EVANSTON, Ill. - After a 37-10 win at Maryland, head coach David Braun and his staff have set to work on their next foe: Wisconsin.
The Badgers had a 2-2 start to the season with a loss to No. 7 Alabama at home and to USC on the road. They have since thrashed Purdue and Rutgers and head into this matchup with a full head of steam.
"I think in their last two games they've outscored their opponents like 94 to 13," Braun said, accurately. "They're certainly a group that has found their groove...
"Wisconsin will always have our attention but these last two games, you can tell they're definitely a confident group and trending in the right direction."
Braun has deep ties to the state of Wisconsin, having played his high school football at Kettle Moraine. His team's 24-10 win at Camp Randall Stadium last season was the final domino towards Northwestern dropping the interim tag and naming him the permanent head coach.
Still, he's trying to keep this game in context, regardless of his personal feelings.
"No, I don't think it carries extra weight," he said. "But my roots are in Big Ten country. I was born here in Illinois. I vividly remember watching the Cats beat Notre Dame [in 1995], I vividly remember the following year being at Camp Randall Stadium when the Cats beat Wisconsin with that D'Wayne Bates touchdown.
"Honestly, there are still moments that I'm trying to be really intentional about. Even pregame at Maryland, having an opportunity to be part of Big Ten football is something that's really special to me and my family. I think this is another of those games where I have the opportunity to be head coach at Northwestern... This is something I've been dreaming about since I was a little kid."
Injury updates: Right guard Josh Thompson left the field with an injury late in the Wildcats' win at Maryland last Friday night. But Braun announced that the senior guard is expected to be back in the lineup for Wisconsin.
Left guard Nick Herzog is healthy, too, but although he started the season opener against Miami (Ohio) out of camp, Braun said they intend to continue to start Cooper Lovelace at left guard. Herzog will provide depth and competition at both center and left guard.
Kicker Jack Olsen is still out from the injury that sidelined him against the Terrapins. Braun said they expect him to be back in "2-4 weeks" from when Olsen was hurt, so the team will continue to rely on Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week Luke Akers to handle his normal punting duties, as well as kickoffs, extra points and field goals.
"Luke has been such a weapon," Braun said. "But it's definitely in discussions we're having with the load that he's carrying, we want to be strategic."
Braun hypothesized that the team might be mixing in backup Hunter Renner for "pinpoint" punts as a way to lighten that load on Akers.
Safety Devin Turner was designated as questionable and is under day-to-day evaluation by the team ahead of Wisconsin. Robert Fitzgerald replaced him during the Maryland game and would be expected to do the same should Turner be ruled out for Wisconsin. Reserve safeties Damon Walters and Garner Wallace also got some playing time last Friday night, with Walters coming up with his first career interception.
Offense works to build reliability: Northwestern's offense has shown flashes of their potential these past two weeks, against Indiana and Maryland, but there are a few areas they are looking to clean up.
The first is pre-snap penalties. The Wildcats were whistled for three false starts last week, mistakes they cannot afford against the Badgers.
"[Offensive coordinator Zach] Lujan shared this with our offense this morning," Braun said. "If you go back and look at our percentage of scoring on drives when we do not have procedural penalties [compared] to when we do, those chances get cut in half.
"That's something we have to eradicate. There were too many of those on Friday night."
Staying ahead of schedule goes hand-in-hand with establishing the run. Northwestern averaged 162 yards per game on the ground in their first three games, but just 77 yards per game in their last three.
There are a few different factors -- like strength of schedule, an injury to and subsequent limitation of starter Cam Porter and field position among them -- but the fact is that the promising ground game has petered out of late.
"There are some good things showing up," Braun said. "But there's certainly room for continued improvement there."
One of the things that will help the running game create space is the progression of Jack Lausch as a quarterback, especially as a downfield passer. He completed three passes of 40+ yards at Maryland, and just missed a fourth on a drop by AJ Henning. He averaged 20.3 yards per completion against the Terrapins, almost double his high in any other game.
"The exciting part part is those are the things we've been seeing out of Jack in practice," Braun said. "To see that show up in games, you can see there is a level of continuity, timing and trust with those guys right now."
Outside of an anemic 8-for-27, 53-yard and two-interception performance at Washington, Lausch has thrown for 200+ yards and no interceptions in three of his four starts.
"You can see when a quarterback is playing confident that he's not waiting for wide receivers to become open," Braun said. "He's throwing the ball to a spot where he knows his recievers are going to be, and we're really proud of the way that he's developed...
"He's not a glorified running back. He's a quarterback, and he's playing like a quarterback right now."
Tiernan, Thompson anchor the O-line: Left tackle Caleb Tiernan and Thompson at right guard have been critical anchors for an offensive line that has otherwise gone through a lot of change, starting three different lineups due to injury through the first six games.
Tiernan and Thompson both rank in the Top 30 at their positions nationally, and in the Top 5 in the Big Ten, per PFF.
"We knew going into spring ball, fall and now in the season that those two guys were guys that we're going to have to absolutely lean on," Braun said. "We don't put much stock in PFF grades... But what I will say is those two have really bought into [offensive line coach Bill] O'Boyle.
"Really excited by the way that Josh has moved these last couple weeks. He's really starting to take an ownership role and set the tone in the run game. Caleb has done a nice job at left tackle of consistently protecting our quarterback."
Braun's new directive for his two stars up front is to be a catalyst for their teammates.
"Caleb Tiernan is walking around this facility with a lot of confidence," Braun said. "The transformation, the maturity and the growth that I've seen out of Caleb in the last year has been really, really exciting. That young man has a bright future ahead, as does Josh.
"The challenge moving forward is that now that you really built some credibility and confidence, continue to permeate that confidence throughout the entire room."
Secondary rises to the occasion: After one of the team's toughest performances in coverage against Indiana, Northwestern's cornerbacks Theran Johnson, Josh Fussell and Evan Smith rose to the occasion last week at Maryland.
Fussell, a redshirt freshman, started his second game of the season.
"Josh is someone that we've been excited about ever since we've been working with him," Braun said. "He's very humble, very hardworking... I think Josh coming off the Indiana game knew that wasn't his best performance.
"What a credit to his character and work ethic and humility to bounce back. I thought he played really well against Maryland, and Josh Fussell is going to be a heck of a corner in the Big Ten for a long, long time."
After allowing 41 points and more than 500 yards of offense to Indiana, Maryland mustered just 10 points on the scoreboard, and their lone touchdown came on a barely successful quarterback sneak on fourth-and-goal.
