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Kurtis Rourke impresses again with victory

Posted on by Vanessa
Kurtis Rourke impresses again with victory

BLOOMINGTON — IU football may not have always been as crisp as it was last weekend at UCLA, but the Hoosiers maintained their perfect start with a comfortable 52-14 win over Charlotte on Saturday. Here's how the Hoosiers rated it.

IU Football: Full throttle, no brakes: Curt Cignetti makes history as the Hoosiers improve to 4-0.

ATTACK

A

Aside from some early mishaps, IU's starters once again made an impressive impression. Kurtis Rourke accounted for 290 yards and two touchdowns and was one of five Hoosiers to score. Kaelon Black's second-half touchdown meant that all four transfer running backs have now scored at least once. This is the first four-game streak with over 400 offensive yards since 2019 and the first three-game streak with over 40 points since 2015. Indiana (4-0, 1-0) is still without a turnover.

DEFENSE

B-

The overall numbers won't look bad. Cignetti will still want to improve after the Hoosiers struggled with Charlotte's power run game in the first half, which resulted in two consecutive 75-yard touchdown drives. IU wasn't quite as good on offense, the Hoosiers' eagerness to get ahead exposed at times by Charlotte's zone blocking strategies and inside runs. Still, Indiana adjusted, and after allowing the 49ers a total of 19 plays on those two scoring drives, the Hoosiers allowed the same number on Charlotte's next five drives. Curt Cignetti will call out the mistakes, but the overall performance was still good.

SPECIAL TEAMS

B+

Myles Price rushed for 44 yards on punt returns and looked dangerous when he finally got some room to run. Injuries to his first two kickoff specialists could be a long-term concern for Cignetti, although true freshman and former Brebeuf Jesuit player Quinn Warren ably filled in for Alejandro Quintero's injury on Saturday. Otherwise, everything here was done with a minimum of fuss, which is often the point of special teams play.

Coaching

B+

Cignetti seemed concerned about complacency before this game after the excitement of the win over UCLA and a week of positive press provided some distraction. He was disappointed for about 10 minutes, but otherwise the Hoosiers were what they've been through the first four weeks – efficient, anemic and dominant. The season starts in earnest next week.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: QB Kurtis Rourke

A strange game, as no single player or play really dominated proceedings, but Rourke was once again very good. He completed 16 of 20 passes (80%), with no interceptions, no sacks, and scored both through the air and on the ground. He flashed his agility a little more when the field opened up for him. Tougher tests await, but Rourke looks to be one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten in every way so far.

GAMEPLAY

Kaelon Black's 21-yard touchdown in the third quarter was impressive, but it had an even bigger significance: It meant that all four transfer running backs have already scored at least one touchdown this season for a team that has already scored 18 runs this season. The Hoosiers managed just 13 such touchdowns in 2023.

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