David Braun
Northwestern Interim Head Coach

Opening Statement
“You have a locker room in there right now that is just crushed. This team and this program came into Lincoln today expecting to win a football game. They walked in here and we challenged them to play for four quarters. There's no doubt in my mind that our young men did just that. They played their tails off for four quarters. Did we leave some things out there? Would we like to execute a little bit more in certain areas? Absolutely. But I’m proud of our effort. Certainly not satisfied with the result. Disappointed with the result. That team’s disappointed with the result. We're going to have to do an incredible job as a staff and as a program as a whole of lifting this group back up – getting back to work on Monday and preparing for a really good Maryland team. The expectation is that we’re at our best back at Ryan Field with a great opportunity to play Big Ten football and find a way to get a win. The thing that I'll say very clearly and the expectation that this group has set from the beginning of the season and moving forward. This group is up to the challenge. This group is up to the challenge. You know, we found a way to win three games up to this point. We walked into a hostile environment against a very good Nebraska team that's very well-coached. We should expect to have an opportunity and should expect to win every opportunity that we have moving forward. So the things that are still ahead of this team is something that I'm excited about. We're going to continue to push this group to be at their best and can't wait to get back to Evanston and get back to work.”

On penalties
“Yeah, we’ve got to continue to evaluate it. I mean, at the end of the day, you have to get your hands inside, you have to run your feet. There's holding on every single play, we know that. As a former defensive lineman, I used to tell myself and others that the second you’re looking for a holding call you might as well point at yourself. It's your fault that you're getting held. In terms of the way that we can control it, we have to continue to move our feet. We have to be feet first mentality where their hands are inside and when that defender starts to reach and get out of our framework, we have to release and run our feet through contact.”

On only getting three points off of turnovers
“In hindsight, it's huge. We're going to continue to harp on it. Mike (Bajakian) harps on it. We all harp on it. When we get into the red zone area – offensively when we get an advantageous field position – we have to find ways to turn that into seven points and, again, we can point back to it and be frustrated with the result. We have to just continue to go back to the process – what are we doing in our pre-snap communication in our processes, to set ourselves up for success and put ourselves in situations to get ourselves in that zone?”

On quarterback Brendan Sullivan’s performance and if they considered pulling him
“It ​wasn't a consideration. I'm proud of Sully. That's how I characterize it. I'm proud of him. That young man put it all out on the field. And that's all we can ask these guys. And I'm not pleased with the result. None of us are pleased with the result, but I'm damn proud. I'm damn proud of Brendan Sullivan.”