Rourke helps No. 23 Indiana stay unbeaten with 41-24 victory over Northwestern

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Rourke helps No. 23 Indiana stay unbeaten with 41-24 victory over Northwestern

2024-10-06 06:57 Last Updated At：07:00

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Kurtis Rourke threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns to help No. 23 Indiana stay unbeaten with a 41-24 victory over Northwestern on Saturday.

The Hoosiers (6-0) also had 158 yards on the ground with Justice Ellison (68 yards) and Ty Son Lawton (52 yards) each having a rushing TD. Elijah Sarratt had 135 yards on seven catches. The Hoosiers matched their best start to the season with the six wins, equaling the 1967 squad.

Jack Lausch had a bounce-back performance for Northwestern, throwing for 243 yards and two scores. Bryce Kirtz and A.J. Henning were his favorite targets, combining for 195 yards on 16 catches.

Following a slow start, both teams combined for five consecutive scoring drives to end the first half. Indiana took a 17-10 lead into the break, led by Rourke’s 196 yards. Miles Cross made a toe-tapping catch in the back of the end zone to break a 7-7 tie and put the Hoosiers in front for good.

Henning caught two touchdowns in the second half, including a two-yard screen pass that cut the deficit to 27-24. However, Northwestern’s defense could not stop Indiana from marching down the field for touchdowns on consecutive drives and the Hoosiers put the game away.

The nation’s No. 3 scoring offense entering Saturday broke the 40-point mark for the fifth time this season, putting up over 500 yards of total offense with no turnovers. Rourke enjoyed his third 300-yard performance in the last four games, while the Hoosiers averaged 4.9 yards per carry on the ground prior to the final drive. Indiana had the 11th-worst offense in 2023, scoring 22.2 points per outing.

The Wildcats held Indiana to a turnover on downs and punt to open the game, but Northwestern’s defense gave up seven straight scoring drives (five touchdown, two field goal) to essentially seal the game away. The main culprit was missed tackling, namely on a 52-yard catch-and-run by Ke-Shawn Williams, who escaped four Northwestern defenders. Indiana’s 41 points were the most allowed by the Wildcats in their five games played.

Indiana: The Hoosier defense struggled to stop Northwestern at times, but Indiana’s calling card has been its offense, which continued its dominant start to the season. Rourke excelled and was aided by a strong ground attack.

Northwestern: Despite the loss, the Wildcats can find optimism in giving 6-0 Indiana one of its toughest challenges yet. Lausch rebounded well from a disastrous game in Washington where he completed less than 30% of his passes, showcasing his abilities both through the air and on the ground.

Indiana: The Hoosiers have a bye week before hosting Nebraska on Oct. 19.

Northwestern: The Wildcats have a short week and will head to College Park to take on Maryland next Friday.

No. 22 Louisville fell to SMU on Saturday morning, giving Indiana a chance to rise in the polls. However, No. 9 Missouri was upset by No. 25 Texas A&M, meaning the Aggies have a good chance of leap-frogging the Hoosiers.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Trump returns to site of Pennsylvania assassination attempt for a major swing-state rally

2024-10-06 06:49 Last Updated At：06:50

BUTLER, Pa. (AP) — Donald Trump returned on Saturday to the Pennsylvania fairgrounds where he was nearly assassinated in July, holding a sprawling rally with thousands of supporters in a critical swing state Trump hopes to return to his column in November's election.

The former president and Republican nominee picked up where he left off back in July when a gunman tried to assassinate him and struck his ear. As he had suggested he would for weeks beforehand, he began his speech with, “As I was saying,” and gestured toward an immigration chart that he was looking at when the gunfire began.

The Trump campaign worked to maximize the event’s headline-grabbing potential with just 30 days to go in his race against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Musician Lee Greenwood appeared on stage and serenaded him with “God Bless the USA,” frequently played at his rallies, and billionaire Elon Musk was expected to speak later Saturday.

Trump needs to drive up voter turnout in conservative strongholds like Butler County, an overwhelmingly white, rural-suburban community, if he wants to win Pennsylvania in November. Harris, too, has targeted her campaign efforts at Pennsylvania, rallying there repeatedly as part of her aggressive outreach in critical swing states.

Early in his speech, Trump asked for a moment of silence to honor firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died as he shielded family members from gunfire. Opera singer Christopher Macchio sang “Ave Maria” after a bell rung at the same time that gunfire began on July 13.

Standing behind protective glass that now encases the stage at his outdoor rallies, Trump called the would-be assassin “a vicious monster” and said he did not succeed “by the hand of providence and the grace of God.”

“We fought together. We have endured together. We have pushed onward together," he said. "And right here in Pennsylvania, we have bled together. We’ve bled.”

Before Trump's appearance, his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, got on stage at the Butler Farm Show grounds to speak before the former president and reflected on the events that day while severely criticizing Democrats for calling Trump “a threat to democracy,” saying that kind of language is “inflammatory."

"You heard the shots. You saw the blood. We all feared the worst. But you knew everything would be OK when President Trump raised his fist high in the air and shouted, ‘Fight, fight!’" said Vance, who was chosen as his vice presidential nominee less than two days later. “Now I believe it as sure as I’m standing here today that what happened was a true miracle.”

Musk, who has pushed into conservative politics, met with Trump and Vance backstage, donning a black “Make America Great Again” hat. A billboard on the way into the rally said, “IN MUSK WE TRUST,” and showed his photo.

A massive crowd stood shoulder to shoulder from the stage to the press stand several hundred yards away at the event billed as a "tribute to the American spirit.” Area hotels, motels and inns were said to be full and some rallygoers arrived Friday.

Crowds were lined up as the sun rose Saturday. There was a very visible heightened security presence, with armed law enforcers in camouflage uniforms on roofs.

Much of the crowd waited several hours for Trump. About half an hour into his speech, Trump paused his speech for more than five minutes after an attendee had a medical issue and needed a medic.

Trump used the event to remember Comperatore, a volunteer firefighter struck and killed at the July 13 rally, and to recognize the two other rallygoers injured, David Dutch and James Copenhaver. They and Trump were struck when 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, opened fire from an unsecured rooftop nearby before he was fatally shot by sharpshooters.

The building from which Crooks fired was completely obscured by tractor-trailers, a large grassy perimeter and a fence. Most bleachers were now at the sides, rather than behind Trump.

How Crooks managed to outmaneuver law enforcement that day and scramble on top of a building within easy shooting distance of the ex-president is among many questions that remain unanswered about the worst Secret Service security failure in decades. Another is his motive.

Butler County District Attorney Rich Goldinger told WPXI-TV this week that “everyone is doubling down on their efforts to make sure this is done safely and correctly.”

Mike Slupe, the county sheriff, told the station he estimates the Secret Service, was deploying ”quadruple the assets” it did in July. The agency has undergone a painful reckoning over its handling of two attempts on Trump’s life.

Butler County, on the western edge of a coveted presidential swing state, is a Trump stronghold. He won the county with about 66% of the vote in both 2016 and 2020. About 57% of the county’s 139,000 registered voters are Republicans, compared with about 29% who are Democrats and 14% something else.

Chris Harpster, 30, of Tyrone, Pennsylvania, was accompanied by his girlfriend on Saturday as he returned to the scene. Of July 13, he said, “I was afraid” — as were his parents, watching at home, who texted him immediately after the shots rang out.

Heightened security measures were making him feel better now, as well as the presence of his girlfriend, a first-time rallygoer. Harpster said he will be a third-time Trump voter in November, based on the Republican nominee’s stances on immigration, guns, abortion and energy. Harpster said he hopes Pennsylvania will go Republican, particularly out of concern over gas and oil industry jobs.

Other townspeople were divided over the value of Trump's return. Heidi Priest, a Butler resident who started a Facebook group supporting Harris, said Trump's last visit fanned political tensions in the city.

“Whenever you see people supporting him and getting excited about him being here, it scares the people who don’t want to see him reelected,” she said.

Terri Palmquist came from Bakersfield, California, and said her 18-year-old daughter tried to dissuade her. “I just figure we need to not let fear control us. That’s what the other side wants is fear. If fear controls us, we lose,” she said.

She said she was not worried about her own safety.

“Honesty, I believe God’s got Trump, for some reason. I do. So we’re rooting for him.”

Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.