What Quarterback Kurtis Rourke Said After Indiana’s 38-15 Loss At Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 5 Indiana lost its first game of the season Saturday at No. 2 Ohio State, 38-15.

The Hoosiers entered the game with the nation’s second-highest scoring offense, but they generated just 151 total yards and finished with a season-low 15 points. Ohio State sacked Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke five times, and he completed just 8-of-18 passes for 68 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions and one fumble.

Here’s everything Rourke said after the game.

On if it was the first time Indiana had used a silent count…

Rourke: “In game, yeah, but we practiced it all week. So it wasn’t anything that was new to us.”

On what Ohio State was doing to be so impactful when blitzing…

Rourke: “They brought some good blitzes and timed it up well. Just had some good plays called and executed better.”

On what it couldn’t repeat from a successful first drive for the rest of the game…

Rourke: “I think we just executed better, at a lot higher level that first drive. We were able to take advantage of looks in plays that we had, then we didn’t execute down the stretch after that as well as we want to. In games like this, you have to.”

On what made Ohio State’s blitzes successful…

Rourke: “It’s all stuff that we’ve seen before. I gotta do a better job of recognizing them and knowing where to go with the ball. As an offense, just be able to learn from a game like this and make sure it doesn’t happen.”

On the team’s mentality after a loss, knowing there’s still plenty to play for…

Rourke: “A loss is never fun, but the good news is that we’ve got another game next week, a big game, a rivalry game. So take 24 hours, then get ready for Purdue.”

On frustration over uncharacteristic mistakes…

Rourke: “You gotta be close to perfect to beat a team like this, and we’re gonna have a chance to play a lot of similar teams like this. So knowing that we can’t have these mistakes and we gotta be on our game for the whole game, it’s a learning opportunity. But gotta be able to move on now and not have any more learning opportunities.

On if any of the mistakes surprised him, given Indiana’s veteran roster…

Rourke: “I wouldn’t think so. I think it’s just attention to detail. I always look to myself, knowing that there’s some plays I want to have back, some throws that I need to have in order for this team to move the ball down the field. There’s a lot of opportunities that I’m upset at myself and knowing that it won’t happen again. Those are mistakes that can’t continue, especially at this time of the season.”

On if there are parts of the offense Indiana has to junk after they didn’t work…

Rourke: “I don’t think so. Just gotta trust that moving forward we’re gonna handle it. I whole heartedly trust the offensive line, tight ends and receiver group and running backs. So my mindset doesn’t change, that I don’t need to do anything differently because I’ve been sacked a couple times. Biggest thing is I gotta protect the ball when I’m getting hit. That’s something I need to work on. It’s happened a couple times this year.”

On the frustration of playing behind the sticks so much…

Rourke: “Yeah, it’s hard to win games when you have second and third and long. You gotta capitalize on those. So even going back to Michigan week, we gotta make sure we don’t put ourselves in those tough situations, because it’s hard to win games, like I said.”

On the difficulty of facing many third and long situations…

Rourke: “It’s tough, especially with a defense that’s as talented as they are. Like I mentioned, it’s difficult to convert on third and long, especially a good defense. But we had an opportunity to convert, and we weren’t able to. So that’s pointed at us as well. We’re gonna be in those situations, and we’re gonna need to be able to capitalize better than we did today.”

On if Indiana has done enough this season to show it’s one of the best teams in the country…

Rourke: “Yeah, I hope so. We trust ourselves against anybody, and we look forward to hopefully an opportunity to get a rematch at some point. But just knowing that next week is the big game and we gotta go handle Purdue, and then take it one game at a time.”