‘Good learning tape’ — Kurtis Rourke had a ‘good first time out’ for IU football. Now expectations will continue to rise

When Kurtis Rourke arrived in Bloomington after transferring to the IU football program, the expectation was that he would be the starting quarterback for the Hoosiers this fall. While he had to wait until Saturday to ‘officially’ be named the starter, he helped lead Indiana to a 31-7 win over Florida International.

The experienced signal caller did everything he was supposed to do. There weren’t any major flashes, but there also weren’t any significant lows. It was very much an even-keeled performance from the senior.

Did it work? Yes. Does he need to get better? Yes. Both are true and both sentiments were shared by he and his head coach after the win and the days following.

“I thought he made some plays, scrambled out of the pocket, made a couple of plays, and then the protection broke down a little bit on him,” Curt Cignetti said after the win. “He missed two to four reads, which is going to happen in a football game, and familiarity with scheme and things like that, just playing more snaps. We left at least ten plays out there offensively, but not the quarterback. Not the quarterback. So, yeah, I like the way he moved around because he hadn’t been hit and made some nice throws.”

Kurtis Rourke finished his IU football debut 15-of-24 for 180 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked twice but had no turnovers. There was a near fumble that was called back due to penalty. But, other than that, it was a performance that led to a ‘good learning tape’.

“It was a good learning tape to watch,” Rourke said on Tuesday. “I think for our first game, we were not too bad as an offense. We are trying to chase those middle three drives where we went down and scored every time and were firing on all cylinders. It was a good learning tape and there is a lot to work on for this week.”

Indiana came out firing on its first possession of the game. All three plays were passes. Rourke started just 1-of-3, however, and a quick three-and-out began the IU season. But Rourke would settle in after.

He would go on to complete 14 of his next 17 passes, including six in a row late in the third quarter.

“You want to get into a good rhythm. The first game is always about getting that game speed back. You can prepare as much as you want in the offseason and do as many live reps as you can, but until you’re in the game and you take that first hit, then you know you’re going now,” Rourke added. “Getting that rhythm down and game timing down. It is good to have a couple games before conference play in order to get that out of the way, but the sooner the better and that’s what we are striving for this week.”

Despite the win, it wasn’t all great for Rourke and the IU offense.

Indiana jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter but then ‘squandered’ too many chances throughout the game — something Curt Cignetti emphasized after the win.

“Offense, just too many opportunities squandered,” Cignetti said. “And then protection, and just gotta get better there. Gotta learn to play the lead. Gotta learn to play the lead. Jump up to 21-nothing, man, gotta keep the edge.”

Rourke wasn’t the only new face on the offense, a unit that included four new wide receivers and a new tight end. So, six guys who have never played together outside of the last few months. But never in a live game.

So, there were some growing pains as well as some chemistry issues that were evident. Nothing that is too alarming at this point, however.

“We should have had two post (route) touchdowns,” Cignetti said. “The one, we hit (Omar) Cooper on the deep cross, probably should have gone to the post. He’s open. We didn’t throw it.

“We did throw the post later in the game to Andison Coby, who’s open. We got to use the field and lay it out there. That should have been a touchdown, too. We had some other down the field opportunity chunks that we just didn’t convert on.”

In total, seven different players caught a pass for IU football in the win with four finishing with multiple catches.

Rourke started 33 games during his time at Ohio and totaled 7,651 yards and 50 touchdowns in his college career before this year. He has the talent and the production to prove it. Now, it’s about building on his first performance — both because he needs to and because the the competition and pressure will only get higher and higher.

“I thought he did a nice job,” Cignetti added. “He made some plays when he was under pressure, getting out of the pocket and made a throw or two and threw the ball fairly well. He missed a couple reads, but I thought it was a good first time out for him.”

SEE ALSO: Despite a season opening win, Curt Cignetti wants IU football to ‘learn to play with a lead’ going forward

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