Across the Beat: Getting to know Northwestern

For the third straight season — and there’s going to be a fourth — Duke and Northwestern will meet on the football field.

Saturday afternoon’s game at Wallace Wade Stadium will see the continuation of a four-year series in which the Blue Devils have notched one-touchdown wins in each of the last two seasons.

To get caught up on what Northwestern looks like this season, we’ve enlisted the help of Louie Vaccher, publisher and managing editor of Wildcat Report on the Rivals network.

Here is our five-part Q&A:

1. I like to start these with a simple vibe check. How is the feeling around Northwestern?

Answer: The vibes are much better than what they were up until halftime last Saturday, I can tell you that. Northwestern looked listless in the opener against Rutgers. It wasn’t just they lost the game; it was the way they lost. The Wildcats came out flat and Rutgers dominated play for four quarters. Northwestern didn’t score until 19 seconds remained, in garbage time.

Then, last week, they were tied 7-7 with UTEP at the half. Again, they looked dreadful. But they caught fire in the second half, scoring 31 unanswered points on several big plays while their defense pitched a shutout, and the Wildcats won their first game in more than a year to end the longest losing streak in the nation. The Wildcats haven’t scored that many points since the season opener in 2020.

It was a very encouraging sign. The bar is low this season, but Northwestern showed that they might be able to compete in the Big Ten and maybe even surprise somebody.

2. Help us understand what’s gone on at QB since these teams met last season. It looks like Cincinnati transfer Ben Bryant is the guy — but Ryan Hilinski, who threw for 435 yards against Duke last season — had an 85-yard touchdown pass last week?

Answer: Bryant is definitely the starter; interim head coach David Braun confirmed that this week. But the Wildcats have a whole room of quarterbacks who will contribute this season. Four of them have scored a touchdown either passing or rushing already this year, and five have taken at last one snap, if you can believe that.

Brendan Sullivan, who lost the battle for the starting job in camp but came on in relief to throw the lone TD pass against Rutgers, is the No. 2 quarterback. But he was listed as questionable against UTEP and was unavailable, so Hilinski came on when Bryant got hurt and promptly threw a screen pass that Joseph Himon Jr. took 85 yards to the house. Finally, there’s Jack Lausch, an athletic, Wildcat QB, who comes in as a change of pace and had a 46-yard touchdown run against UTEP.

Braun said that both Bryant and Sullivan should be available on Saturday, so I expect Bryant to start and Sullivan to be No. 2. But don’t be surprised to see Lausch at some point to present more of a running threat. Braun has sung the sophomore’s praises at every opportunity, calling him one of the “top athletes” on the team.

3. While Duke fans breathe a sigh of relief that running back Evan Hull — 278 yards of offense in last year’s matchup — is gone, how similar of a skillset does Cam Porter have?

Answer: Porter is a different kind of back. He is a 220-pound power back who likes to get downhill. Hull was more of a one-cut back with long speed who was also a receiving threat out of the backfield.

But I think Porter and the running game is the key for this offense. They rushed for just 12 total yards (after sacks) against Rutgers in Week 1, as they fell behind early and largely abandoned the running game.

But Saturday against UTEP, they ran for 184 yards, with Porter leading the way with 90 yards on 17 carries. As a team, they averaged 4.7 yards per carry. Porter, a guy who can move the pile and break tackles, is a good fit for this offensive line which is much better at run-blocking than protecting the quarterback.

Porter is the thunder in the Wildcats’ offense, but look for Himon and AJ Henning to get some touches and provide the lightning. Those guys both have some speed and offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian likes to get the ball to them in space any way he can.

4. What was the key to Northwestern’s defense shutting out UTEP for the final 56 minutes last week and do you think that’s repeatable, or more a product of who the opponent was?

Answer: Northwestern’s defense has been pretty solid in both games. Their problem has been slow starts.

Rutgers mounted two 16-play touchdown drives the first two times they had the ball in Week 1, but then the Wildcats held them to 10 points the rest of the way. Last week, UTEP scored a TD on their first drive, and then the Wildcats completely shut them down. On top of that, the defense came up with three interceptions against the Miners, their first three turnovers of the season.

Will they be able to repeat that? I doubt it. Duke is a much more potent offense than either UTEP or Rutgers. But Braun’s defense (he’s retained his defensive coordinator role) is a bend-but-don’t break kind of system. Their goal will be to contain the run, keep Riley Leonard in the pocket, keep everything in front of them to prevent the big play, and then make the Blue Devils snap the ball a bunch of times to score.

They have shown the ability to do that. Then, if they can come up with a takeaway or two, they may be able to keep Northwestern in the game.

5. Does interim coach David Braun have any shot at retaining the job past this season? Or this simply a season that Northwestern wants to get through, and then evaluate the program and make a hire from outside of the staff?

Answer: I think everyone is wondering that. Braun has done a tremendous job, by all accounts, in what is essentially an impossible situation. Players love him. If he can somehow win six games and get this team to a bowl game, he’ll probably get the job and lose the interim tag. He’ll also probably win the Big Ten, and possibly national coach of the year award.

But unless something like that happens, I think Northwestern will probably opt to hire a new head coach and staff at the end of the season and start a program reset. Is Braun the type of recruiter that can sustain a Power Five program? We don’t really know. And the administration probably will want to start over with a clean slate and remove any stain from the scandal.

The other intriguing thing here is that we also don’t really know who will be making all of those decisions, either. Athletics director Derrick Gragg is on the hot seat, and rightfully so. School president Michael Schill is under some scrutiny for the way he and Gragg handled this entire mess. So it’s all up in the air at this point.