BLOOMINGTON – A third of its season is now behind us, Indiana Football has transformed into one of the The Big TenThe surprise teams of.
In first year Curt CignettiTHE Hoosiers are both explosive and stingy, with transfers offering impact performance in all three phases. During his 4-0 start — the first in program history for a first-year coach — Indiana outscored its opponents 202-37.
At or very near the top of any list of reasons for IU’s remarkable early-season success? Hoosiers have one of the most prolific and dangerous red zone offenses in the country.
Explosive. Effective. Easy? The IU football team’s attack is meeting little resistance so far.
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“We ran the ball well there,” Cignetti said, “and we threw it well. The quarterback played really well in the passing game, we had open guys, he found them, we separated. And we were out there a lot.”
It turns out that’s truer than almost anyone else.
After four games, Indiana is tied for first nationally in red zone attempts (24) with Miami, Tennessee and South Alabama. The Hoosiers are tied four-way for second in red zone scoring (22), alongside Miami, Tennessee and Texas and just one point behind national leader South Alabama. And in the entire Football Bowl Subdivision, only the Longhorns have scored more touchdowns (21 to IU’s 20).
There have been more efficient teams—Illinois, for example, scored on all 16 of its attempts in the red zone, while Ohio State went 11 of 11 for 11 touchdowns—but the list of teams as productive as Indiana inside the opponent’s 20-yard line in four games is remarkably short. It’s no coincidence that all five teams mentioned in the paragraph above started the season 4-0, except for one.
“Touchdowns are key there,” Cignetti said.
At the heart of this effort: Kurtis RourkeThe Ohio State transfer quarterback is already entering the conversation as the Big Ten’s top signal-caller.
According to CFBStats.com, Rourke is among the top three in the league after four games in completion percentage, yards per pass, yards per attempt and touchdown passes, and second only to Penn State’s Drew Allar in overall quarterback rating. For his 307-yard, four-touchdown performance at UCLA two weeks ago, the sixth-year senior nicknamed The Maple Missile during his time at Ohio – Rourke is originally from Canada – was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, the first Indiana quarterback to receive the honor since Nate Sudfeld nine years ago.
But Rourke wasn’t just good in the big picture. He did his best in the business realm.
Again, according to CFBStats.com, he’s completing 75 percent of his passes from the 39-yard line and beyond, meaning he’s making a remarkable number of his throws as IU gets closer to the scoring zone.
In fact, if you break the field down into 20-yard segments, Rourke’s overall quarterback ratings in the two zones closest to his opponent’s end zone (233.1 vs. 39-21, 255.97 vs. 20-1) are his highest total stops. That’s largely because seven of his eight touchdown passes have come in those zones, with five of those seven coming in the red zone (the 20-yard line and inside).
Logically, it makes sense that a quarterback will throw more touchdown passes when he’s closer to the end zone. But finishing a sequence isn’t always that simple.
Last season, Indiana finished with just 33 red zone possessions, 27 touchdowns and 21 touchdowns. All of those numbers were among the bottom four in the Big Ten. Already this fall, the Hoosiers have come within five touchdowns and one touchdown of last season’s totals, thanks in large part to their so-far excellent transfer quarterback.
“It’s all about execution,” Rourke said.
Rourke had some help. His five touchdown passes account for less than a quarter of Indiana’s overall trips into the end zone in red zone situations. Of IU’s 18 rushing touchdowns, 15 have come in the red zone.
A strengthened offensive line and a revamped running backs group have finished in short-yardage and goal-line situations with a consistency Indiana hasn’t seen in the last three years. IU hasn’t posted numbers resembling those since the 2019 and 2020 seasons, when the Hoosiers had mobile quarterbacks and the presence of Stevie Scott.
“We just think, ‘Score, score, score,’” said James Madison running back Kaelon Black, whose 21-yard touchdown run (one of the few touchdowns outside the red zone) Saturday made him the last of four Indiana transfer running backs to find the end zone this fall. “We think that every time we have the ball, but when it comes to the red zone, we don’t get a lot of opportunities to run the ball. So when we go out there, the mentality is just to score.”
Certainly, the Hoosiers have more opportunities than most teams right now.
Like many coaches, Cignetti devotes a good chunk of his weekly practice time to red-zone situations. There’s a kind of gimmick, new twists on old concepts to keep the offense fresh against a defense that’s had time to review previous tapes. And there’s the less tangible side of it all: Building rapport between players and a determination that already pushes so close to the end zone should always stop there.
“Everything is a little tighter in the red zone,” Rourke said. “Being able to be on time is especially important. We put a lot of emphasis on that throughout the week, being as accurate as possible throughout the week because we want to score touchdowns.”
With Big Ten play resuming this weekend, Cignetti knows tougher tests are on the horizon. Even with the utmost respect to some of IU’s opponents so far, Maryland, Northwestern and Nebraska are unlikely to be as generous as FIU, Western Illinois and Charlotte.
What Indiana’s good work in the red zone over these first four weeks has accomplished — beyond plenty of points and a tough winning streak — is create confidence within an offense that is demolishing all comers right now:
If a drive reaches 20, it should end with points, and if it’s going to end with points, it might as well take all seven.
“I’m not looking to disappoint the opponents we’ve faced, the tests are going to get tougher week by week,” Cignetti said. “I hope we have the same number of opportunities and successes in the future.”
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This article was originally published on the Indianapolis Star: The Secret to Indiana Football’s Surprise Success: Making Money Traveling in the Red Zone
