All you could hear were chants of “Let’s go Hoosiers” in the Rose Bowl Stadium on Saturday night. Indiana fans showed up loud and proud for their team in Los Angeles as the Hoosiers took on the Bruins for their first Big Ten match of the season.
Indiana emerged victorious with a 42-13 win in the first-ever meeting between the two teams. Senior transfer quarterback Kurtis Rourke led the Hoosiers to their third win of the season, throwing for four touchdowns throughout the game.
“I thought in general he was really sharp,” Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti said about Rourke. Cignetti was quick to credit the rest of the offense, who protected their quarterback and provided opportunities.
“It takes all 11 guys, Kurtis will be the first to tell you that.”
On the other side, UCLA’s new head coach, DeShaun Foster, tried to find the positives after a tough loss in the Bruins' Big Ten debut.
Foster reflected on the game as “a learning experience on both sides of the ball” and emphasized that the team needs to keep improving as the season progresses.
The Bruins were led by senior quarterback Ethan Garbers, who had a rough night on the field. Garbers was sacked twice, fumbled the ball, and threw an interception before sophomore Justyn Martin took over to finish out the fourth quarter.
“We’re excited to go back and watch this tape and really get better. It’s one thing to talk about it, but it’s another thing to do it. This team is really resilient, and we needed to be shown that we’re not there right now. There’s a lot of work to be done, and we’re excited to do that work,” Foster added.
Despite the outcome, Garbers and the rest of the team are eager to review the film and see how they can improve in the coming weeks. “This team is really resilient. We really needed to be shown that we’re not there right now, and there’s a lot of work to be done, and we’re excited to do that work,” Garbers shared.
Both teams are looking ahead to their next matchups. UCLA will travel to Baton Rouge to take on LSU next Saturday, while Indiana heads home to play Charlotte for their week four matchup.
Key Quotes:
Curt Cignetti: “We went in there, we wanted to play physical, tough, nasty, and we did. There is no one in our locker room surprised.”
DeShaun Foster: “We’re just not executing. If we were seeing this at practice, it would be easy to fix. But we’re executing at practice; it just hasn’t carried over to the game yet.”
Ethan Garbers: “We’ve gotta learn from this. We’ve gotta bounce back. It’s week two of a long season, and we can’t let this one moment define who we are as a team.”
