bit wider margin for error in its nonconference schedule this year, opening with Southern Illinois, FIU, Western Kentucky and at Wake Forest before jumping into league play. The Hoosiers probably will need to go at least 3-1 there to have a realistic shot at a bowl. If not, Wilson's job security will become a major issue.

Wilson said he doesn't feel pressure about his future as much as he desperately wants his players and the school that committed to him to experience more success. It all adds up to a possible crossroads season in 2015.

"To me, we've kind of been right there for two years," Wilson said. "We stubbed our toe and have fallen short, and you can list the reasons why.

"But we're kind of there again, and we're either going to choose to push though it and end up on the right side, or we're going to choose to keep coming up a little bit short."