Riding a 5-0 record and a spot in the college football rankings, a lot of pressure was on the shoulders of Indiana football heading into a conference game on the road at Northwestern.
As shown in each game of the season thus far, Indiana football was able to continue to rise to the occasion, scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter. The win puts Indiana as the first team in college football this season to earn bowl eligibility.
Indiana’s 6-0 start is the first time the program has started a season with that record since 1967.
Despite the incredible 6-0 opening to the season, Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti explained after the game that he’s not fully satisfied with where the team’s at.
“Probably wasn’t our best game defensively,” Cignetti said. “Well, not even probably. It wasn’t.”
Northwestern was known to have a weak offense, scoring single digit points in three of the program’s four games going into this week.
Indiana’s defense allowed Northwestern to score 24 points on the day, totaling 243 receiving yards and 93 rushing yards.
Northwestern’s offensive performance kept it a tight game, until Indiana was able to score two late game touchdowns in the fourth quarter across the final seven minutes of regulation.
Indiana defensive lineman Mikail Kamara spoke on behalf of the defense regarding how the group would have liked to perform.
“Our point goals, we didn’t reach it today, but our goal is to not letting them score more than seventeen points.”
Kamara transferred to Indiana after playing his first two seasons of collegiate football at James Madison University.
Kamara has been of the most impactful players on the defensive line for Indiana, totalling 20 tackles and four sacks on the year. Three of those tackles and one of the sacks came in Saturday afternoons win over Northwestern.
The third quarter sack from Kamara came at a crucial time, as Kamara sacked Jack Lausch on third and seven, for a loss of six yards.
Lausch commanded his offense nicely in the loss, throwing for an 80% completion rate in short passes under five yards, going eight for ten.
On the offensive side, the 41 point performance from Indiana’s offense was the least amount of points scored since week one’s win over Florida International University, 31-7.
With Indiana having a bye week upcoming, quarterback Kurtis Rourke previewed what him and his offense will focus on during their time off.
“Just staying consistent,” Rourke said. “Coach Cignetti talked about keeping that chip on the shoulder. I think that’s very important… continue to come out ready to work and not get complacent.”
Rourke’s 380 yard passing performance marked the second game in a row where he’s thrown for over 350 passing yards.
The sixth year quarterback completed 25 out of 33 attempts, finding receivers for three passing touchdowns.
Rourke made his offense look fantastic in the win, finishing the game with ten big plays with gains of over 15 yards to his offense.
Indiana wide receiver Ke’Shawn Williams played arguably his best game of the season, getting four touches for 87 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Despite the successful game from the fifth year receiver, Williams had his mind set on the future of the season, rather than celebrating the victory.
“This wasn’t the ultimate goal to be six and o, or to go for ninety yards and a touchdown, that’s not the goal,” Williams said. “The goal is just to keep winning and being a great team and continue to have success as a unit.”
Williams tries not to look at the undefeated record and the college football rankings, geared to strictly stay focused on the game.
“We can’t get caught up in opinions from outside of what’s going on in the house.”
With six regular season games on the schedule for Indiana, Cignetti gave insight on what to expect from Indiana football going forward.
“We can certainly improve a lot more and you know, we’re only half way through the regular season.”
Indiana football will look to take advantage of a well-needed bye week, resting up and preparing for a difficult conference matchup, as the team takes on the 5-1 Nebraska Cornhuskers at home on Saturday, October 19.
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