BLOOMINGTON— Kurtis Rourke may be the quarterback of Indiana football dreams. At the least, he is quarterback of the moment.
Rourke, a 6-foot-5, 223-pound redshirt senior, who is from Canada, but spent his previous college days leading Ohio University, where he starred in the Mid-American Conference, made his Hoosier debut Saturday.
The 31-7 victory over Florida International kicked off the coaching regime of Curt Cignetti and provided first-impression comfort for IU fans on a mostly sunny day at Memorial Stadium.
Freedman
As someone who previously threw for 7,651 yards and rushed for 1,240 more while leading the Bobcats to two double-digit-victory seasons, Rourke seems to be a catch through the transfer portal as Indiana seeks to revamp and rebuild.
Rourke, who completed 15-of-24 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown, Saturday, was good when he needed to be against the Panthers and fundamentally sound the rest of the time as IU shot out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and led 21-7 at halftime.
Rourke won the Indiana starting job over Tayven Jackson and Tyler Cherry and seems to have solidified his role. For the last several years under Tom Allen, whether it has been due to injuries or shortfall in performance, the Hoosiers have juggled quarterbacks regularly.
For Rourke, who has been practicing and selling himself to Cignetti since his arrival on campus in January, opening day was practically a holiday.
“This is one of the best days of the year,” Rourke said. “We’ve been dreaming of this day.”
Cignetti, who came from James Madison University, was hired in December to replace Allen and to lead IU during the changing period of college football with a wide-open transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness rules that allow players to be paid.
Between recruits and transfers, the IU roster included about 50 new faces. Although there were lulls in the excellence, overall, the Hoosiers assuredly earned their 1-0 start with first-rate defense and an exceptional offensive line showing.
Ball carriers gained 234 yards on 40 carries and sometimes the running room approached Great Plains openness. Ty Son Lawton gained 74 yards on 16 carries for two touchdowns. Justice Ellison averaged 6.8 yards on 10 carries. And coming off the bench late in the fourth quarter, Elijah Green burst free for a 51-yard TD run and 82 yards in all.
Lawton, one of the many players who followed Cignetti to the Midwest from James Madison, said the offensive line showing was amazing.
“The holes were wide, real wide,” Lawton said, while noting he is used to sharing the backfield work load. “Back at JMU we had a three-back rotation.”
Although building to this moment for around nine months, Cignetti didn’t even break into a smile over the victory. The Hoosiers started fast and stalled on offense, but didn’t make egregious mistakes.
Rourke, whose brother Nathan is a quarterback for the British Columbia Lions in the Canadian Football League, said he and the team just have “to be more consistent. We could have ended the game a lot earlier than we did.”
In general, wins being at a premium for IU in recent seasons, a 31-7 triumph should be a worthwhile embarkation point. Yet given the long-term disappointments, IU backers are probably a tougher crowd than most in displaying fan love. Although attendance was pretty robust 44,150, the attention-span wasn’t what Cignetti or the players expected.
Whether it was early hot-date plans on a Saturday night, or just what, massive numbers of viewers vacated the student section at half-time. This was directly opposite from the Indiana bench. Cignetti noticed.
He didn’t want to dwell on that issue, but said, “We’ve got to keep people in the seats after the half.”
One might think the home team being solidly ahead and the sun shining on an 80-degree day might be enough to keep fans around for another 30 minutes of play. In private, Cignetti was likely shaking his head over this.
IU’s defense held Florida International (0-1) to 182 total yards (1.8 yards per rush) and picked off one pass in the game’s only turnover. One IU flaw was committing nine penalties for 80 yards.
Linebacker Aiden Fisher, also a James Madison transfer, was in on 12 tackles, had a sack and two more tackles for losses.
“We’ve been very good defensively,” Fisher said of the Viriginia school that finished 11-2 last year under Cignetti.
Rourke completed passes to seven different receivers, including Donaven McCulley, one of those past IU quarterbacks, though he saw limited time against the Panthers after coming out following a hit. Miles Cross made an acrobatic 30-yard catch and tight end Zack Horton, still another James Madison transfer, had three grabs, one a 9-yard touchdown.
“Good win,” Horton said, who said scoring the TD, IU’s first points of the season, felt great. “It was pretty sick.”
Cignetti, Rourke, Horton, all said the win was a win, but the Hoosiers will get better. The schedule encourages them to do so with Western Illinois, a 54-15 loser to Northern Illinois in week one, coming to town Friday night.