The Northwestern Wildcats ended their 2003 season hoping they had learned the key to winning, specifically to play a 60-minute game and neither quit nor coast.
For 60 minutes, they looked pretty good against Texas Christian.
Then came overtime.
Brian Huffman missed two field goals in overtime–and 5 of 6 in the game–and TCU’s Peter LoCoco converted a second chance to lift the Horned Frogs to a 48-45 victory in double overtime.
After Huffman missed his first overtime try–a 25-yarder–LoCoco had his 25-yard attempt blocked.
And so it went to a second overtime in which TCU drew first blood on a 47-yard field goal by LoCoco.
Then Huffman missed his fifth field goal of the game, a 38-yarder wide right, to end it.
NU quarterback Brett Basanez, who threw for a school record 513 yards on 39-of-62 passing, led the Wildcats on a game-tying march in the final minutes of regulation, completing an 8-yard pass to Shawn Herbert with nine seconds left to tie the game 45-45 and force overtime.
Basanez’s four touchdown passes equaled his 2003 output in 13 games. Northwestern piled up 641 total yards of offense to 531 by TCU. Texas Christian quarterback Tye Gunn threw for a career-high 368 yards on 20-of-38 passing with four touchdowns.
After rallying from a 14-point halftime deficit to tie the game 38-38, Basanez was intercepted inside the TCU 15-yard line by safety Marvin Godbolt as Northwestern was driving for a potential winning score with just five minutes to go. The Horned Frogs took that turnover in for a go-ahead score at 45-38 on a 24-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Cory Rodgers.
Wide receiver Jonathan Fields scored four touchdowns, two on 6-yard passes from Basanez and the other on a 63-yard catch-and-run from Basanez. He topped that with a 69-yard TD pass from Basanez with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter to tie the game 38-38. Fields had 201 yards receiving.
Running back Noah Herron made a strong statement that he is ready to step in for departed 1,000-yard rusher Jason Wright, scoring on runs of 2 yards in the second quarter and 16 yards late in the third. Herron had 97 yards on 28 carries.
Basanez broke the Wildcats’ all-time passing mark of 446 yards by Mike Greenfield against Northern Illinois in 1985.
Early it appeared the Wildcats indeed carried some of last year with them, falling behind Texas Christian 28-14 at halftime, then outscoring the Horned Frogs 17-3 in the third quarter.
But they put themselves on dangerous ground by squandering scoring chances against a good team. Northwestern missed three field goals and got zero points from a fumble recovery and interception in TCU territory.
The Wildcats were knocked backward for 324 yards of total offense in the first half by a TCU offense that has even second stringers and underclassmen already attracting NFL attention. The Wildcats responded with one of their biggest offensive explosions of the Randy Walker era, with more than 500 yards of offense midway through the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats had two 100-yard receivers for the first time since Nov. 21, 1998 when D’Wayne Bates (146) and Jay Tant (111) topped the century mark. Mark Philmore complemented Fields with 131 yards receiving.
Fields brought Northwestern to within a touchdown at 31-24 when he took a short Basanez pass and turned it into a touchdown 63-yard score down the right sideline.
Basanez operated almost exclusively out of the shotgun as the Wildcats chose not to test a run defense that was among the nation’s best in 2003. Basanez threw for 241 yards in the first half, sixth-best in his career and more than he amassed in any full game last season.
But the Wildcats did too much self-destructing, regardless of the overall outcome. Northwestern trailed by 14 at halftime despite missing three field goals, two from inside the Horned Frogs’ 35-yard line and one of those after recovering a TCU fumble at the Horned Frogs’ 23-yard line.
Add to that a missed pass to a wide-open receiver and the Wildcats were forcing themselves to play uphill much of the evening. The third missed field goal was one play after Basanez threw slightly behind Fields, who could not hold onto the ball for a score just before halftime.
The Wildcats weren’t helped when junior wide receiver Brandon Horn, who caught 10 passes for 285 yards and two touchdowns last season, sat out the game due to an undisclosed violation of team rules. Horn is scheduled to be active for the Sept. 11 game against Arizona State.
TCU had Northwestern scrambling to hang on from the game’s first play. From their own 20, the normally run-oriented Horned Frogs went 80 yards for a touchdown and did it with 72 of the yards of passing against a Northwestern defense bunched to stop the run.
