As Northwestern gears up for a pivotal matchup against Minnesota, head coach David Braun stressed the importance of cleaning up mistakes and possessing a forward-looking mentality down the season’s home stretch. Here’s everything Braun had to say at his weekly press conference.
Note: This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Opening statement: “Our program is looking forward to an opportunity for our last home game of the season. Looking forward to a great matchup against a really good
Minnesota team. And ultimately, we’re focused on finishing what we started. This group, this team, started something back in January. They put a lot of hard effort, energy and tension into it. There’s still a lot of really exciting things ahead of this group, but it’s time for us to go finish what we started, and finish it the right way, and that starts with a great opportunity against Minnesota. There’s only two guaranteed opportunities left. So the clock’s ticking. This group is amped up to be back in the facility, back to work, and excited for a really good matchup against a great football team.”
On Big Ten Championship aspirations: “We’re clearly not there right now, but going into the season it’s workable to win a Big Ten Championship. Ultimately, my job throughout the season, but most importantly the postseason, is to evaluate everything that we’re doing. And I wish there was a magic pill that we could take where we could snap our fingers and make it happen, but we got to evaluate it at all. Starting with me. We made some adjustments post 2024 season. I’ll point to the partnership between Coach O’Boyle and Coach Olson that’s been so fruitful for our offensive line. But ultimately, we’re not going to compromise on the expectation and standard that we’re here to go compete and win Big Ten championships. What I’m focused on right now and what Zach’s focused on right now is getting back in the foxhole and putting our guys in a great position to be successful against Minnesota offensively, defensively and on special teams. But we’re not there yet. There’s a lot of work to do.”
On generating more points offensively: “I don’t know if we’re just saying, ‘Hey, we got to get to the low 30s.’ What we’re identifying as we evaluate our team is: who are we, where are our strengths, how do we position this group to go win consistently in the Big Ten? But actionable items going into Minnesota that I’ve challenged our group on is looking at the story of some situations throughout the year, of games that we would like to have back and expected to win. We’ve got to do a better job on defense of getting off the field on third down, of playing complimentary football and building some momentum. We’ve got to do a better job, especially when the ball is inside the 10 yard line offensively, of leaving those series with touchdowns and not field goals.”
On regrouping after last week’s emotional loss: “We talked about it a little bit post game, it can be an “and” situation. There are no moral victories, AND I’m really proud of the group that I get to coach and work with. I love this group. I can’t wait to go finish this thing the right way with this group. And our guys heard the message postgame, the way that they responded getting in for treatment yesterday with a positive attitude, and even the way that we structured this morning. If we’re going to talk about moving on to Minnesota and preparing for a really talented well-coached Minnesota team, what are we doing to actually have that align with our actions? Well, we spent a little bit of time as a team yesterday, certainly as a coaching staff, evaluating and finding actionable items. But it was clear, concise and to the point in our post game clean up on Michigan, and already this morning, we’re on into Minnesota install and Minnesota walk through. It’s on to Minnesota.”
On Braden Turner’s production: “Yeah, we’re asking a lot of BT. Whether it being in coverage, whether it be in run fits, whether it be asking them to play against 12 personnel — we’re asking a lot and he’s answered that challenge. It’s really encouraging and exciting to see. Some areas that we’ve challenged him with growth, specifically his interception where he’s in a situation where he’s playing vision coverage and playing off the quarterback and knowing that the ball should have to come out quick, and he’s working off the quarterbacks, and he’s anticipating, he’s cheating his responsibility and makes a great play on the ball. And what we’re seeing is a level of consistency, but also a level of response to us challenging the growing areas, and that specifically off the interceptions is an area we’ve really been challenging on, and it’s awesome to see it show up on game day.”
On fourth quarter struggles against Michigan: “I appreciate the question. We have evaluated that. But I’m preaching to our guys that it’s time for us to move on to Minnesota. We’ve talked about it, we’ve evaluated it. But our focus is on Minnesota, we’ve moved on.”
On Braydon Brus and Robert Fitzgerald’s success: “Two guys that in their first year of starting, just to see those guys continue to grow within the defense and the confidence that they’re playing with. I think for Brus, linebacker is a hard position to transition into, especially as an every down guy, and just consistently continuing to get better and better and playing more comfortable. You see a couple open field tackles in recent recent weeks where, he’s really utilized his speed and understanding angles and finishing well. And then Fitz — he’s so gritty, so tough. He’s instinctual. You see it on his interception. Those are things out of both those guys that need to continue to show up on gameday for us.”
On long snapper Liam Reardon recovering a fumble: “I’ve seen long snappers recover fumbles. I don’t recall a force fumble, and I certainly don’t recall a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. The thing I love most about that, obviously what happened was awesome, but the passion. He’s a young man that’s been with the program for less than a year, and just showed up, went to work, totally bought in, loves being a ‘Cat. The passion that was shown on him coming off the field. That dude will do whatever it takes to be a great teammate and position this team for victory on game day, and it’s excited to have an opportunity to do it a few more times with him.”
On Hunter Welcing becoming the main receiver option: “During our postseason last year, in evaluation — not taking anything from our tight ends last year — I think there was this moment where we thought we could have found ways to utilize him more last year. And to his credit, Hunter has had quite a journey, a lot of things to overcome including injury. His consistency over the course of the last year-and-a-half, in terms of his practice habits. He’s given us no choice to not only position him for more opportunities to be on the field, but also more opportunities in the passing game. Credit to him, credit to Zach (Lujan) and the offensive staff for finding ways to utilize his skill set. Sometimes with a tight end like Hunter, it’s a situation where you think he’s great in the passing game, but he’s a liability in the run game, and there’s a question of how you balance that. And to Hunter’s credit, he’s someone that we trust to be on the field in any situation, run or pass, to be at the point of attack, to be on the backside, and obviously he continues to show up in passing game, and we’re gonna need him to have that trend continue here in the next few weeks.”
On the defense forcing turnovers: “We’ve talked about how they have a tendency to come in bunches, which certainly showed up on Saturday. I think it’s a reflection of our players and our staff. Not to be cliche, but like trusting the process. We have a process in terms of the way that we teach ball disruption. We have an emphasis constantly. I mean, you’re going to hear Tim McGarigle out of practice say, ‘we need a ball, TNT!’ Always talking about tackling and takeaways. And ultimately, it’s a group of guys that didn’t panic when they weren’t coming at the rate that we wanted, that continued to trust the process. And again, it will be a pivotal piece of the formula that we need to execute under.”
On Northwestern alum Mike Kafka becoming interim coach of the New York Giants: “It’s so awesome. Obviously his opportunity was a result of the Giants making a change at a head coaching position, which you never like to see. But immediately when you hear the news of him taking over, this entire program was so excited for him. I haven’t had a chance to spend time with Mike personally, but I look forward to that. Certainly reached out and had an exchange. But I think it’s a testament and credit to the caliber of young men that come out of this football program and what they go do with their lives beyond their playing career. That exists, obviously, in NFL, but also exists in other professions. But we’re excited for him. We’re rooting for him. He is a rising star in the coaching profession. And who knows how this Giants opportunity plays out, but I think there’s a lot of games as a head coach in his future. He’s special.”
On what stands out to him about Minnesota QB Drake Lindsey: “His poise and command. He’s accurate with the football. He’s gritty, he’s tough. He’s a winner. Minnesota’s got a good one in him for sure. But the things that really stand out as young quarterback is when you watch the tape, it doesn’t scream young quarterback. It honestly makes you think ‘how long has this guy been starting in the league?’ But his poise, his command, his accuracy, are things that really stand out.”
On injury updates regarding Aidan Hubbard, Richie Hagarty and Damon Walters: “Richie and Damon are week-to-week, but they’re not promising this week, unfortunately. And Hubs (Hubbard) is more day-to-day. One thing I know about Hubbard is he’s gonna do everything in power to put himself in position to be ready to compete on game day. Tough to tell where he’s at at this point during the week, but we’ll know more as the week goes along.”
On the defense’s resilience: “What we have to do a great job of is being better on third down. We have to. But the resiliency that you speak of is like our brand. It’s who we have to be. It’s showing up in other games as well. But their ability just to withstand and attack, stay on the attack, find ways to create takeaways, create some field position — that’s something that has to carry over into Minnesota this week. This is also a defensive group that I think is very honest with themselves in terms of areas that need improvement if we expect to execute at the level we need to this Saturday.”
On Caleb Komolafe and Joseph Himon II splitting carries: “At the end of the day, each game flows so unique, you can go in with a plan, but it’ll change based on the flow of the game and based on things that are going on. Joe did some really good things, had an explosive run there that unfortunately got called back with a holding call. But when we’re at our best. We’ve established that Caleb is a special back in this league. We need to continue to lean into that. But with Joe back and healthy, that’s something we got to find ways for both those guys to be truly highlighted within this offense.”
On Martes Lewis’ development as he prepares to face his old team: “What we’ve seen from the day that he arrived on campus, his ability to like dent and move the line of scrimmage is something that really stands out. Where I give him a lot of credit, there’s been some areas that we challenged him on that he needed to improve upon, especially in the new system, new terminology, new scheme. But we’ve seen that over the course of the season. Going back and evaluating the second half this season, he continues to trend in the right direction. It’ll be critical that Tez (Martes) does a great job of really honing in and focusing this weekend on, not not the opponent. At the end of the day, doing a great job of executing our game plan to position ourselves for successful Saturday. Naturally, there’s a lot of relationships on the other side of the wall, a lot of memories there. He’s gonna have to do a great job of just taking a breath and focusing on being the best version of himself for the ‘Cats.”
On his emotional press conference postgame Saturday: “From my position, I don’t feel that there’s any form of lack of respect. I think this is a program that has for years been respected. But I also want to be clear that this program isn’t here just to say, ‘You know what, we’re going to try our best and do it the right way and hope we can compete on Saturdays.’ No, we’re showing up every single week with an expectation to get a win. The work that our guys have put in all year, the work that we’re putting in institutionally, athletic department wise within the football program to really deliver on that — I just want to be really clear on that. This isn’t something like, ‘Oh new Big Ten. Look at these 18 teams, and good ole Northwestern is going to give it their best shot.’ No, we’re showing up with an expectation to win. Like I alluded to earlier, I wish there was a magic pill that we could take, snap our fingers and just get there. But we must be driven daily to chase after and meet that expectation as soon as possible and just set a tone. Especially with an opportunity to move in the new Ryan field going into 2026, it’s going to take everybody, everyone within these walls here at the facility, but also our fan base. We’re building something special here, and we already had something really special here, but in the new landscape of college football, the new Big Ten, we better be driven and motivated daily. When we show up on game day, there’s no moral victories after the game. We can acknowledge objectively what happened and how we got there, but no moral victory. If the mission is to go beat whatever school we’re playing and we don’t accomplish that mission, that’s a failed mission. That’s not okay.”
On Preston Stone’s consistency: “It’s really easy as a coach, or any of us, to point at the quarterback. There’s plenty that Preston has to own in terms of what he can do better. But also, the hardest part about playing that quarterback position is sometimes it has to do with protection, timing, routes in the right spots, making the right play call. Ultimately, there’s plenty for Preston for own. He’s had plenty of games this year where even in his best games he’s always finding ways to improve and is owning that. But ultimately, that’s got to be a collaborative deal, not only offensively, but through play calling, all 11 on the field that lead to drive success. And honestly, coming back to third down offensively and defensively. Success on third down leads to sustained drives, that’s part of who we are. We’re not saying, ‘Hey, we’re just going to be the most explosive offense in offense in the country right now, where there’s going to be 50 yard touchdowns all over the place.’ But it also falls back on the defense as well. When we got a team at third and seven and an opportunity for a three-and-out, we need to execute on that down the distance, get the ball back to our offense and allow them to create some rhythm. And it was really difficult for our offense to create that rhythm at times during the game due to our lack of ability to get off the field on defense.”
