Former Indiana University Football Quarterback Kurtis Rourke taken to the hospital after first NFL appearance Former IU football quarterback Kurtis Rourke saw his first game action Thursday evening since Indiana played at Notre Dame in the 2024 College Football Playoff. After a long layoff, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback experienced the highs and lows. The starter for the 49er’s preseason opener, Rourke played most of the first half and played well but was taken to the hospital as a precaution after suffering a rib injury. Fortunately, coach Kyle Shanahan said Rourke’s injury is not believed to be serious. “They said ribs, he was struggling to breathe so they took him to the hospital just to check on him and make sure he’s alright. X-rays in here didn’t show it was broken,” Shanahan said to the media postgame. “They just wanted to get more imaging and find out, so they weren’t too concerned. I don’t want to downplay it but I don’t want to overplay it either.”
Rourke completed 12 of 14 passes for 101 yards before leaving the game. Competing for a spot on the 53-man roster, Rourke made a solid impression. “He looked good. Got the ball to the right spot, played well,” Shanahan said. Rourke played the 2024 season at Indiana with a torn ACL in his right knee. Leading IU to a 11-2 season, Rourke finished ninth in the 2024 Heisman voting. His 2024 season for the Hoosiers propelled Rourke up draft boards, but a later disclosed knee injury that required postseason surgery resulted in him falling to San Francisco in the seventh-round. He missed the entire 2025 season. Leading IU to one of its best seasons ever, Rourke was named second-team All-Big Ten Conference in 2024. He set a then school single-season record with 29 passing TDs. Rourke ranked eighth in the FBS with a 69.4 percent completion rate (222-320), and he was tied for 10th with the 29 passing TDs (against 5 INTs).
Former Indiana Hoosier Kyle Schwarber hits 2 homers as the Philadelphia Phillies defeat the Minnesota Twins in Iowa Kyle Schwarber grew up in Middletown, Ohio, played college ball at Indiana and spent his first six major league seasons with the Chicago Cubs. The 33-year-old Philadelphia Phillies slugger added another thoroughly Midwestern highlight to his well-decorated career Thursday night, hitting two home runs into an Iowa cornfield. Schwarber led off the Field of Dreams game with a homer and then connected for a two-run shot in the fourth inning to spark the Phillies in a 7-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins. “We all watched the movie as kids, so it was really cool to be able to see exactly where it was and just kind of the full ceremony of it, too,” said Schwarber, who leads the major leagues with 37 home runs. “Just an unbelievable experience.”
After helping the Cubs win the World Series in 2016, making the postseason 10 times in his first 11 years and being selected to four All-Star teams, Schwarber has been building quite the resume. With 377 career home runs and counting, perhaps he’ll one day join the club in Cooperstown like the 26 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame who took part in the pregame pomp at the newly constructed ballpark.
For now, Schwarber has an unforgettable night to share with his family forever. His two children are too young to watch or understand the movie now, but he can’t wait to watch the 1989 film with them down the road. “You might not ever get to play another big league baseball game here, so to be able to have that experience, it’s a unique thing for you and it’s something you’re going to bring up to your kids,” Schwarber said. “We’re going to watch that movie together with my kids one day and be able to say, ‘Hey, dad got to play there,’ or, ‘See that house in this movie? I got to see it.’ So it’ll be really cool.”
Minnesota Twins right fielder Luke Keaschall, who homered in the loss, nearly caught Schwarber’s second home run above the wall, but the ball glanced off his glove and into the dark green sea of corn. “It was up there a while. In a perfect world, I think I should catch it,” Keaschall said. “I didn’t today.” The Phillies moved a half-game ahead of idle Arizona into the third and final wild-card spot for the NL playoffs. So, Schwarber’s big swings meant more than just a page in his personal memory book. “To have a good season a lot of guys have to have good years, but the aircraft carriers have still got to carry you,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said. “That just takes pressure off of everyone.” Having entered the night just 10-15 since the All-Star break, the Phillies needed a bit of a jolt like the magic of the movie site and game location can produce — and their star designated hitter can provide. “I feel like some people could take that for granted because he’s done it so many times, but we definitely don’t,” Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola said. “There’s no moment ever too big for him.”
Big Ten Network analyst says Indiana University Football’s Defensive Line in discussion for league’s best in 20 years Dave Revsine has been with the Big Ten Network from the beginning. He’s seen a lot in 20 years, including a lot of bad Indiana football. The Hoosiers have had plenty of talented skill position players in the BTN era. James Hardy, Marcus Thigpen, Cody Latimer, Tevin Coleman, Jordan Howard and Nate Sudfeld are names that spring to mind. But if there was one common denominator across the last two decades that kept the Hoosiers from being competitive in the Big Ten, it was the defensive line. Unable to generate a pass rush and stop the run, Indiana could score points but typically not enough. IU had never won a postseason game since BTN was formed, that is until 2025. And Revsine believes at least one aspect of the 2026 Hoosiers is better not only than the 2025 team, but on par with any Big Ten team of the last 20 years.
Here’s what Revsine posted on his X account Friday while watching IU practice in Bloomington. It was rather staggering. “Area that stood out the most – the DL,” Revsine said. “Tyrique Tucker is borderline unblockable – whole group is just fabulous. “In the discussion for the best B1G DL we’ve seen in 20 years of doing this – incredibly deep and talented. “Great additions – including Tobi Osunsanmi from K-State.” To fully grasp what Revsine is saying, consider — Ohio State has won two national titles and lost three final games in the last 20 years, while Michigan and IU have each won one. Hunting for a repeat title, Indiana is now strongest where it has historically been the weakest. Tyrique Tucker and Mario Landino form a veteran interior duo, while Joe Hjelle and Chiddi Obiazor provide depth. The Hoosiers are absolutely loaded on the outside, with three-deep starter-caliber talent at both the stud (Daniel Ndukwe, Tobi Osunsanmi and Kellan Wyatt) and field end positions (Stephen Daley, Josh Burnham and Obiazor).
Indiana University Men’s Tennis Announces the 2026 Fall Schedule Indiana head coach Jeremy Wurtzman has announced the fall Men’s Tennis schedule for the 2026-27 season. The Hoosiers will play in seven different tournaments from September to November. Indiana will open the fall season with the UT Hidden Duals from Sep. 18-20 in Knoxville, Tenn. Directly from there, Indiana will have a handful of Hoosiers compete in the ITA All-American Championships from Sep. 20-28 in Tulsa, Okla. There will be three competitions for Indiana in October. From Oct. 2-4, Indiana will play in the Louisville Invite before heading to ITA Regionals (Oct. 8-13) in Nashville, Tenn. In the last weekend of October, Indiana will compete in the Big Ten Individual Championships from Oct. 29-Nov. 1. That tournament will take place in Ann Arbor, Mich. In November, Indiana will compete in the ITA Sectionals (Nov. 5-8) in Gainesville, Fla. before the NCAA Individual Championships (Nov. 17-22) hosted in Athens, Ga. The team’s spring schedule will be announced at a later date.
Indiana Men’s Tennis 2026 Fall Schedule Sep. 18-20 | UT Hidden Duals | Knoxville, Tenn. | All Day
Sep. 20-28 | ITA All-American Championships | Tulsa, Okla. | All Day October 2-4 | Louisville Invite | Louisville, Ky. | All Day
October 8-13 | ITA Regionals | Nashville, Tenn. | All Day
October 29-Nov. 1 | Big Ten Individual Championships | Ann Arbor, Mich. | All Day November 5-8 | ITA Sectionals | Gainesville, Fla. | All Day
November 17-22 | NCAA Individual Championships | Athens, Ga. | All Day
Indiana Fever stars Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell react to Stephanie White being booed Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White received boos from fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Tuesday before the team’s game against the New York Liberty. Caitlin Clark voiced her support for White after the team’s win. On Thursday, Fever stars Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell also backed their coach. “I think when you are on your home floor and your team is getting announced and the coach is getting announced, I feel like there is no reason for any of that,” Boston said. “We come out here and we do everything that we can to win and I think Steph (Stephanie White) does a great job with us. We love her and we appreciate her. To hear that, it was really annoying, honestly, and disrespectful. But for us, we kept the main thing the main thing and we said we’re going to come out here and we’re going to get that dub.”
“It kind of threw me for a loop too,” Mitchell said. “I told her to her face, I said, ‘Coach, this is for you,’ in terms of just a sense of confidence, a sense of awareness that you’re not alone. And if anybody knows me, I don’t play that. It really hurt my feelings to see her kind of have emotions in terms of like, not feeling valued and not feeling wanted in a place where she has to coach. At the end of the day, this is her job and she has to show up too, and I think that people don’t really recognize that and I think that it’s our job to remind her, it’s our culture and I think that we have to remind her that our culture is not going to let her fall to the wayside. So, I hope she knows that.” The boos for Stephanie White come after some on social media have criticized her for her response to the flagrant foul on Sophie Cunningham by Sky guard DiJonai Carrington on Saturday.
RV Taylor University Women’s Volleyball Begins Season with a Pair of Losses at Keiser Tournament RV Taylor (0-2) kicked off the 2026 season at the Keiser Tournament on Friday, dropping a tight five-setter against Morningside (2-0) before fading in the third set in a loss to No. 14 St. Thomas (1-1). The Trojans began the season with a match against Morningside which went five sets. After dropping the opening two, TU fought back to win the next two before ultimately falling in a close fifth set. The Mustangs offense was electric t begin the match hitting over .325 in the first two sets as the Trojans struggled to keep up. The defense responded by holding Morningside under .175 in the next two sets to get even.
Keying the defense was Ruth Anderson, who tallied six blocks, including three solo as the Trojans piled up 15 blocks in the five-set thriller. Anderson added eight kills as the sophomore is looking to build on a fantastic freshman campaign. Ellie Herschberger notched a team-high 20 kills on a superb .341hitting percentage. The senior six-rotation player added 11 digs, three assists, one block, and a service ace. Suzanne Storey was outstanding at the service line with three aces and no errors as TU racked up seven aces in the match. Freshman, Azure Flagle led the squad with 19 digs in her collegiate debut.
Taylor had no time to sit on the tough loss before matching up against No. 14 St. Thomas and fell in straight sets. The Trojans played two tight sets to begin the match and were ahead 17-12 in the second but could not close the deal before unraveling in the third to cement the sweep. After hitting a solid .345 in the first set TU’s offense went cold, hitting under .100 in the second and negative in the final set. Herschberger led the squad with 12 kills and a respectable .276 hitting percentage as the senior has started the season brightly after an All-American debut season with the Trojans.
Taylor University Football Picked Second in the MSFA Mideast League Poll The Mid-States Football Association announced its Mideast League Preseason Poll on Friday, with Taylor picked to finish second in the six-team division. TU garnered one first-place vote and 19 points in the poll, trailing only Indiana Wesleyan’s 25 points and five first-place votes. The Trojans finished second in the MSFA Mideast League one year ago, ending the 2025 campaign at 7-4 overall and 4-1 in league play. On the heels of its first back-to-back winning seasons since 2009 and 2010, TU is eyeing its first stretch of three-straight winning seasons since doing so from 1997 through 1999. Taylor is set up to continue its winning ways this season, returning 16 players with starting experience and 12 players with All-MSFA awards on their resume.
That large group of returners helped Taylor set single-season program records with 48.5 points and 503.9 total yards of offense last season, ranking fourth in the NAIA in scoring and fifth in offensive yardage. TU did much of its damage on the ground, ranking second in the NAIA with 304.9 rushing yards per game and returns five offensive linemen with starting experience for the upcoming season. Taylor is set to open its 2026 campaign at Olivet Nazarene on Thursday, August 27 in an 8:00 pm (ET) start. The two sides have turned in a pair of high-scoring overtime classics in their last two meetings, with TU winning, 58-51, at ONU in 2024 and the Tigers returning the favor with a 48-42 win inside Turner Stadium in 2025.