Indiana is ranked No. 36 in the nation out of 133 teams in sacks allowed.
So on the surface, pressure on the quarterback doesn’t seem like a major issue for the 10-1 Hoosiers.
But the last two games have looked nothing like the first nine.
IU has allowed 16 sacks on the season, a manageable 1.46 per game. But upon closer examination, nine of those sixteen sacks have come in Indiana’s last two outings, a not survivable 4.5 per contest. Before Indiana hosted Michigan, games would come and go, and it hardly felt as though Kurtis Rourke was getting pressured, let alone taken to the ground. The Hoosiers only allowed seven sacks in their first nine games.
But at the confluence of an injury to starting guard Drew Evans, and a major uptick in the talent and athleticism on the other side of the ball, has been a flurry of hits on star quarterback Rourke, who was in the Heisman conversation through nine games.
Under constant pressure over the last six quarters, Rourke hasn’t looked like the same confident and accurate quarterback even when he has time to survey the field. His head coach believes IU’s lackluster pass protection has had an impact on his signal caller.
“We’ve got to take the hits off the quarterback because I don’t know a quarterback in the country if he gets hit over and over again, they all lose their effectiveness,” Curt Cignetti said this week as IU prepares for its rivalry game against Purdue.
“When he (Rourke) did have the opportunity to throw the football, he wasn’t quite as effective with his reads or his accuracy, and when you get rocked like that, not many guys are.”
Perhaps Purdue will provide the reprieve needed before the postseason for the line to establish more continuity, and for Rourke to regain confidence.
The Boilermakers are no pushover. They’ve generated 20 sacks on the season. So they can get to the quarterback. But there is a major talent gap between Purdue, and Ohio State and Michigan, who have 35 and 31 sacks, respectively, and rank No. 6 and 21 nationally in that regard.
Part of Indiana’s issue against Ohio State was the crowd noise.
For the first time this season, IU had to go to a silent count to get the ball snapped. There was talk amongst the players after the game that Ohio State figured out the signal and were timing the snaps perfectly. It certainly seemed like the Buckeyes knew when the ball was going to be snapped. On a couple occasions they had three defenders on Rourke before he could react.
If Indiana ends up on the road in the College Football Playoff, which looks like the most likely scenario right now, there’s a good chance they’ll end up in that situation once again.
But Cignetti saw more than crowd noise troubling his Hoosiers.
“Missed assignments and poor technique would be the themes,” Cignetti said. “Five sacks against Ohio State, we had three missed assignments, routine stuff, communication stuff. We got beat physically one time and poor technique on a weak-side twist, which is similar to what Michigan had given us the week before, a little different but similar. They had a little weak side linebacker in twist that we just didn’t do a good job with.
“We’ve got to get back in sync offensively and get our rhythm back where we’re playing with a lot of confidence, scoring points, scoring points in bunches, and running the ball and throwing the ball with equal success.”
Indiana and Purdue kick at 7:00 p.m. ET Saturday evening in Bloomington (FS1).
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