Thanks to a gripping comeback victory over Minnesota, David Braun’s Northwestern Wildcats are going to a bowl game for the second time in three seasons. Yet despite being the only coach in program history to make two postseason trips in his first three seasons, Braun is refusing to rest on his laurels. Here’s what Northwestern’s head coach had to say about the win against Minnesota and the upcoming battle for the HAT against Illinois.
Note: These quotes have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Opening
Statement: “Great weekend for the Cats. Huge congratulations to women’s field hockey and Tracey Fuchs. What an awesome story. To be able to come back, battle, show a ton of grit, and come away with back to back national championships. Really excited for Tracey, her staff and all the women involved on that team.
Really proud of our football team. You know, ultimately, our team showed a ton of resolve, a ton of belief, a ton of confidence. It was a back and forth game, huge credit to Minnesota and coach (PJ) Fleck. I mean, that was a wild ride. Ultimately, I’m really proud of our team, and also acknowledging, like, there is a ton of work to be done, starting yesterday. In terms of the film evaluation, getting back to work today to position ourselves for success here moving forward. We’re really looking forward to an in-state rivalry game, playing for the HAT on the road against not only a really good football team, but just a really good program. The job that coach (Bret) Bielema has done in his time at the University of Illinois is really impressive. Coach (Bielema) is someone that I’ve gotten a chance to get to know over the last three years. Tremendous amount of respect for him in the way that he runs the program. He’s been doing it for a long time — he’s found a ton of success in his time at Wisconsin, Arkansas, his time in the NFL, and now at the University of Illinois. We know the task that’s that’s in front of us: really good quarterback, veteran offensive line, really good backs, number 80, the wide receiver, is a very talented football player, ton of production defensively. Coach Bielema is a defensive-minded head coach that certainly understands what it looks like to play really good defense. They’re going to challenge us in all three phases. It’s a talented group. We’re going on the road, and like I told the team postgame Saturday, we’re treating this as postseason play. And I know it’s the regular season, but ultimately we’re playing for a trophy in an in-state rivalry game, and our sense of urgency and the need for execution is going to be at an all time high. But excited for this group.”
Braun on setting the tone for a proper approach to the rivalry: “Yeah, you know, we’ll have an opportunity tonight and even tomorrow to talk about it further, but we set the tone on Saturday, after Minnesota, about where our focus was shifting. We talked about it again this morning. It’s a big deal. At the end of the day, it’s a matchup in the Big Ten against an in-state opponent, a great opponent. And ultimately it should be something that this program has in the past and needs to continue to take a great sense of pride in, is making sure that the HAT is here in Evanston. And it currently isn’t. So you know, what are we going to do about that?”
On what he’s learned about his team’s character: “It’s really easy to fall into like, where your mood is on that based on the result, and you can’t. Ultimately, I think what this team has shown is that character is truly revealed in the hard times. And, there was a hard time coming off a tough loss against Michigan, or the hard times of in-game play where you’re down a couple scores. And what this team has shown is this unwavering willingness and ability to just move on to the next opportunity and continue to focus on what we can control. It showed up in the Michigan game — unfortunately, we fell short — and it certainly showed up against Minnesota. You know, that middle eight was as bad as any of us, I’m sure, have been a part of. The way that we finished the (first) half. We get a three and out to open the second half. You know, we muff a punt. The next play, Minnesota scores. And our team’s ability just to take a breath and focus on the task at hand and get back to work is a reflection of the character of our football team, but also the leadership. I mean the active leadership going on on the sideline with Preston Stone and Mac Uihlein and Carmine Bastone and Caleb Tiernan and Cam Porter. I mean, shoot, Hayden Eligon II — you can see it on tape after an offensive false start. And this is a young guy, only his second year in the program. But you can see him on film, literally, like, telling the offense, ‘Hey, guys, just calm down. We’re okay, on to the next play.’ I think those are all indications of not only the character, but also the maturity of this football team.”
On the prayer over Preston Stone at halftime and how he seeks to provide opportunities for his team to grow spiritually: “Yeah, Matt, that’s a great question. I mean, something that’s really important to me, Matt, is that this program continues to prioritize the holistic development of every single young man that’s a part of our program, every single person that’s a part of our program. And part of that is those that are seeking growth in their spiritual life, that they have opportunities to do that. And that is not just the Christian faith. And it’s in any areas. There’s plenty of guys on this football team that do claim to walk a Christian faith walk, and there’s plenty of guys on this team that don’t. And that’s something that is important to me, that every single person in this program has the ability to seek their own spiritual journey. And at the same time, something that I’ve learned, and I can only speak to my personal experiences — I’m a much better version of myself when I’m looking for spiritual growth in my own life. And what I can tell you is in a world that likes to point out differences and find ways to be divisive and divide, the unity that we have is, at least, I believe that we’re all broken. We’re all searching for something. Let’s start with me. I’m flawed. I’m broken. I make mistakes regularly, and for me, personally, in my walk, the only resolution to that brokenness is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Now that’s my personal walk. That doesn’t mean that that needs to be anyone else’s walk within our program. And you know, praying with Preston. If that wasn’t something that I asked for his permission to pray with him, I wouldn’t have done it.”
On the evolution of the team over the course of the season: “Gosh, I’ve spoken about the leadership on this team for a long time. That’s something that’s just been kind of a constant build, dating back to January. We certainly, like, took actionable steps post-first bye week after Oregon, to really identify the strengths of our football team. It’s been really exciting to see the growth in that wide receiver room. I mean, it’s easy to talk about Grif (Griffin Wilde), but, you know, to see the emergence of Hayden Eligon II. And I know Drew’s (Wagner) banged up, but his emergence. Ricky Ahumaraeze has an incredible catch against Minnesota. That’s all been really, really positive. Hunter Welcing, he’s seen some emergence. I know Blake Van Buren’s name doesn’t get mentioned much, but he’s blocking his butt off. It’s been great to see a guy like Braydon Brus come into his own at the linebacker position. But ultimately — we talked about it today as a team — you know, wins don’t always show up in the same form. They look different. The bowl victory in 2023 against Utah looked a lot different than the Minnesota game yesterday, and good football teams find different ways to win games. And the offense carried us against Minnesota, they really did. But we’ve got to be prepared as a football team to find a way. What is the formula that’s going to work against Illinois? But to answer your question directly, the emergence we’ve been talking about of Caleb Komolafe and Joe Himon II and those backs. But what we’ve seen in the growth of that wide receiver room in the back half of the season has been really impressive.”
On if the offensive line is improving “every game”: “Yes, absolutely. And it’s a credit to that entire room. It’s a credit to Bill Boyle and Ryan Olson. But it’s also a credit to, let’s just use two examples here — Caleb Tiernan, who’s been here since the start, and Evan (Beerntsen), who arrived as a transfer. And for those guys in that room, collectively as a whole, to make a commitment to one another like: ‘Hey, we’re gonna go do this together. We’re gonna go work our butts off at practice, and to celebrate one another’s success.’ To see the smiles of a guy, I’ll point out Xavior (Gray). He’s a guy that came here to play a lot of football, like, that was the expectation for him. He hasn’t played a ton for us this year, but I’m telling you that that guy has been improving week by week, and is investing in the opportunity here and pouring into that room. It speaks to not only the culture of this football program, but specifically that O-line room, and it all starts with our captain, Caleb Tiernan. The active leadership that’s going on, not only on game day, but in practice and in meetings with CT right now, it would not shock me if Caleb Tiernan was a captain in the NFL someday. It’s been pretty cool.”
On fixing the issue of pre-snap penalties: “It’s the thing that’s most actionable. There’s no excuse for it. It’s not like we were too loud — there was no issues around that. It’s a layer of focus, right? And ultimately, what a great opportunity for us going on the road in a rivalry game, and a hostile environment, to really pick up that level of focus in practice this week. It’ll be chaotic. We’re going to crank some noise and make it tough on our guys to operate and really position them for a lot of confidence to make sure. Those (penalties) can be drive killers and to our offense’s credit, they found a way to just respond, but we can’t afford them. We got to get them cleaned up.”
On Caleb Komolafe’s response to his fourth quarter fumble: “There’s gonna be good runs and bad runs. Things are gonna be perfectly blocked up at times, and there’s gonna be times that he’s gonna have to make something happen that’s not a perfect picture. But on that specific run, as he makes a third level defender miss, and he’s in the open field, that’s a tough spot for a back. Because your mindset is going to ‘Score.’ And you don’t know what’s approaching you from behind. His ability to respond after that, and then ultimately make a great catch to take the lead, speaks to his maturity in the role. And two things off of that, it is a great opportunity for us to talk as a staff — we talked about it yesterday — How do we coach Komo in that situation to prioritize ball security, but, when he’s got a chance to score, not be so concerned about it that he can’t separate himself from the defender? I think we got better through that conversation. And then Hayden Eligon II on that play. You know, he’s involved in the block. He sees it break. I think nine out of 10 receivers in the Big Ten would probably put their arms up and celebrate a big play. And Hayden sticks a foot in the ground and sprints downfield looking for a block. That ultimately positions Hayden, if that ball would have stayed in bounds, Hayden would have been in a position to recover it. We’re speaking about Komo right now and that maturity, but that maturity is also showing up in Hayden right now too.”
On whether the team’s leadership changes its approach during a rivalry week: “This is a great question. I think in teams that are searching for true leadership and consistent leadership, you do see a change. It’s like they need outside stimulus or something to like, strive for that raises that level of urgency and leadership. And I don’t want to say that the urgency doesn’t tick up a bit in a rivalry game, but the reality is, our leadership has been so consistent and so committed and so bought in that it looks the same as it has, again, dating back to January. Now, I’d be lying to if I didn’t tell you there’s not a little extra pep in our guys’ step with the rivalry game and an opportunity to close out the regular season-slash-postseason, whatever we want to call it, out the right way. But the way that our guys operate is the same way that these guys were operating back in August.”
On the strategic advantage of the Ryan Boe packages: “Great question. I want to thread the needle on answering your question and not giving too much away. What I will tell you is, there’s always this balance. We’ve talked about it before. Especially the way that Preston was playing, like, ‘Oh, we’re really going to take him off the field when he’s playing at this level?’ Ultimately, we would not be doing that if we didn’t think Ryan possessed a certain skill set. And for us, there’s a willingness of, you’ve got to ask yourself sometimes, ‘Okay, our starting quarterback, how much are we willing to run him in designed quarterback run?’ And in that balance, we believe in Ryan Boe, how can we utilize him and maximize our roster. And then thread the needle in making sure that we’re not taking a rhythm out of a quarterback that is performing at a really high level. It takes a lot of maturity, on Preston’s end to handle that. And that’s where I give Preston a lot of credit, like, he was the one that was fired up for Ryan to go in and have that opportunity. He’s also the one that’s chomping at the bit to get back on the field. I think the reflection of the way that that worked and operated on Saturday is a reflection of how committed this team is to one another.”
On various injury updates: “Anto (Saka) is good to go. I mean, it was just a minor deal where he got a little dinged up. Unfortunately, Drew (Wagner) won’t be available this week. He’s one of the toughest football players I’ve ever been around, but I do not anticipate Drew being available this week. And Damon (Walters) has had one of those things — it was probably three weeks ago that I was telling you guys it’s day to day. We’ll see with Damon. Unfortunately, it has not been progressing at the rate that we initially anticipated. No fault of Damon’s, there’s no one on this team that is more frustrated with his lack of availability this year than Damon Walters, but you know, we’ll be very excited to get him back at some point.”
On how the players in leadership roles have learned from prior leaders: “That’s a great question. All leaders need great mentors. In my responsibility as a leader, I better have some good mentors in my life that help me figure some things out. It’s no different for a player, right? And the names you mentioned, the tone that Bryce Gallagher set and Xander Mueller and Bryce Kirtz and Coco Azema — there’s countless names to mention. But what I will say, and this is something that we talk about regularly, is there’s two critical elements to any effective leader. First, authenticity. Mac Uihlein is a unique leader, like, he is not afraid to ruffle feathers and just tell you how it is. And that’s what I love about Mac. But the reason it works is because that’s just who Mac is. He’s authentic and genuine, and people know that, and they see that. Secondly, credibility. No one can lead from a platform where they don’t have credibility. And where I’ve really challenged our team, and specifically our leaders in Leadership Council, dating back to January, is that your foundation for leadership is built on credibility. And if or when you fracture that? And how do you fracture that? Well, you fracture that by saying you’re a leader, but showing up to a team meeting late or not giving it your all in a workout. You have to protect that credibility with everything that you’ve got. And that’s what has really shown up to me about this leadership group. Caleb Tiernan being a great example. Mac Uihlein and Caleb Tiernan couldn’t be, you know, more vastly different in their leadership styles. But they’re authentic. They’re truly themselves in those roles, and they’ve built incredible credibility. Cam Porter can fall in that category as well, Carmine (Bastone). I think that’s why we’ve seen so much fruits from the leadership of those guys.”
On Michael Kilbane’s play with Aidan Hubbard out against Minnesota: “Yeah, Kilbane is a stud. I mean, Mike’s one of those guys, like, he shows up in the stat line at times and other times he doesn’t. But he’s so disruptive. It’s good that we’ve had depth in that room, because we’ve needed it this year. In reference to Aidan, I know Aidan’s doing everything he can to get back for this game. All games mean a lot to Hubs, but this one specifically, being a rivalry game. He’s going to be a later in the week decision, but there is a chance that Hubs will be available.”
On the offensive success against Minnesota and how it compares to other games he’s coached (specifically the 2023 HAT game): “At the end of the day, I think that is a great comparison, I do. That Illinois game back in 2023, there are so many parallels between that game and Minnesota’s game, and where special teams factored in into all that. Ultimately, what is really exciting for me to see from this past Saturday is that the production on offense was not gimmicky. It wasn’t like crazy stuff just happened. It was just consistent execution and timing and belief against a really good Minnesota defense. And I think the fun challenge for our offense going into Illinois against a really good Illinois team and a really well-coached Illinois defense that’s going to present different challenges than Minnesota is: Are we feeling good about ourselves because we had a good game, or are we, like, urgent, excited and confident to go attack the next opportunity? And already this morning with the Illinois walkthrough, you can tell that the guys are focused. I mean, Minnesota’s in the past, they’re focused on Illinois. We’re gonna need another great game out of that entire offense.”
On the craziest game he’s ever coached in: “ Oh, gosh, that’s a tough question. There’s been a lot of wild rides. The Minnesota game in 2023 was, I mean, that was a wild ride for sure.”
On players who have impressed him by doing the little things well: “That’s a good question. Guys that stand out to me, specifically on special teams — Nigel Glover has just really, really come into his own on special teams. Luke Akers is someone that did not have his best day kicking off on Saturday, but has been such a consistent presence as our punter. Shame on me for not already mentioning Jack Olsen. I mean, come on, like, the consistency that he’s shown. On the defensive side of the ball, my view’s probably a little warped after giving up 35 points. That entire group is chomping at the bit to get back to practice and make some adjustments and make some improvements. But, you know, Najee Story is someone who’s stood out to me on that defensive line. We talk about Carm (Carmine Bastone), we talk about the defensive ends, but two guys that have really started to step up their level of play are Brendan Flakes and Najee story. But specifically Najee, I think Naj would be the first one to tell you his front half of the season was just okay, but he’s really coming into his own in the back half of the season.”
On the team’s final drive against Minnesota (14 plays, 60 yards, 7:27 off the clock): “It’s a credit to Preston (Stone). It’s a credit to our entire offense. It’s a credit to coach Lujan. It’s a credit to the communication going on. I mean, that field zone that we were in, there’s a lot of factors there. A potential first down, kicking a field goal, going for it on fourth down. There’s all these things going on. I thought it was managed and communicated really well. I think the most you know impressive part about that drive to me, and correct me if I’m wrong, but we had that illegal hands to the face penalty that pushed us back out of field goal range. And then being able to get a huge reception by Hunter (Welcing), a scramble by Preston. And ultimately, we ended up running the ball on third down, which all of us would have loved to see us pick up the first down. But to your point, the balance of positioning ourselves for a really advantageous field goal and managing the clock, I think, is a reflection of the overall growth, not only with our players, but the program as a whole.”
