MORE FROM DUKE WEEK: The 3-2-1 going into Week 2
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern head coach David Braun isn't fazed by having one less day of preparation for this Friday, when his Wildcats will host Duke on national television.
"Not at all," he said about whether he sees the short week as a disadvantage. "It's about how we create a sense of routine with our guys and I feel like we have a good plan for this week."
The Wildcats are looking to snap a five-game losing streak in their series with the Blue Devils, which included an ugly 38-14 loss in Durham last season. While head coach Mike Elko left for Texas A&M, and quarterback Riley Leonard is now at Notre Dame, Braun still rues the result but also remembers it as a turning point.
"That was a wake-up call for me last year," he said. "I said it after the game, that [loss] was on my shoulders. I didn't do a good enough job in our prep and I'm excited to do a better job this week."
Braun is 8-3 as head coach since that game and is on a five-game winning streak stretching back to last season.
Duke has reloaded, though, with new head coach Manny Diaz, previously the defensive coordinator at Penn State, and a transfer quarterback in Maalik Murphy from Texas.
Murphy went 26-for-40 for 291 yards passing, with two touchdowns and an interception in his Duke debut, a 26-3 win over Elon last Saturday. Murphy stands a prototypical 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds and is almost exclusively a pocket passer. He did not record a rush in the Elon game.
"He's a really good player," Braun said of the former four-star quarterback prospect. "He processes well and has elite arm talent. He can let it rip."
The Wildcats once dominated their series with Duke, winning eight of nine from 1999-2016. But the Blue Devils have seized control, winning the last five and flipping the all-time series lead to 13-10 in their favor.
With better preparation, even on a short week, Braun and the Wildcats plan to break Duke's grip on the series on Friday night under the lights at Martin FIeld.
Braun encouraged by defensive line depth: The Wildcats suffered injuries to projected starters Richie Hagarty and Carmine Bastone before last Saturday's game against Miami.
Hagarty is projected to be out for the season. The injury to Bastone, a captain, was unexpected, and Braun thinks a return for Duke would be 'a stretch for him this week. But Braun is optimistic that the senior defensive tackle will be back "sooner [rather] than later".
Losing that duo, as well as defensive tackle Brendan Flakes who was injured early in the game and didn't return to action, tested the defensive line room's depth. Defensive line coach Christian Smith, who Braun called "a stud", has cultivated a room that maintained a very high level of play in a 13-6 win.
One of the surprising players to step up was redshirt junior defensive end Jaiden Cameron, a redshirt junior who appeared in just two games last season and hadn't recorded a statistic during his NU career. He had his first career tackle and knocked down a critical pass late in the game.
"He's a young man that, to be very honest with you -- I love him, he's incredible -- but when I first got here, I didn't know if Jaiden would ever see the field for us," Braun said. "He's been through so many difficult ups and downs in his career and has continued to improve daily.
"He earned the opportunity to get on the field in critical situations and had a huge [deflection]. Those are the things that give you goosebumps as a coach."
Offense has a positive mindset despite early struggles: Northwestern mustered just 13 points in their win over Miami, though that includes a missed field goal and a fumble on Miami's goal line on an attempted quarterback sneak that could have added to the total.
Braun lauded the mindset and accountability on that side of the ball, led by young offensive coordinator Zach Lujan.
"I really appreciate Zach, [he's] low ego, high output," Braun said. "Those are the types of people we're working to bring in our program. We talk about ownership and before I could even address that [fumble] with Zach, he was immediately on [the headset], 'That was a bad decision, that's on me.'
"Shoot, I made mistakes on Saturday, [too]. You take full ownership of it and you learn moving forward... When you have someone in that role that's not deferring, or deflecting, or pointing at players, [instead] it's a bad call on me? You're good with that."
Braun knows what it's like to make the FCS-to-FBS jump as a coordinator; he made the same leap last season before being named interim head coach in July. His feedback to Lujan was to continue to trust his preparation, even through a slow start or bad play.
"The feedback I had was to trust in the game plan," he said. "There were some things we had on the plan early that we just didn't get dialed up to the right defensive look. [Miami] made a good call, that happens, but I think that scared us out of a few things along the way.
"And this is something Zach is totally in tune with but there are a few things we can do, even in a short week, to get our guys comfortable and prioritize execution... A team like Duke is going to be very aggressive, very multiple and try to get you behind the sticks. I think Zach has really continued to evaluate where our guys are playing fastest and making sure that we're not over-processing or thinking out there."
Soares' lesser workload likely an outlier: One of the most exciting players to burst onto the scene for Northwestern last season was sophomore Sam linebacker Kenny Soares.
The Miami game was a dominant defensive performance, but Soares saw limited action, taking just 14 snaps per PFF.
Braun was quick to laud Soares' potential and tamp down any concern that he won't be a major factor going forward.
"That was a little bit of an outlier," Braun said. "Kenny is one of our best football players. The position he plays, at Sam, based on their personnel, we were adjusting into more of a nickel look [with just two linebackers].
"Kenny's skill set as a Sam, as a line of scrimmage player, a pass rusher, we need to continue to find as many opportunities for Kenny to be on the field as possible."
