Canadian QB Kurtis Rourke has Indiana partying like it's 1967

Indiana University has, very fairly, earned a reputation as a basketball school.

Bobby Knight, Isiah Thomas and fellow hoopsters are responsible for the Hoosiers' trademark moments, making the men's basketball program famous in the process.

Football? Well, a couple years ago the Hoosiers were in the national headlines, too — for becoming the first NCAA team at the top level to lose 700 games. The school's last Big Ten football title came in a year Toronto Maple Leafs fans know all too well — 1967.

Fast forward 57 years and fittingly, perhaps, it is a young man from the Toronto area orchestrating a remarkable turnaround. Quarterback Kurtis Rourke, who grew up just west of the city in Oakville, Ont., has guided the Hoosiers to an NCAA-best 6-0 record in his first year with the team after transferring from Ohio for his final season of college ball.

"It's been really awesome," Rourke, the younger brother of B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke, said Thursday over the phone from Bloomington, Ind.

"Being able to have this excitement around the locker room but also around the town — this town has pretty much been a basketball town, just because of the success the basketball team has had. But they've been all about football this year and been really supportive. That's been one of the best parts of the season, for sure."

While Indiana might not have had the toughest schedule in the first half of the season, it's safe to assume very few people saw this sort of campaign coming.

After posting losing records in five of seven seasons under previous coach Tom Allen, Indiana hired veteran coach Curt Cignetti from James Madison University. Cignetti, who had great success guiding the Virginia school in the much smaller Sun Belt Conference, went right to work in the transfer portal in an effort to make the Hoosiers competitive after the team went 9-27 the past three years.

One of the targets was Rourke, who was excellent in the smaller Mid-American Conference at Ohio. Twelve of Indiana's 22 starters are at least seniors, per the Indiana Daily Student.

"I didn't have any expectations really going in," the six-foot-five Rourke said. "I knew it was a bigger stage, I knew it was a challenge I wanted. But a lot of conversations I had with the coaching staff, coach Cignetti and coach Tino (Sunseri, the team's co-offensive co-ordinator and a former Saskatchewan Roughriders QB) was what their vision was for this upcoming year. That was something that spoke out a lot to me.

"(Cignetti) laid out he wasn't trying to rebuild, he was trying to win and this is how he was going to do it. ... I knew we would make some noise this year. I can't say I expected everything to happen the way it did. But I don't think any of this is too surprising to everybody in the locker room, if that makes sense."

Rourke, probably best known before this year for being Nathan's younger brother, is fifth in the country with 1,752 passing yards and fourth with a 73.8 per cent completion percentage. He has thrown 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions.

Not bad for just the third Canadian quarterback to start for a power-conference team since 2000 — the others being (The Bachelor) Jesse Palmer at Florida and Christian Veilleux at Pittsburgh last year before he transferred to Georgia State, where this year he is the starter.

Just a few weeks ago, Cignetti was calling out Indiana fans for not staying in the stadium for the entire game. Since then, much has changed. Indiana graduate and Monday Night Football play-by-play man Joe Buck gave kudos to the team during a Seahawks-Lions game — "I mean, come on, 5-0, coach Cignetti doing his thing. Kurtis Rourke, our quarterback. I mean, it's an exciting time," Buck told broadcast partner Troy Aikman.

Last week, following a win at Northwestern, Cignetti led travelling fans in an 'I-U' cheer to celebrate. A few days later, Rourke was named Big Ten co-offensive player of the week for the second time.

“He’s like an old grizzly NFL vet that’s played in the Pro Bowl a few times and taken thousands of snaps and knows how to handle every situation and circumstance,” Cignetti told the Under the Hood podcast this week.

Earlier this year, Indiana recorded its first statement win at the historic Rose Bowl, beating UCLA. It was the same venue where Indiana visited after the 1967 season for its post-season bowl. That also was the last season the Hoosiers started 6-0.

"The Rose Bowl, you recognize it and try not to be a fan until after the game," Rourke said. "You want to focus on just playing the game and getting the most out of it. After the game in the locker room, I was talking to people about how cool the locker room was. ... It was one of those beautiful venues I definitely would like to go back when I'm not playing and be a spectator and really take it in even more."

The schedule gets much more daunting after a bye week — starting with a home game against Nebraska next Saturday. Indiana announced a sellout of 52,626-seat Memorial Stadium on Thursday, the school's first since 2021, per The Daily Hoosier.

A trip to Ohio State ("I know it's going to be another pinch-me moment when we get to Ohio State," Rourke said) and home games against reigning national champ Michigan and runner-up Washington also loom.

But Indiana won't be a free spot on the bingo card for perennial powerhouses. The Hoosiers are ranked 18th in the country in the latest AP poll and this year the College Football Playoff features 12 teams, up from four.

"We have a lot of goals and, ultimately, like you said, it's winning one game at a time," Rourke said. "But another goal is to make the Playoff and ultimately go as far as we can. I definitely think it's realistic. We do really believe if we put our best football out there, we can beat anyone lined up against us. It's how we execute and how we play. We're excited for each challenge."

This is what Rourke signed up for. In his final year, he wanted to play against the best competition possible ahead of the NFL Draft. Nathan, who played at Ohio his entire college career, was undrafted by the NFL. He bounced around practice rosters and backup spots for two years before opting to return to B.C. this summer.

"Subconsciously, (thoughts of the NFL Draft are) always there. It's hard not to think about your future, for sure," Kurtis Rourke said. "But I try as best as I can to live in the present. I know I have bigger things to worry about right now, preparing for Nebraska and everything like that. The more success the team has, the more it helps in all aspects."

That's the same way he's treating any thoughts of a Heisman Trophy run, which seemed unfathomable a few weeks ago. Not even listed on the BetMGM board for Heisman odds before the season, Rourke is 15th in this week's odds.

"I've had some friends send me pictures, screenshots," Rourke said. "It's quite an honour to be on that list and I attribute a lot of it to the way the offence has been going and it's been run, and the fact we have a ton of playmakers that help me get the statistics I end up having. It's not something I'll think about too much. I just want to continue (to focus on the) main goals and win every game, but it's quite an honour for sure to be recognized so far this first half of the season."

Of course, Rourke has a pretty good person to turn to if he needs support — Nathan.

While they often are compared because they are brothers, the reality is they are very different quarterbacks — the taller Kurtis is more of a prototypical pocket passer, though he is capable of running for yardage. But they still have much in common.

"We definitely try to talk at least once a week, and not just talk about football and what's coming up, but also talk about life and try to take a step back and catch up as brothers," Kurtis Rourke said. "I'm wishing him the best against Saskatchewan this week and hope they can pull out the win and get home-field advantage for the first week of the playoffs. I'm excited to watch."

Larry and Robyn Rourke, the quarterbacks' parents, have been racking up the frequent-flyer miles. Last week, Larry watched the Lions beat the Calgary Stampeders in Vancouver before hustling to Illinois to catch Indiana beat Northwestern the next day. In a bit of good news for the busy family, the Grey Cup in Vancouver on Nov. 17 comes on another bye week for Indiana.

Larry and Robyn have had more than football to celebrate, too. Kurtis got married to Caroline Clippard, a former Ohio volleyball star, in February in Cincinnati. Caroline is now living with her husband in Indiana, enjoying this wild ride.

"I'm truly blessed to be married to her," Rourke said, "and have the support system in all aspects and be able to play here with such a great program, such a great team."