What Quarterback Kurtis Rourke Said After Indiana's 42-28 Win Over Maryland

Kurtis Rourke overcame two early interceptions and led Indiana's offense to 510 total yards in its win over Maryland.

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke (9) throws a pass against Maryland at Memorial Stadium. / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke continued his strong start to the 2024 season with another big game against Maryland.

Despite turning the ball over three times, Rourke completed 22 of 33 passes for 359 yards and three touchdows. Here's everything Rourke said after the Hoosiers' 42-28 win over Maryland.

On weighing the good and bad of his performance on Saturday...

Rourke: "Yeah, I think you look at first, we got the win and that's the most important, definitely the way we got there and persevered. I think we could get there a different way and score more points kind of thing. I think we left a lot on the table, even scoring 42, so that's encouraging going forward, watching the film and being able to know that we can't have those turnovers going forward if we want to continue to win."

On pulling himself back together after interceptions...

Rourke: "Yeah, it's just trying to flush it right away and not really think about it, kinda gotta move on because the game's gonna move on kinda thing. Just like when you have a good play, you gotta reset and be emotionally stable so that you can move forward, good or bad. That's what I try to keep doing."

On if he previously didn't have that steady mindset through ups and downs...

Rourke: "Yeah, definitely you don't want any turnovers to happen, you don't want any negative plays to happen. So being able to learn to adapt and stuff, definitely early in my career, I probably would have managed it differently. But at the end of the days, I knew there were plays that I can't make anymore, so just moving on is something I've learned."

On Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr.'s performances...

Rourke: "Yeah, it's awesome. Those guys are great weapons to have. I like my odds whenever I throw the ball in their area. I just gotta make sure they can get their hands on it because they can make plays like they did today."

On how tough it was to play through the rain...

Rourke: "Today wasn't too bad. It wasn't as heavy rain, so we had a pretty good grip on the ball. Our equipment managers did a good job as well, rotating ball and stuff to keep it fresh. But yeah, it wasn't too bad."

On importance of Cooper's touchdown just before halftime...

Rourke: "Yeah, huge. I think it was something that we wish would have happened sooner, but it was definitely really important to have some momentum going into half, going into the second half brought a lot of confidence in me, and I know the rest of the offense, as well as the whole team. Our defense was playing great to that point, and so for us to capitalize finally was really important."

On the fan turnout...

Rourke: "Oh, it was fantastic. I mean, best fans in the Big Ten now. I appreciate everybody that came out and look forward to many turnouts like this."

On if he feels the fans buying in more and more...

Rourke: "Yeah absolutely. Again, success brings a lot of attention, and the more fans we can out the better, so our job is to win and their job is to show the support, get in the other team's heads and kind of do it together."

On how the offense feeds off the defense getting big stops...

Rourke: "Yeah, our defense was amazing. Being able to not allow really any points off turnovers was huge and something we noticed as an offense. So just looking back as an offense, knowing that the defense can make the stops, we can look at it moving forward and see that if we just continue to do our job and not turn the ball over, the margin of victory would have been much bigger today."

On what went wrong on the interceptions...

Rourke: "Sometimes my eyes weren't in the right place, and just could make a better ball."

On what stood out about Elijah Sarratt's performance...

Rourke: "He's just consistent. He's just always gonna be reliable. It's why I like throwing to him so much. He's reliable. He's always gonna be there and he's someone that I can trust and that's gonna make a play. So he had a great game today, but that's the type of player he is."

On Donaven McCulley's touchdown...

Rourke: “It’s huge. Suddenly you forget that type of guy is also on the team, and so I’m glad that he could finally get involved and continue to use him moving forward because he’s a tremendous athlete and he’s got all the skills in order to make big plays. I’d love to keep him involved.”

On handling success moving forward...

Rourke: "Yeah, I mean 5-0 is awesome but it's not the end. We gotta keep going and look to Northwestern next week. Offensively we feel like we could do much better. We could have put 50-60 up today and so we have a lot to build on. So we can't be complacent, just gotta chase for the next week and win the next week and not really look at the whole picture, although it's great to achieve for sure."

On preparation for the rain...

Rourke: "Yeah, I mean you can't really look too much at the external elements. You really gotta control what you can. Preparation was the same every single week, knowing that if it's gonna rain, it's gonna rain and you just gotta be able to keep that mindset that you can't let it affect you, do the best you can and move forward.

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