Offense Beats Defense in 2024 Spring Game
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Written by: TJ Inman
An enthusiastic crowd at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington welcomed in the unofficial beginning of the Curt Cignetti era for the Indiana Hoosiers. Indiana’s 2024 Spring Game consisted of a pair of 15-minute quarters as the offense (wearing Crimson) squared off against the defense (wearing Cream). Curt Cignetti called it a “glorified practice” but the product on the field was spirited and both sides clearly wanted the victory.
Indiana’s offense began with Kurtis Rourke taking the first snaps at quarterback and leading the offense to a pair of first downs before the drive stalled and resulted in three points for the defense. Tayven Jackson got the next series and the redshirt sophomore came out firing, completing all seven of his passes and finishing the drive with a laser to Donaven McCulley for a touchdown on a slant pattern. The quarterback rotation continued as Kurtis Rourke re-entered and running back Kaelon Black burst around the outside and ran across midfield but the first-team defense stiffened to get another stop. Tayven Jackson led another scoring drive and stayed perfect on the evening, getting a long completion on third down to Andison Coby that took the ball inside the five-yard line. Justice Ellison punctuated the drive with a short touchdown run to make the score 14-6.
As the second quarter began, Kaelon Black had a pair of nice runs and Ty Son Lawton finished the Kurtis Rourke led drive with a powerful run. He bowled over a defender and fell into the end zone to make it 21-6 in favor of the offense. The game flipped at that point as the defense began to dig in. Tyler Cherry made his debut and the defense got consecutive stops to cut the deficit to nine points at 21-12. Kurtis Rourke came in again but the defensive streak continued as a sack ended the drive and got three more points. Tayven Jackson finally made a mistake and Terry Jones made him pay. The transfer from Old Dominion made a great read and intercepted a pass to the flank to get the defense four points and make the score 21-19.
IU’s defense forced a 51-yard field goal attempt that was missed, giving the defense a 22-21 lead. Another stop made it 25-21 in favor of the defense and head coach Curt Cignetti setup a two-minute drive to be led by Kurtis Rourke. Rourke connected with tight end Ethan Horton and wide receiver Elijah Sarratt to move the ball and with 45 seconds remaining, he completed a touchdown pass to Andison Coby to give the offense the 28-25 lead. IU called a timeout with two seconds left to hand the ball off to a young fan that was able to score a touchdown as well as a lifetime memory. The final score was 34-25.
Hoosier Huddle will have full stats and additional coverage of the 2024 Spring Game but for now, let’s review some of the instant takeaways from Thursday night’s scrimmage.
Instant Reactions
The offensive line gave each quarterback a clean pocket and was really quite impressive. That was an encouraging display from Bob Bostad’s unit.
Kurtis Rourke and Tayven Jackson both made plenty of plays that should provide encouragement but the offense is definitely still a work in progress.
Andison Coby had a very nice performance. He made multiple big plays and had two touchdowns on the evening. His speed has never been in question and if he can consistently catch the ball and be relied upon, he can be an additional weapon in a very deep receiver room.
The running backs looked outstanding. Kaelon Black, Ty Son Lawton, Elijah Green and Justice Ellison each made contributions.
Defensive backs Amare Ferrell, Kobee Minor, Jamier Johnson and Terry Jones each made nice plays.