Buckeyes bring the heat on Canadian QB Kurtis Rourke, roll to win over Indiana

COLUMBUS, Ohio — As Pat McAfee sang the praises of Indiana in his traditional, umm, enthusiastic style on ESPN's live "College GameDay" broadcast, equally enthusiastic Ohio State fans responded with loud boos and a chant of 'overrated.'

Described later by McAfee as "an island of misfit toys, a group of people that were outcasts," these upstart Hoosiers were about to face a sporting giant on a football-mad campus. With the Buckeyes 10.5-point favourites at kickoff, Saturday seemed as likely a time as any for a Cinderella story to end for Canadian star quarterback Kurtis Rourke and his Indiana teammates.

Indeed, after a promising start, things slipped away for Indiana on a windy, chilly and damp afternoon at mammoth Ohio Stadium. Fifth-ranked Indiana is unbeaten no more after a 38-15 loss to the second-ranked Buckeyes before 105,751 of the loudest fans you'll ever hear. Both teams are now 10-1.

"You've got to be close to perfect in order to beat a team like this," Rourke said.

"We're going to have a chance to play a lot of similar teams like that. Knowing that, we can't have the mistakes. We've got to be on our game for the whole game. It's a good learning opportunity. But we've got to be able to move on now and not have any more learning opportunities."

It was Ohio State's 29th win in a row (the longest head-to-head streak in Division I) against its far less acclaimed Big Ten rival as the home side capitalized on mistakes by an Indiana team playing in its most hostile environment to date.

Rourke, who transferred to Indiana from far-smaller Ohio University for what has turned out to be an outstanding final college season, had his least productive day as a Hoosier. Facing relentless pressure after some Ohio State adjustments, the native of Oakville, Ont., finished 8-for-18 passing for only 68 yards. He was sacked five times, fumbling once on a crushing blind-side hit by an untouched Cody Simon.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, the brash, first-year coach who has taken the Hoosiers to national contention after being a football minnow for decades, said his team had to go to a silent count because of communication issues.

"We couldn't protect the quarterback, we had communication errors in pass pro," he said. "Every time we dropped back to pass, something bad happened.

"They won. They deserved to win. They're a terrific football team. Coupled with the noise, it made it a very, very challenging day for us."

But while Cignetti made sure to praise what he called a "loaded" team twice, there certainly does appear to be some animosity between the conference rivals — which could set up a juicy subplot down the road.

In garbage time, a couple plays after Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson purposely slid at the Indiana one-yard line, Buckeyes coach Ryan Day didn't take his foot off the gas pedal. Instead, quarterback Will Howard, who was excellent all day, ran it in for a meaningless one-yard score.

"He's got to do what he has to do for his team," Cignetti said of Day, his displeasure clear.

Day also was asked about the call on the FOX broadcast

"We wanted it to finish it the right way and make sure everybody knows this is the Ohio State Buckeyes," he said.

Cignetti, a 63-year-old football lifer who cut his teeth at smaller programs, like many of his players, certainly hasn't been shy about putting the target on himself. He famously said "I win. Google me," at his first press conference as Indiana coach after he was hired when asked how he could succeed with a program that has lost more games than any Division I team.

Howard appeared to perform the motion of stomping out a cigarette as the clock wound down, perhaps a message to 'Coach Cig.'

FOX reporter Jenny Taft, when interviewing Howard, said "I think I heard you say Google me. What went into that reaction?"

"I just try to say we don't listen to the stuff on social media, but we hear it, man," he said. "I was just having some fun with it. I've got a lot of respect for those guys, man. I think what coach Cignetti's done over there, he's done a heck of a job. But the Buckeyes are here and the Buckeyes won, so you can Google that."

It wasn't nearly as much fun for the Buckeyes a few hours earlier.

After the refs hilarious referred to Indiana as "Illinois" by mistake during the coin toss, feeding into Indiana-gets-no-respect theme, Cignetti's charges quickly showed everyone they would be no pushover.

Rourke delivered a statement drive on Indiana's first series to give the visitors a 7-0 lead.

After the Indiana defence forced a three-and-out to open the game, Rourke went to work, silencing the ear-splitting crowd with two huge throws up the middle for completions on third-and-long. An 11-play, 70-yard drive was capped by a two-yard touchdown run on a direct snap to running back Ty Son Lawton.

The drive showed Rourke would not be fazed by the challenge, but the Hoosiers simply weren't sharp enough the rest of the way.

To win at a place like this, against one of the country's premier programs, you can't beat yourself. Two key special-teams blunders — a dropped snap by punter James Evans late in the first half and a 79-yard punt return for a touchdown by Ohio State's Caleb Downs early in the second half — essentially turned a 7-7 deadlock into a 21-7 Buckeye lead.

The heat kept coming on Rourke after the special-teams spectacle, and the crowd only got louder.

"It's all stuff we've seen before," Rourke said of the blitz-happy Buckeyes. "I've got to do a better job of recognizing them and know where to go with the ball."

The storyline now will become if the Hoosiers have done enough to stay in the 12-team College Football Playoff mix.

Indiana faces lowly Purdue at home in the regular-season finale next week. While 11-1 would be a fantastic season by any measure, there have been cries, especially from SEC territory, about the Hoosiers' strength of schedule not being up to snuff for a potential playoff team.

An Ole Miss defeat to Florida on Saturday in SEC play likely helped Indiana out, giving a bubble team a third defeat.

When asked if the Hoosiers have done enough through 11 games to be a Playoff team, Cignetti was blunt.

"Is that a serious question?" Cignetti snapped back. "I'm not even going to answer that. The answer's so obvious."

Rourke also feels his team deserves to keep going.

"We trust ourselves against anybody," he said. "We look forward to hopefully an opportunity to get a rematch at some point. But just knowing that next week is a big game. We've got to go handle Purdue and then move on. Take one game at a time."