EVANSTON, Ill. - Head coach David Braun maintained that he had the right people in place on offense on Monday, two days after a 40-14 loss at Iowa marked the second game in a row without an offensive touchdown.
Northwestern's points per game has sunk to a grisly 18.4 mark, good for 123rd in the country, under first-year offensive coordinator Zach Lujan. Braun made the decision after last season to part ways with Mike Bajakian and hire Lujan, and he is still standing by his young coordinator.
"Zach has absolutely met expectations," Braun said. "The production on offense hasn't met our expectations and we're working tirelessly to get that fixed not only in the short-term, but the long-term.
"[I'm] very confident in the man we have running our offense. All of us are very aware that the production is nowhere close to where it needs to be, and there are a lot of components to that, but very confident in the short- and long-term that Zach is the right guy."
Braun was adamant that there is "absolutely not" any consideration for making a change at coordinator this offseason, even if the struggles continue. Part of those struggles have been the up-and-down play of redshirt sophomore quarterback Jack Lausch, who was 10-for-19 for 62 yards, two interceptions and a safety against the Hawkeyes.
Braun also backed his starting quarterback heading into this Saturday.
"Jack Lausch is our starting quarterback," he said. "He will start against Purdue."
Braun did criticize Lausch on the safety he took against Iowa, however. It was a rare pointed remark towards a player's performance from the head coach.
"We drop back, have a hitch to the boundary open, but it's the first play after Jack threw an interception and he doesn't trust it, and it turns into a safety," he said. "It's a good play call and should have been a six- or seven-yard gain."
Northwestern ran the ball on the next nine plays across four drives and Lausch went 24:05 of game time between completions for positive yards.
"The things that make me confident in that [starting] decision are the way that Jack prepares, the way he competes," Braun said. "He needs to play better but we also need to play better around him, play better in the other two phases...
"Jack knows he needs to play better but I'm very confident that he'll do everything in hi power to make sure that happens."
Walkon Drew Wagner stayed ready: One of the very few highlights from the Iowa game was walkon punt returner Drew Wagner's 72-yard touchdown. Braun said Wagner started the season as the third-string punt returner, but with an injury to Bryce Kirtz, and with receiver AJ Henning playing but nursing an injury of his own, Wagner was the next man up.
"That young man didn't blink," Braun said. "Incredible preparation. Early on, we were telling him just to fair-catch it and possess the football, and decided after a few catches to give him the opportunity to let it rip.
"[Special teams coordinator] Paul Creighton said he's never seen someone as excited for that opportunity as Drew Wagner, and he capitalized on it... I think that's a small glimpse into what we have to look forward to in the future."
Braun said the staff will weigh whether Wagner will continue in that role since he proved it "on the biggest stage", but will still consider going back to Henning and Kirtz, if they're healthy.
Wagner was a two-star recruit from Wales (Wis.) Kettle Moraine, the same place Braun played his high school ball. He flipped to Northwestern as a PWO after committing to Navy.
Injury updates: Braun ruled out left guard Nick Herzog for the rest of the season, saying that what they had anticipated would be a nagging injury has taken a turn for the worse.
Receiver Bryce Kirtz and right guard Josh Thompson are both expected to make their returns at Purdue, but linebacker Xander Mueller has been ruled out for the second game in a row after his injury vs. Wisconsin.
Kicker Jack Olsen will again be out at Purdue, but Braun said that, like Mueller, he will eventually return this season. Braun noted that the staff will be evaluating the use of punter Luke Akers, who has also been kicking for the Wildcats the last three games. They could allocate some of his punting duties to backup Hunter Renner to relieve some of the workload off Akers' leg.
Akers started out going 3-for-3 on field goals in his Maryland debut but is since 1-for-4 with two misses from 50+ yards -- though the staff has put him in tough situations. A Northwestern kicker has not made a field goal of 50 or more yards since David Wasielewski in 2002.
