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Kurtis Rourke’s leap of faith has Curt Cignetti’s Indiana on the edge of history

David Wasson

By David Wasson

Published:

Kurtis Rourke took a leap of faith on a new coaching staff and an Indiana program that historically treats football season as a way to pass time until the harvest and college basketball season. That leap of faith made Indiana the biggest winner in the 2024 transfer portal.

“Portal champion” sounds like a designation reserved for a college football blue-blood, not a proverbial B1G backwater like Indiana. Instead, Rourke, the quarterback who has led the Hoosiers to a 10-0 dream season, could turn college football’s oligarchy on its head should his No. 5 Indiana team upset No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus on Saturday (12 PM ET, FOX).

Like Indiana football, Rourke was largely a portal afterthought in a QB portal class that included big-time and known names like Cam Ward (Miami), Will Howard (Ohio State), Dillon Gabriel (Oregon), DJ Uiagalelei (Florida State), Kyle McCord (Syracuse) and Grayson McCall (NC State).

Rourke, who spent 5 years at Ohio University, wanted to use his COVID year to see if he could play Power 4 football. Rourke wasn’t a complete unknown. He was  a 3-year starter at Ohio and was named the 2022 MAC Offensive Player of the Year, when he led the Bobcats to 10 wins. Still, Rourke hardly drew the portal attention given to some of his contemporaries, even less proven players like Uiagalelei.

Indiana and its new head coach, Curt Cignetti, showed the most interest of any Power 4 program, and Rourke took a leap of faith on the long overlooked Hoosiers and Cignetti, who was at his first stop at a Power 4 program as a head coach after winning, consistently, at lower levels. Google it.

“Coach Cignetti and his staff had a plan to win immediately. That mentality was critical to me. They knew Indiana had not had an ideal season in 2023, but they said they weren’t going to rebuild. They were going to win Year 1, because they are winners,” Rourke told assembled media last week. “That kind of mindset was something I admired. I try to live to win now.”

Cignetti and his staff had only been on campus for a week or two when quarterback coach Tino Sunseri cold-called Rourke.

“Tino called me and I talked to Coach (Mike) Shanahan (Indiana offensive coordinator) before Coach Cignetti,” Rourke recalled last week. “But the big thing was system. It was NFL-like, which was great because I wanted to try to prepare myself for that opportunity. But Coach Shanahan told me I’d have a chance to shine. They have a track record with quarterbacks that was very successful, and I embraced that data and took the chance.”

That track record included 3-star quarterbacks at James Madison, including 2023 Sun Belt Player of the Year Jordan McCloud, 2022 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year Todd Centeio, and FCS All-American Cole Johnson, who set James Madison records for passing yards, passing touchdowns and efficiency in 2021.

“If you played under this staff, there was data that said you’d succeed,” Rourke recalled.

For Cignetti, a master in morphing his offense to complement the quarterback he has, Rourke was the guy who would make the Hoosiers the most multiple. Cignetti knew he wanted a veteran quarterback who had experience winning games.

“I really liked his maturity, he was player of the year in the MAC, he could make all the throws (and) he knew how to play quarterback, you know what I mean?” Cignetti told CBS Sports earlier this month. “I liked that he won 10 games. I liked that he reminded me a little of Philip Rivers, who I was around at NC State. When you watched him on film, Kurtis just knows how to play quarterback.”

Rourke threw for over 5,000 yards with 36 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in his final 2 seasons at Ohio, but the leap he’s taken as a starter in 1 of the top 2 conferences in college football has surprised even his most strident advocates.

Indiana had never won 10 games in any season. Rourke’s Hoosiers are 10-0.

Entering Saturday’s tilt with the Buckeyes, Rourke grades out as the best quarterback in the Power 4, per PFF. Rourke’s adjusted depth of target and average yards per attempt (10.1 and 10.4, respectively), both lead the B1G, ahead of more highly publicized and courted transfers such as Ohio State’s Howard and Oregon’s Gabriel. Rourke has thrown 21 touchdowns (3rd in the B1G) and thrown only 4 interceptions (2nd best TD-INT ratio in the B1G). Rourke’s efficiency rating of 182.7 ranks second nationally, behind only Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss.

“I think we knew he’d have a chance to be good and we’d have a chance to surprise people. That hasn’t surprised us,” Tino Sunseri said last week. “But I do think the scale of the success and how well he’s played is remarkable.”

How remarkable? The data doesn’t lie. Indiana ranks No. 1 in the B1G in explosive pass plays (20 yards or more) with 44, a testament to the fact that Rourke isn’t simply taking what the defense gives him, though he’s marvelous at doing just that, of course.

“It’s the ability to not be afraid to take chances down the field that makes them a legitimately lethal offense,” a B1G defensive coordinator who faced Rourke and the Hoosiers this season told SDS this week. “They are so good through the middle of the field and they hit plenty of chunk plays in the air, which opens everything else up.”

Entering Saturday’s game against the Buckeyes, Rourke has connected on 11 touchdowns of 15 yards or more, the 4th-highest number nationally.

Rourke also is unfazed by down-and-distance and pressure. He leads the nation in 3rd-and-long conversion rate at 56%, a number 10% higher than the 2nd-best quarterback, Miami’s Cam Ward. Rourke rates 4th in the country in completions under pressure, with 33 on the campaign.

“If you think that Indiana is winning because the schedule is soft, or because they have a great defense and do just enough on offense, think again,” a Big Ten head coach told SDS this week. “They are just pummeling opponents. They’ve had what — 1 close game? Rourke gives them a chance to keep winning.”

Repeating the obvious, but Google Cignetti. He wins.

With Rourke at the helm, Indiana has, too. 10 in a row to begin the season, the best start in Indiana football history.

To keep winning, of course, they’ll have to make more history.

Indiana has lost 29 consecutive games to Ohio State, the 2nd-longest losing streak between conference opponents in the modern era of college football (post-integration). The Hoosiers last won in Columbus in 1987, when current Ohio State coach Ryan Day was 8 years old. Ohio State subsequently fired its head coach, Earl Bruce, at the end of that season.

The odds seem stacked against the Hoosiers, and few outside the football facility in Bloomington are giving IU much of a chance. Vegas certainly isn’t. DraftKings Sportsbook favors Ohio State by almost 2 touchdowns.

That’s nothing new to Indiana.

It’s been that way forever.

But this Indiana team with Kurtis Rourke at quarterback? They’ve been changing narratives and bucking the odds all year.

Why not Saturday … in the biggest game in program history?

David Wasson

An APSE national award-winning writer and page designer, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.