Everything Northwestern head football coach David Braun said about playing USC this week

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With USC set to play Northwestern on a short week Friday night, the focus needs to quickly shift off the Nebraska team they just beat and onto the Wildcats.

We are doing that at Trojans Wire, quickly shifting our focus to Northwestern and previewing every relevant storyline heading into that game.

Northwestern head coach David Braun, who has the Wildcats one win away from their second bowl game in his three seasons, had plenty to say about the Trojans during his Monday media availability. There’s a lot to learn about how the Wildcats, and the rest of the country, view the Trojans.

Braun’s full press conference

Braun on USC’s lack of weakness

“There are no weaknesses with this USC team,” Braun said during his press conference Monday. “Explosive offense, very talented defense, very efficient in their special teams play. They’re incredibly talented in all three phases, at all three levels, and very well coached. With the style of offense that they play, it can be easy to fall into thinking they’re passing the ball all over the place, that’s not the case. They’re very balanced, they’re running the ball very effectively, throwing the ball at a really high level. It’s a scary operation. And defensively, the talent up front is something that really stands out.”

USC has put up strong performances in all phases of the game this season, but the issue has been putting it all together. Northwestern recognizes and will be prepared for the Trojans’ strengths, so they can they take their play to another level and decisively beat the Wildcats on Friday?

Braun on USC’s Nebraska win, season to this point

“Ultimately, the way that USC went into a hostile environment at Nebraska and found a way to win a football game I think is reflective of where Coach Riley has this team,” Braun said. “They’re finding ways to win football games, they’re undefeated at home right now, they’re 4-1 in the Big Ten. It’s going to be an incredible challenge.”

Northwestern just lost to Nebraska 28-21 in their most recent game on October 25, so of course Braun wants to hype up Nebraska as a great football team. His little note about USC’s home dominance is important though; he is 32-16 overall at USC, but only 5 of those losses have come at home, with the other 11 coming on the road or at neutral sites.

Interesting insight on USC’s running success, how Northwestern can make it tough

“They’re going to find ways to stress you with their tempo, they’re going to find ways to stress you with their diversity in the run frames that you’re going to see,” Braun said. Some of the gap scheme, especially out of spread formations can be really difficult to defend. We’ve gotta do a great job of playing with leverage, we’ve gotta populate the football, we have to tackle well. And ultimately, when missed tackles do happen we have to do a great job of understanding our leverage and pursuits got to show up.”

I like Braun’s detailed answer here, which gives even Trojan fans who have been watching USC play all season some insider insight into how USC has helped King Miller succeed even against tough defenses.

Respect to USC’s home crowd

“Each environment has it’s own uniqueness to it, but this week looks very similar in terms of our prep that we had for Penn State and for Nebraska in terms of crowd noise,” Braun said.

Even as a Trojan fan I wouldn’t say that USC’s home environment is quite on par with programs like Penn State and Nebraska, but it’s cool to hear another Big Ten coach is taking it seriously, especially given that USC’s attendance and fan engagement has been good this year.

Running the dang ball

“In the Big Ten the thing that continues to show up is ultimately you’d better be able to run the ball and stop the run,” Braun said. “A credit to USC, Nebraska may have found some efficiency in the run game but ultimately SC was able to really bow up in the second half in critical moments. And again, I don’t know what the exact number was, I think it was somewhere around 230 yards but SC was able to effectively run the football on the road in the Big Ten, that’s a winning formula in this league.”

“We have to win the rushing battle, and one of the natural results of winning the rushing battle when you’re running the ball officially is possessing the football and that’ll have to show up Friday night.”

Northwestern is currently second in the Big Ten in time of possession. This will be a big key to the game on Friday for both teams, especially because crowd engagement and momentum in the Coliseum can be drastically affected by the on-field product.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Northwestern football coach David Braun discusses USC Trojans

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