Usually at this time of the year, Hoosiers are looking forward to the start of basketball season.
Not this fall.
Indiana’s football team has captured the state’s, if not the nation’s, imagination. ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be on campus Saturday in Bloomington, Ind., for only the second time ahead of the No. 13 Hoosiers (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) game against Washington (4-3, 2-2).
Indiana first hosted “College GameDay” back in 2017 ahead of a Thursday game against Ohio State.
Indiana thrashed Nebraska 56-7 last Saturday, leading to a headline in The Athletic early this week regarding the candidates for the 12-team College Football Playoff read: “Yes, Indiana has a better chance than Alabama.”
Of course, that was before Hoosiers starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke reportedly had thumb surgery Monday.
“Right off the bat, Kurtis Rourke will not play this week. We do expect Kurtis to return during the regular season. That’s all I’ll say about the injury,” Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti said.
Cignetti did say Rourke, a sixth-year transfer from Ohio, was taking the injury in stride.
“He’s a veteran guy, married guy,” Cignetti said. “He’s older, smart. Got a great attitude about it.”
Rourke, who was getting some Heisman Trophy consideration by leading the top-scoring offense in the nation (48.7 points per game), was injured during the first half against the Cornhuskers when he hit a helmet during a throw. Rourke has completed 135 of 181 passes for 1,941 yards, 15 touchdowns and three interceptions.
Rourke will be replaced by Tayven Jackson, who started five games for the Hoosiers as a freshman last season. He guided Indiana to four second-half touchdowns last weekend, completing 7 of 8 passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns.
“We have 100 percent confidence and the team has 100 percent confidence, I have confidence, the staff has confidence in Tayven Jackson,” Cignetti said. “I thought he played really well in the second half.”
Washington coach Jedd Fisch, whose team had a bye last week, and his assistants made sure to watch the second half of the Nebraska game carefully.
“If I was going off that small sample, I would say it doesn’t look too much different,” Fisch said of the switch from Rourke to Jackson.
After defeating visiting Michigan 27-17 on Oct. 5 in a rematch of last season’s College Football Playoff championship game, the Huskies traveled to Iowa the following week and lost 40-16.
“We had a lot of corrections we needed to make,” Fisch said. “Everybody needs to be better, but as we’re building it, and going through this process and learning how to handle big wins against Michigan, tough losses against Iowa, how is that team going to be able to respond in the future is really the key.”
Washington quarterback Will Rogers, a transfer from Mississippi State, has completed 153 of 212 passes (72.2 percent) for 1,820 yards with 13 touchdowns and two interceptions this season. Running back Jonah Coleman, a transfer from Arizona, has 681 yards on 99 carries (6.9 yards per rush) with five touchdowns.
