What Quarterback Kurtis Rourke Said After Indiana's 41-24 Win At Northwestern

Here's the full transcript of what Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke said after the Hoosiers' 41-24 win at Northwestern.

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke (9) throws the ball against UCLA. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

EVANSTON, Ill. – Quarterback Kurtis Rourke had another big game during Indiana's 41-24 win at Northwestern on Saturday. He completed 25 of 33 passes for 380 yards, three touchdowns and zero turnovers.

Here's what Rourke said after the win.

On finding a way to pull away in a close game…

Rourke: “Yeah, it’s just more adversity moments that we knew were coming and we needed to be ready for. But I think a big thing today was just we had the defense’s back like they had ours the last week when we turned the ball over so many times and they had our back and made those stops. And we had to respond every time Northwestern scored, right. So kind of just have each other’s backs and keep rolling because adversity strikes and you’re gonna have to respond. So really proud of how we handled back and forths and kind of how everything carried on.”

On scrambling past defensive pressure…

Rourke: “Some of it is just they’re playing really good defense and kind of trying to make a play. Some of it I kind of got antsy and didn’t work my way all the way through my read, so a lot of things come into that. But just wanted to do whatever I could to help move the drive and move the ball down the field. It just so happened that I used my legs a little more.”

On maintaining consistency during seven straight scoring drives after two scoreless drives to begin game…

Rourke: “Yeah just kind of settling down, myself especially, just needed to take a deep breath and just do what we practiced, do what we’ve done. One of the biggest emphases moving forward for myself especially is to start faster, start better and kind of have those drives that we had in the last seven and hopefully make them all touchdown drives.”

On Indiana’s variety of weapons on offense …

Rourke: “It’s awesome to be able to have such great athletes and playmakers all around. The receiver room is one of the deepest in the country. We have one of the best running back rooms in the country, and so put that together with the o-line and the way they’re playing and that’s why we’re able to put up so many points.”

On being able to rotate so much at running back…

Rourke: “Yeah, it definitely just wears the defense down, and that’s one of our strengths is that we can play so many guys and always have fresh legs, whether that’s at receiver, whether that’s in the running backs. So I think that’s just a huge weapon to be able to have those guys to consistently rotate through and always be ready.”

On his message before the fourth quarter drive when Indiana led by three…

Rourke: “Just respond, do what we do. That’s kind of something we pride ourselves in is playing team football. Just like I mentioned before, being able to have the defense’s back because they’ve had ours so many times this year. So being able to do what we do, go down and put a drive together and not try to do too much and just play our game.”

On approach to bye week…

Rourke: “Yeah I think just staying consistent. Coach Cignetti talked about keeping that chip on your shoulder, and I think that’s very important. We’ve had a great first half of the season, but we have a big second half as well. So we gotta keep that chip on, know that there’s gonna be doubters no matter what and continue to come out ready to work and not get complacent.”

On walking through the Indiana fans after the game...

Rourke: “It was awesome IU fans, we might have the best in the nation. They travel so well, just even when we went to the Rose Bowl against UCLA, they made it feel like a home game. So being able have that faith that they’ll be able to come out and support, just so thankful for that fan base and love the support they’ve had.”

On building connection with Elijah Sarratt...

Rourke: “He’s the type of guy that gets open all the time. That’s his nickname, right? So just being able to have a guy like that that can win, whether that’s a go-ball, whether that’s inside, whether that’s making a scramble play, I trust him to be there, to have those sure hands. Glad he’s on our team.”

On rating his individual performance…

Rourke: “Yeah, a good statistics game and everything and always grateful for the positives and everything like that. There’s always, for me, stuff that I can continue to work on. And so great statistics game, and it’s a lot of confidence building to be able to know that there’s so much out there as well. But happy with the win and that the team is able to go home 6-0.”

On what he’s looking to improve upon…

Rourke: “One of the things that’s the biggest is just starting faster. That’s definitely shown up the last two weeks as something that I need to start doing consistently at the beginning of the game when we can’t have a slow first two drives or so kind of thing. So that’s the biggest thing for me is being ready right away, and that’s something that I’m definitely working on.”

On playing well at the end of games and pulling away…

Rourke: “Just continuously when the ball is in our hands just doing what we practiced, not trying to overthink it. We’ve kept the same mentality throughout the whole game that we want to go down and score, and just because it’s close, just because we’re up big, it doesn’t mean that we have to change that. So just keeping that same mentality through, I think that’s been successful for us.”

On his pass to E.J. Williams Jr. …

Rourke: “Yeah, I just saw they dropped into a cover two Tampa shell, and the mike went to the field and I was gonna come backside and see if I could hit the dig, but the boundary safety stepped up. So I went to try to make a play and saw E.J. busting all the way down and sprinting all the way to that side of the field, so I got leverage and just tried to give him a shot and he made a hell of a catch.

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