Four week Northwestern football report card: who’s acing, who’s failing?

While there’s certainly some positives, most of these grades will be well below the desired target.

If I were to have written a four week report card for Northwestern football last year after the Minnesota win, the ‘Cats would have done just fine. There would have been no expectation of the Dean’s List, especially after the drubbing in Durham a week prior, but the 21-point comeback victory over the Golden Gophers would have likely been good enough to have the ‘Cats somewhere in the 3.0 range.

But if that report card were to have been written just a few hours earlier at halftime of the Minnesota game, David Braun and Co. would have been scrambling to hide it from their parents.

The Braun-era Northwestern Wildcats have yet again staked their reputation on a second half comeback. The 2023 ‘Cats got better with each week, culminating in an eight win season and a bowl win against a Utah team that is now ranked No. 10 in the country. We are a mere four weeks into the season – a third of the way through – with EIGHT more Big Ten matchups left on the docket. There is, for better or worse, a lot of football to play.

That being said, Northwestern should think about going to some office hours, or, at the very least, showing up to class.

Coaching

David Braun: C-

Braun’s defense has been up to the standard that we have grown to expect. Despite some expected growing pains from a young secondary, the rest of Braun’s signature unit has looked just fine. The defensive line has looked sharp across the board, and the Wildcat linebackers — especially Mac Uihlein — have done an admirable job filling the void left by the departure of Bryce Gallagher. The defense is a versatile and talented group, and Braun deserves a lot of the credit for its early season success.

I also want to commend him on making the quarterback switch after the Duke game — not just for making the decision to bench Wright, but for how he went about it. In his Monday presser where he announced the switch, Braun defended his statements from his post game press conference after the Duke loss where he affirmed his commitment to Mike Wright.

“I am highly competitive and emotionally intense,” said Braun. “And I do not like making decisions when I am an emotional state…but having a chance to look at the film and evaluate where we’re at, I think the decision that we’re going with is in the best interest of our football program.”

It was mature, it was professional and it was absolutely the right call in the moment. Northwestern needed to put in a quarterback that gave the defense a chance to win games. Whether Lausch is that guy remains to be seen, but the Mike Wright from the Duke loss was not at all a winning quarterback.

That’s why the decision making in the second half of the Washington game was so unbelievably disheartening. Just about every decision that Braun has made in his short time in Evanston has demonstrated an understanding of the ethos of Northwestern football. He has always felt like a Northwestern guy, a competitor unwilling to cede that he should lower its standard of success because his roster is less talented than the Michigans and Ohio States of the world. In a year, Braun reaffirmed what it means to wear the purple in white, leading a group of student-athletes that play with, as he put it after the Duke loss, “uncommon effort” and make it a habit to punch above their weight.

The field goal call with five minutes left in the third quarter to cut the Washington lead from 15 to 12 (that’s a change from a two possession game to a two possession game) represented not just a miscalculation of strategic football, but a rare, lame duck white flag that marked a fundamental deviation from the David Braun mentality.

“[There was] still significant time in the third quarter,” Braun said when asked about the decision after the game. “Thought that getting it down to 12 would allow us to, instead of chasing a tie, go get two touchdowns and go win the football game.”

There was nothing about the field goal that was winning football. Northwestern’s goal line offense was likely not going to convert — for evidence there, look no further than the fourth quarter — but you just have to give your guys a shot to put the ball in the end zone when you’re that close, especially with how difficult it had been for the ‘Cats to move the ball down the field.

Jack Olsen put up the saddest milkman celebration in the history of milkman celebrations, and Washington slashed through a defeated Wildcat defense to extend the lead to 19.

When you’re the underdog, the less talented party to a Big Ten contest, trailing by two scores on the road, there is no option but to play aggressive football.

At its worst, the field goal call is a mentality problem, a winning problem, a culture problem. It’s how you lose a locker room. For now, I’m willing to let it rest as a blip of poor game management, and there were, of course, a litany of other issues from that Washington game that deserve more attention.

Zach Lujan: F

Speaking of, Lujan has not looked remotely ready for the jump to FBS football, let alone FBS football in the Big Ten. ESPN’s SP+ has Lujan’s group ranked as the 124th offensive unit in the country. From a yards per game standpoint, the ‘Cats are 123rd in the country. Yards per play? 122nd. Points per game? 121st.

It has been bad on so many levels, ranging from a “not great, but we moved the ball and won a football game” performance against Miami (OH) to the “Oh my God I want to crawl into a deep hole and never come out” debacle against Washington.

The quarterback play has been poor — I’ll get to that in a minute — and Cam Porter’s absence no doubt played a big role in the offensive meltdown against the Huskies, but at some point the numbers speak for themselves. Add in the missed blocking assignments from the offensive line, the jet sweeps that have yet to go forward and the third-and-1 play call against Duke, and you get an offense that has looked aimless and unprepared.

Tim McGarigle: B

The first year defensive coordinator has looked solid in his first four weeks at the helm. His run defense has been more than solid, good for 13th in the country on a yards per game basis, and he and Braun have done a great job rotating personnel to find ways to keep the defensive line fresh and give guys like Kenny Soares Jr. opportunities to make plays.

The Washington game exposed what we know as a young, untested secondary, but McGarigle should also be credited for his unit’s ability to bounce back after a bad first quarter and hold the Huskies to just seven points the rest of the way.

Quarterbacks: D

Neither Lausch or Wright have inspired much confidence at the quarterback position. It’s been a genuine weak point, and, as many have suggested, I say with confidence that Northwestern would likely be at least 3-1 with Ben Bryant under center.

Lausch looked competent and promising once his feet settled down against EIU, but he held onto the ball for far too long and was really unable to make anything happen at all last week. Wright showed some legit flashes against Miami (OH) but was benched for his inability to take care of the ball after the Duke loss.

The bottom line is that neither of these two look like they can win Big Ten football games. Bryant didn’t look like he could either at halftime against Minnesota, but one of Wright or Lausch is going to have to figure it out if Northwestern is to be at all watchable down the stretch.

Running Backs: A-

This is really just a Cam Porter grade. The offense has lived and died (painfully and brutally) by the fifth-year back, who has amassed 234 yards and three touchdowns on 5.3 yards per carry in three games. He has looked a step faster than he did last year, and probably should have carried the ball a lot more than 44 times this far into the season.

Joseph Himon II is an elite change of pace option, and he was a one man offense against Washington despite his inability to make things happen at the goal line behind a poor offensive line. Caleb Komolafe is the future, and he continues to show flashes of why he was one of the few true freshmen to see the field in 2023.

This unit is not the problem.

Wide Receivers: B+

Neither is this one. Bryce Kirtz has been quiet since he had six catches for 91 yards vs. Miami (OH) to open the season, but the blame there falls on the quarterback play more than anyone else. AJ Henning has quickly established a rapport with Lausch, and he is looking every bit as talented as expected when he came in from Michigan a year ago. Frank Covey IV was breaking out as a third option as well before the injury. It gets a little thin behind Covey — that Calvin Johnson Jr. drop into an interception was just brutal — but for the most part, the receivers are getting open.

Tight Ends: C+

This unit has been fine from a production standpoint. Thomas Gordon is filling in nicely as the top option, with his seven catches for 79 yards putting him on pace for the best season of his career by far. Marshall Lang made a great play to get open for Mike Wright on that scramble drill against Miami.

The blocking, however — especially against Washington — has been poor. The tight ends should also bear some of the blame for the aforementioned jet sweep failures against Miami.

O-Line: D+

The West Lot Pirates summed up the offensive line issue against Washington pretty succinctly.

The third act is Himon getting stopped for a five yard gain on a play that easily should have gone for at least 10 and maybe, considering how explosive Himon looked all day Saturday, a lot more.

Injuries were a big part of the poor showing in Seattle, and I’d be remiss not to mention the dominant performance this group put together against EIU, but it’s hard to be positive about this group after such a poor start to Big Ten play.

D-Line: A

The defensive line should put this one on their fridge. Coming into the season, we knew this unit was Northwestern’s best — at least on paper — and the Wildcat big men have lived up to their high billing. Anto Saka has taken a leap as a pass rusher, compiling 2.5 sacks in three games, including one against projected first round pick Graham Barton in the Duke game.

The rest of the line has been A-worthy as well, especially given the absences of Carmine Bastone and Richie Hagarty. As I mentioned earlier, the run defense is among is the best in the country, and the line has found a way to make all four quarterbacks faced so far uncomfortable.

Linebackers: A-

The Wildcat linebacker unit deserves much of the plaudits for Northwestern’s success defending the run as well. Xander Mueller is one of the best run defenders in the Big Ten, and Mac Uihlein has been all over the field in his first opportunity as a full time starter. Soares has also been very fun as a change of pace pass rusher.

Washington’s Jonah Coleman did cause some headaches for the NU backers at the second level from a tackling standpoint, but altogether there’s mostly positive things to say about the front seven.

Secondary: B-

Theran Johnson got torched by Denzel Boston last week — there’s no denying that — but there were always going to be some growing pains for a unit that lost all but one starter from last season. The Northwestern secondary has looked competent for all but two quarters — overtime against Duke and the first quarter against Washington.

Turnovers are key here. Northwestern has four interceptions in four games, including two crucial picks that ultimately decided the win against Miami (OH). Coco Azema has not looked his best so far, but Evan Smith, Braden Turner and Robert Fitzgerald have all shown flashes of excellence in their augmented roles.

Overall C-

2-2 is right where a lot of us thought Northwestern would be going into the bye, but the brutal fashion of the Washington does put a bit of a murky tint to the first four weeks of the season. Washington did also just lose to Rutgers. There’s a world in which Northwestern doesn’t win another game in the Big Ten.

I do trust that this group will find a way to be competitive. The defense is very, very good, and Lujan deserves some grace in his first FBS job. Reset, regroup and come out firing against a good Indiana team. It’s a long season.