Indiana ranks 36th nationally out of 133 teams allowed.

So on the surface, pressure on the quarterback doesn’t seem to be a big problem for the 10-1 Hoosiers.

But the last two games looked nothing like the first nine.

IU has allowed 16 sacks this season, a manageable 1.46 per game. But upon closer inspection, nine of those sixteen sacks came in Indiana’s last two games, an unsurvivable 4.5 per contest. Before Indiana hosted Michigan, games came and went, and it hardly felt like Kurtis Rourke was being pressured, let alone taken down. The Hoosiers allowed just seven sacks in their first nine games.

But coupled with an injury to starting guard Drew Evans and a significant uptick in talent and athleticism on the other side of the ball, there was a flood of hits on star quarterback Rourke, who had been in the Heisman conversation for nine games.

Under constant pressure in the final six quarters, Rourke no longer looked like the confident and accurate quarterback, even when he had time to survey the field. His head coach believes IU’s weak pass protection had an impact on his signal caller.

“We have to take the hits away from the quarterback, because I don’t know any quarterback in the country, if they get hit over and over again, they all lose their effectiveness,” Curt Cignetti said this week as IU prepared for its rivalry game against Purdue.

“When he (Rourke) had the opportunity to throw the football, he wasn’t quite as effective with his reading skills or his accuracy, and when you get rocked like that, not a lot of guys are.”

Perhaps Purdue will provide the breathing space needed before the postseason to allow the line to build more continuity and Rourke to regain confidence.

The Boilermakers are no pushovers. They have generated 20 sacks this season. This is how they can get to the quarterback. But there’s a big talent gap between Purdue and Ohio State and Michigan, which have 35 and 31 sacks, respectively, ranking sixth and 21st nationally in that regard.

Part of Indiana’s problem against Ohio State was crowd noise.

For the first time this season, IU had to silently count to snap the ball. After the game, there were rumors among players that Ohio State recognized the signal and timed the snaps perfectly. It seemed like the Buckeyes knew when the ball would be snapped. A few times they had three defenders on Rourke before he could react.

If Indiana ends up being eliminated from the College Football Playoff, which seems to be the most likely scenario at this point, there’s a good chance they could find themselves in this situation again.

But Cignetti saw more than just the crowd noise troubling his Hoosiers.

“Missed tasks and poor technology would be the issues,” said Cignetti. “Five sacks against Ohio State, we had three missed assignments, routine stuff, communication stuff. We got physically beaten once and had poor technique on a weak side twist, which is similar to what Michigan gave us the week before, a little different but similar. They had a slightly weak side linebacker in the twist that we just didn’t do a good job with.

“We need to get back in line offensively and find our rhythm again where we play with a lot of confidence, score points, score in groups and run and throw the ball with equal success.”

Indiana and Purdue square off Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. ET in Bloomington (FS1).

For complete coverage of IU football, click HERE.

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