Numbers that Matter: Charlotte 49ers

Written by: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)

Three weeks and three victories are under the Hoosiers’ belts and there are few stats that aren’t enjoyable to admire if you’re an Indiana fan so far. After a dominant 42-13 victory in the Rose Bowl against UCLA last week, this week the Hoosiers will welcome the Charlotte 49ers to Bloomington for their final non-conference matchup of the season. Let’s take a loot at some of the stats that have stood out so far. 

0

If you have been on Twitter/X this week, surely you’ve seen at least one PFF graphic that included a top Indiana player or team performance. This one stood out to me especially; after three weeks of play, Indiana is the only Power Four team to have zero drops so far. Kurtis Rourke has been great and he has had the help of a strong receiving core thus far.

Couldn’t Say It Better Myself, Coach

Coach Cignetti must be a fan of the analytics as well, because he opened up his press conference this week perfectly summing up how Indiana was able to easily take care of business last week.

“Did a great job on third down offense level, 9-of-12, 5-of-5 touchdowns in the red area. I think for the year, we're 6-0 in the turnover ratio. Taken it away six times, have not turned the ball over. Responded to their field goals or scores with scores, had a 90-yard drive, an 87-yard drive, two 75s. Defense held them to under 250 yards total offense, and 2 of 8 on third down. So, you know good, solid performance.”

If the Hoosiers can continue to work with efficiency on both sides of the ball as Cignetti describes, they should continue their dominant stretch. 

19th for only Five

Kurtis Rourke had a phenomenal day last week and has seen the accolades from the performance come through all week. But he couldn’t have done this without the stellar play of his offensive line, which has been great all year. Currently, the Hoosiers are 19th nationally in sacks allowed (two) for only five yards (11th fewest in the nation).

“We did a great job protecting,” said Cignetti. “We had no sacks. And, you know, receivers did a nice job of separating and made some really good catches too. So, I thought he played extremely well.”

Five

After three weeks of play, there remain just five schools that have yet to have a turnover: Louisiana-Monroe, Louisville, Ohio State, Georgia, and Indiana. Of those five, the Hoosiers also have forced the most turnovers from the defensive side of the ball (6) and thus rank 7th nationally in turnover margin.

1.3

Last season when the Indiana offense was more of a chore to watch, I was often looking for outlier stats… Unfortunately, I could often find them in the performance of James Evans (if you’ve forgotten, that is Indiana’s punter). That has not been the case in 2024. Indiana has punted just four times this season, averaging 1.3 punts per game. When Evans came out in the closing moments of the UCLA victory, it was actually the first time he had punted in 128 minutes and 53 seconds of game time.

As Don Fischer said on the radio, that’ll likely hurt his Ray Guy Award candidacy; a sacrifice Indiana fans are willing to make.

2

Amare Ferrell has settled in nicely to the rover position and currently is fifth nationally with two interceptions for 20 yards (ironically, old friend Phillip Dunham leads the nation with 140 interception yards on his two picks). Cignetti spoke highly of Ferrell’s ability to cover an important position in Haines’ defensive system.

“I thought he had a good game Saturday,” said Cignetti. “You see him building weekly on his successes and playing with more confidence. That's an important position to rover, we call that, because you've got to be good against the run and the pass.”