Notebook: Braun says Northwestern has 'a lot of work to do'
On the heels of a rollercoaster 17-14 win over UCLA, Northwestern head coach David Braun took the podium at Walter Athletics Center on Monday and said that his team has a lot of areas to improve.
“First, we learned that we still have a lot of work to do,” he said. “We still need to develop a mentality of what it looks like to put teams away when you have them on the ropes.”
The Wildcats 17-3 at halftime and then had to hold on for dear life as the winless Bruins’ 11-0 second-half run fell just short. The defense made two key stops on UCLA drives in final six minutes to preserve the win.
Next up is Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday for Northwestern’s Homecoming game. The Warhawks are 3-1, with their only loss a 73-0 blowout at current No. 10 Alabama in Week 2.
“It’s a really good football team coming in here,” Braun said. “Coach [Bryant] Vincent has done a tremendous job these last two years. He inherited a program that was really struggling.”
Vincent took over ULM after a 2-10 season under Terry Bowden. Vincent is 8-8 through his first 16 games at ULM, while Braun’s career mark is 14-15 at Northwestern, with a good chance to get to a .500 mark of his own.
Braun, a former FCS coach, is 5-0 in his career in home games against non-Power Four programs.
Injury updates
Braun said the team is “really excited” about where safety Damon Walters and cornerback Josh Fussell are in their recovery processes. Walters has missed all four games this season, and Fussell missed the UCLA game, as well as the second half against Oregon.
“We’ll know more later this week on those two specifically, but excited about where the health of our football team is trending right now,” Braun said.
On the down side, Braun revealed that defensive tackle Dylan Roberts is out for the season. However, fellow defensive tackle Migo Jackson, a grad transfer, may make his Northwestern debut soon after missing the first four games this year.
“I won’t get into specific, but we’re optimistic about Migo,” Braun said. “[He] was having a great fall camp, got dinged up, has been more long term than you would like it to be but very optimstic that we’ll get Migo back.”
Braun wants change in redshirt rules
Players currently may play up to four games in a season before deciding to redshirt, so the fifth game of the season always looms large in the transfer portal era. Braun said he hasn’t heard from any of his players about sitting out the rest of the season with an intent to transfer.
Northwestern has been more immune than most programs to this kind of transfer portal turbulence, but it’s still a relief to hear that they’ll have all of their contributors at their disposal for the remainder of the schedule.
Braun said that he would like to see student athletes automatically get five years of eligibility and eliminate the redshirt process completely.
“There’s so much hanging in the balance. I don’t envy young people right now in the landscape of college football, but roster sizes are shrinking,” he said. “Between the powers that be to make these decisions, and I know there’s still a lot of litigation out there, but something needs to happen in the next nine months.
“We need to make this very clear and concise for our young people: you have five years to play five years. This model of redshirt, it makes zero sense… It just isn’t fair to our young student athletes, but we have a team right now that’s committed.”
Braun pointed out he wants to be able to use young talent on his team, especially on special teams, without worrying about the redshirt dilemma.
“The amount of young guys we have contributing on special teams, our kickoff team right now, they’re contributing and having a huge impact,” he said. “We need those guys to win games, and we’ve been very transparent with our team in terms of managing a roster in this new landscape.
“But ultimately, the powers that be need to take that [redshirt] option out of the equation, especially with rosters shrinking.”
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Hope for more practice reps to kickstart receiving depth
Northwestern has a star receiver in Griffin Wilde, who has 22 catches for 311 yards and a touchdown through four games.
But the rest of the receiving room has struggled mightily. Frank Covey IV, Ricky Ahumaraeze, Hayden Eligon II and Drew Wagner have combined for 15 catches for 163 yards and two touchdowns.
Eligon and Wagner got the starting nod against UCLA, replacing Ahumaraeze and Covey. But they only mustered three catches for -4 yards between them.
Braun lauded the work each player has done in the blocking game, especially Covey, before admitting their need to improve as receivers. He hopes increased reps and health in practice will help.
“Some of the best timing we see out of Preston [Stone] is with Griff, and he’s been the most consistent participant in practice throughout spring, summer and fall camp,” he said. “Now with guys being back a little bit longer, with Drew and Hayden, you hope that timing and rhythm starts to show up…
“We knew going into this season that is going to be a wide receiver group that was unproven, that was going to have to continue to ascend as the season went along. Excited to see some breakthrough for some of those guys because there’s more in the tank out of that room than what we’re seeing.”
Pace of play a pleasant byproduct of offense
With the recent success of their ground game, Northwestern has slammed on the brakes in their past two games. They ran 59 plays against Oregon and 60 against UCLA, less than they did in either of their first two games but still more than their opponents in each game.
“I wouldn’t say there was a conscious effort to slow down the tempo…” Braun said. “In our formula, offensively, to play winning football, it starts with running. And when you’re effectively running the football, that can lead to longer drives and limited possession games.
“I think [that trend] is a reflection of the effectiveness that we run the football with… But there’s not a calculated measure in slowing down the game.”
The Wildcats have kept their last three opponents under 60 plays, going 2-1 in those games with the one loss coming to now-No. 2 Oregon.
