Can the last test salvage the final grade?
As David Braun waited at the podium for the slew of Northwestern reporters to find the postgame press conference last weekend, the Wildcats’ coach, sporting a black beanie over his head, gazed stoically toward the back of the room.
Stoic not in the sense of emotionless, but rather frozen in the chilly Ann Arbor evening, the 50-6 loss to Michigan, with bowl hopes slipping away after another game where everything simply tumbled out of control.
“When you hit adversity, you find out a lot about the individuals and the collective group as a whole,” Braun said after reporters filed into The Big House’s photography work room turned postgame press scrum. “We’re going to find out a lot about me, our staff, our entire team collectively in terms of the way that we respond.”
With an in-state rivalry matchup at Wrigley Field slated for Saturday against Illinois, this weekend marks the last opportunity for Northwestern’s offense to show it has pieces to salvage before the calendar flips to the 2025 season – specifically Jack Lausch and offensive coordinator Zach Lujan.
Make no mistake; Northwestern may have allowed teams to tally 141 points over its last four games, but the flaws of this team are not defensive. Notice how the defensive dams have only been overwhelmed once the offense flatlines. See a trend in the second half against Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan?
The issues start with Lausch. He’s certainly made strides as the season has progressed from his second career start against Washington — an 8-for-27, 53-passing yard day marred by two interceptions. He shined in the first half against Ohio State and against Purdue with a career-high 250 passing yards and game winning touchdown toss to Joseph Himon.
But here is the truth. Lausch has thrown for over 200 passing yards in just four Big Ten games, doesn’t have a game this season where he’s finished with a 70% or better completion percentage and has five touchdowns to six interceptions – not to mention a pair of safeties and a handful of costly fumbles. He ranks last among consistent Big Ten starters in passing yards per game, passing touchdowns and completion percentage. He’s also 15th in the conference in passing plays of 20-plus yards. And he plays with Bryce Kirtz, who has 13 catches this season in that category – tied for the fourth most in the Big Ten.
Regardless of the cloud of negatives, Braun has been adamant that moving to Lausch was the right choice.
“Jack has continued to compete his butt off, has shown times where he’s playing at a really high level and still has a lot of room for growth,” Braun said at his weekly press conference Monday. “It can be really easy to point out issues at the quarterback position when an offense is not operating at the level that you want it to. That’s what makes that position so great, you get to touch the ball on every play, and there’s a lot that comes with holding that position.”
To an extent, Braun is right that not all the blame is to be placed on his signal caller. After all, Northwestern has dealt with injuries at receiver and on the offensive line all season. However, good quarterbacks elevate offenses, regardless of the personnel. Although Lausch has had moments that make you think twice, the truth is that if you’re going to play quarterback, adversity is going to hit regardless of who’s protecting you up front, lined up outside or next to you in the backfield. And in those moments of adversity, Lausch has looked frantic and overwhelmed.
I’ve asked him multiple times this season in postgame pressers about the speed of the game for him — to which he’s answered he not only feels confident but things are slowing down for him. That’s certainly true in comparison to what we saw from Lausch in September, but he’s not currently at the level where any Northwestern fan should be content if he’s still the guy behind center next season. If the season had ended against Michigan, Northwestern almost certainly dives into the transfer portal ahead of 2025 in search of a new signal caller. Regardless of how Lausch plays against Illinois, that’s likely still the case.
However, he has an opportunity to chip away at those narratives Saturday. Rivalry games are where the rules of logic go flying out college football’s window, anarchy ensues and lost seasons have a glorious bookend that eases the pain. Illinois has playmakers on defense —headlined by Gabe Jacas and his eight sacks — but in the grand scheme of things is a roughly average Big Ten defense. A strong showing at The Friendly Confines in a win paired with a strong spring camp is a recipe for Lausch to have a realistic opportunity to keep his starting spot heading into next season.
He also needs help from his offensive coordinator, who’s been inconsistent. When Lujan has dialed up options for Lausch to get the ball out of his hands quickly or use his legs, albeit with good protection, Lausch has looked serviceable. But those buttons seem to vanish from Lujan’s callsheet as soon as things turn south.
Against the Wolverines, Lausch tallied seven rushing attempts but only two true runs after being sacked five times. That was after games where Lausch had 10 true rushing attempts against both Purdue and Ohio State.
However, Lujan’s situation is a bit more complicated. As much as the offense has trudged along, currently last in the Big Ten in yards per game (almost 30 yards per game behind 17th-place Michigan) and passing touchdowns (five in 11 games), not to mention 17th in the conference in plays of 10-plus and 20-plus yards, bringing Lujan aboard was going to be a project.
Moving from the FCS to FBS was always going to take adjusting, meaning that although Lujan has struggled mightily, Northwestern must have been prepared for that – muddling what his long term job security looks like. Throughout the season, Braun has been a huge proponent of his offensive coordinator, even with the struggles.
“I think Zach’s battled, competed, tried to be really solutions-based,” Braun said Monday. “At the end of the day, what we’ve got to continue to evaluate is where we’re at from a personnel standpoint versus our competition, and how do we best position our guys to find success on the field.”
Northwestern has fallen short in that process over the last month and a half. In four of its last five games, NU’s offense has been held to a touchdown or less of offensive production (Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan). In Ann Arbor, Northwestern’s national title-winning field hockey team put the same number of points on the scoreboard across two games as Lujan’s offense did in 60 minutes at The Big House.
“That’s what the offseason will provide, is an opportunity to really take a deep breath, take a step back, evaluate everything, and make sure that we position ourselves for a ton of off-field and on-field success moving forward,” Braun said on Monday. “So yes, we’re evaluating the offense, but the reality is we got to evaluate all of it. And this offseason provides an opportunity to do that and make very strategic, well-thought-out wise decisions on how we move forward.”
I’ll let you read in between the lines if you’d like to, but the reality is Northwestern has one opportunity left this season. Jack Lausch has one opportunity left this season. Zach Lujan has one opportunity left this season.
Another stumble and the conversation only gets darker.