Was Curt Cignetti concerned about Kurtis Rourke’s potential effectiveness after his injury — ‘That’s human nature’. Saturday’s performance put that all to rest.

Kurtis Rourke has been one of the most impactful transfers and most effective players in all of college football this season but the last two weeks brought a bit of concern over the effectiveness of the Indiana football signal caller for the remainder of the season.

After suffering a thumb injury against Nebraska two weeks ago, there were questions about Rourke’s availability moving forward. Originally missing the second half of IU’s 56-7 win over the Huskers — then the announcement that Rourke would be out indefinitely. But, just two weeks later and Indiana traveled to East Lansing with their starting quarterback back in the lineup.

“I thought it was going to be longer,” Rourke said on Saturday night about his expected absence. “But I was really lucky on how it turned out.”

After missing IU’s win over Washington last weekend, it was business as usual for Indiana football and Rourke in the Hoosiers’ 47-10 win over Michigan State. Despite trailing for the first time all season — an early 10-0 deficit after the first quarter — it was 47 straight points for Indiana.

Rourke led Indiana once again, showing little rust from his time out of the lineup. He finished 19-of-29 with 263 yards and four touchdowns. While his performance looked similar to his other starts this year, there was some doubt throughout the week about just how effective he would be able to be.

“You know, was there some curiosity as to how effective (he would be)? I think that’s human nature,” IU head coach Curt Cignetti said. “But then I decided at some point to just believe in our team which is what you gotta do as a head coach and a leader. You gotta believe in your team, attack, attack, attack, and they’ll feed off of that. And I thought he played great.”

While it wasn’t officially announced until Thursday night that Rourke would be starting, there was optimism throughout the early parts of the week that he would be ready.

“I think I knew early Monday, maybe Tuesday, that he’d be able to start,” Cignetti said. “Every day he got better than the previous day, in terms of execution, zip and accuracy.”

“It wasn’t until about Tuesday, Wednesday, that I felt good enough to play and had a good plan,” Rourke added. “The training staff has been awesome in helping me get back. A lot of treatment sessions and everything like that. Being able to progress every day — a bunch of things coming together helped me.”

Rourke’s injury was initially thought to be just an issue with his thumb nail on his throwing hand. X-rays showed that there was a broken bone in his thumb. Because of that, expectations about timeline and efficiency when he returned were questionable.

After surgery, he began his rebab process and return to action plan. But, he knew that Indiana had everything it needed with Tayven Jackson as well. So — there was no need to rush back a return until he felt comfortable enough to help the team.

“The biggest thing I wanted to do was not put the team in jeopardy,” Rourke said. “Obviously, Tayven’s done a great job — he did a great job last week. I knew the team would be in great hands. I wanted to make sure I was at my best to be able to go and help the team before anything else.

“It was definitely sore with every throw. But I knew it was going to come (and go) and it was something to play through. You don’t get a chance to play football a lot.”

Rourke helped lead Indiana football to its first-ever 9-0 start in program history. The Hoosiers, who are ranked No. 13 in the country, will likely improve in the rankings this week.

Now, with three games left, the potential to reach the College Football Playoff is no longer an idea or thought. It’s a real opportunity that sits in front of the Hoosiers. Rourke knows it and this team knows it.

“I think this team is really special,” Rourke said. “And we have a lot of fun opportunities ahead of us.”

SEE ALSO: “My job is to make them the best they can be”: Indiana football continues to find a way to win, blowing out Michigan State 47-10

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