Northwestern head coach David Braun took time Monday afternoon to speak on last week’s matchup with Iowa and NU’s upcoming game at No. 12 Ohio State on Saturday Nov. 14 at 11:00 a.m. CST. Some of the quotes below have been edited for brevity or clarity.
Braun on the Iowa game: “We did not do a good job getting into rhythm as a team early in the game. To be set back 14 to nothing against a team like Iowa is no easy task.”
Braun on the team’s mindset against Iowa: “Our guys were unwavering. They continued
to battle, continued to scrap, and believed all the way until the end when Iowa was taking knees that we were going to position ourselves to find a way to come back and win that football game.”
Braun on Ohio State head coach Ryan Day: “There’s no one in the country that I hold in higher regard in terms of just who he is as a coach, who he is as a competitor and the way that he builds that program.”
Braun on Ohio State: “Offensively, they have it at all positions. Starting quarterback is down, but [they have a] young quarterback who is very talented and has some game reps under his belt. Jeremiah Smith is, I would argue, the best player in college football…defensively, Coach Patricia does an outstanding job on that side of the ball. Really talented in the back half. Defensive line will present issues.”
Braun on his message to the team this week: “We need to be really objective in our evaluation of ourselves coming off the Iowa game and find the areas that we need to address to position ourselves for success. And then we also have to be really objective in our evaluation of Ohio State. We understand we’re going into a hostile environment. We understand the quality of opponent that we’re playing.”
Braun on preventing Ohio State from getting a fast start: “You can’t control whether or not you’re going to be leading after the first quarter, but you can control your level of focus, your level of urgency. You can have a very detailed plan in terms of what are things that have proven to get us into a rhythm in all three phases of the team early in the game.”
Braun on the “trust yourself” board: “That’s another way of saying ‘let it rip, you’re prepared.’ Let it all hang out from the first play to the last, and that’s something that did not show up this past Saturday, but needs to show up this Saturday.
Braun on how to fix special teams struggles: “You got to evaluate the personnel that’s on the unit. You have to identify the position of the personnel. You need to look at the scheme. You need to detach from the things that we’ve done in the past because they’re not working right now.”
Braun on tight end Luke Dehnicke: “He doesn’t flinch. It doesn’t matter what level he’s playing at, who the competition is. He just shows up and plays at full speed and plays with a ton of confidence. One thing that I love most about Luke is the joy that he finds in playing the game of football. It doesn’t matter if it’s game day in front of thousands of people or it’s practice in front of the program.”
Braun on the offense against Iowa: “I just felt like we stalled out, and a lot of that had to do with the fact that we weren’t able to get into rhythm [convert] those third downs, and then you create those fourth down scenarios because you want to create that extra down, and we didn’t do a good enough job there either.”
Braun on the 24-team playoff: “There’s all sorts of parity across college football right now, and the expanded playoff allows for a lot of these conversations to be handled the way they should be handled, and that’s not in the court of public opinion or in the media. It’s on the football field … I think the expansion more than anything gives an opportunity for all programs, regardless of where they sit right now.”
Braun on defensive back Robert Fitzgerald: “I know Fitz has plans of playing football for a long, long time, and I believe that he will. I don’t think his plans are to get into coaching post-playing career, but I’m telling you right now, if that’s something that he turns to at some point way down the road, he’s going to be awfully gifted in that space. When you have an extension of your coaching staff on the field, that’s a force multiplier.”
Braun on forcing turnovers: “It’s an attitude that it’s our football, so when we possess it, we protect it to the furthest degree. And when we don’t possess it, we attack it. We strive to get it back.”
Braun on his message to the offensive line: “It’s continuing to battle. It’s being objective, not emotional in the response. Look at the tape and identify the areas that we’re doing things well. Identify the areas where we need to make corrections.”
Braun on the offensive line: “The offensive line has shown growth. It needs to continue to grow, and it needs to continue to be honest with themselves of the areas that need to get shored up.”
Braun on Northwestern not winning in Columbus since 1971: “Don’t fall into the trap of looking at Ohio State’s record and thinking that [it would be] some would view as a so-called upset. Like, objectively, the way that Coach Day runs that program, the way they coach those guys, the talent that they have on that roster… there’s this acknowledgement of who they are. But then it’s being objective on what this needs to look like in our preparation and our plan to go into Columbus and expect to bring a win back.”
Braun on Chip Kelly’s experience at Ohio State: “There’s always going to be elements of [that] regardless of what week you’re going into. This one might run a little bit deeper and a little bit more recently, but the fact of the matter is in coaching, as you prepare to go win football games, you’re in the business of gathering information and not giving it out.”
Braun on Nicco Marchiol: “I think Nicco played winning football. Like I really do. He protected the football. He valued the football. He competed his butt off. He laid it all out on the line. Are there some plays that he’d like to have back? Absolutely. But he [was] prepared. He was poised. There was a lot of confidence in him from all of his teammates.”
Braun on Michael Kilbane: “The credibility that he’s built, not only from his production but just the way that he goes to work every single day, is something that I’m excited for him to continue to build off of.”
