Despite a season that ended with a loss to UCLA in Friday’s Sun Bowl, Northwestern accomplished something noteworthy this fall: It raised expectations for 2006.
With 14 players who started the 50-38 loss to UCLA coming back, a return trip to the postseason is a reasonable expectation. There is, however, a looming question.
Who will replace Brett Basanez?
Basanez was the Big Ten’s first-team quarterback, and his mastery of coach Randy Walker’s spread offense and running ability were keys to a surprising 2005 season.
C.J. Bacher, who will be a redshirt sophomore, played little as Basanez stayed healthy. Bacher’s only action when a game was in doubt consisted of three plays at Purdue when Basanez was shaken up, and he responded by completing a pass for a first down.
Bacher was No. 2 on the depth chart this season, while freshmen Mike Kafka from St. Rita and Andrew Brewer from Jenks, Okla., redshirted. The Wildcats have a commitment from one high school quarterback, Joe Mauro of Bedford, Texas, who is a development project.
Next season other parts of the team must compensate for an inexperienced quarterback. Basanez was expected to make big plays, but his successor’s first job will be not to give them up.
“That’s going to be the first criteria–don’t throw it to their guys, don’t drop the snap, don’t screw it up,” Walker said. “Quarterbacks have a great chance every day they walk out there to get you beat.”
Walker said he will take his time making a decision, possibly even until shortly before the season opener at Miami of Ohio.
“We’ll go through spring and try to evaluate, first who can be the most consistent, take things that get you beat out of the offense, and, hopefully, find a guy who can make some plays–that’s part of it too,” Walker said.
“We’re going to run the quarterback; that means he is a vital part of our running game. We’ll take our time in the spring and probably go through August.”
It’s hard to imagine the Wildcats relying more on Tyrell Sutton, who rushed for 1,474 yards as a freshman and learned some lessons from the Basanez-led senior class.
“The thing I’ll take from this is leadership,” he said. “I haven’t seen leaders like that in my career playing football. It’s phenomenal what they brought to the table, and I hope I can bring that to the table the next three years.”
Northwestern rebuilt its offensive line this season, and loses only right tackle Zach Strief. But Trevor Rees, who took the season off to tend to academic problems, will return to challenge for the center job.
The receiver corps loses Mark Philmore and Jonathan Fields.
“But there’s a lot of talent back,” Philmore said.
Shaun Herbert, who led the Wildcats with 79 receptions this season, heads the returnees.
The defense’s biggest loss is middle linebacker Tim McGarigle, but outside linebackers Nick Roach and Adam Kadela return.
The secondary loses Herschel Henderson, who played both cornerback and safety. The secondary will be in good shape if cornerback Deante Battle is reinstated after missing the Sun Bowl for academic reasons.
The defensive line loses tackle Barry Cofield, but freshman Kevin Mims showed he can make big plays–an interception return for a touchdown in the Sun Bowl and a forced fumble that led to a score at Michigan State.
“I’m excited about it,” Walker said of next season. “I thought we were a pretty young team. We had some seniors, but not many. We played as many true freshmen and redshirt freshmen as anybody in the country, so we have a chance to get better.”
Northwestern’s season
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DATE OPPONENT TIME
Sept. 3 Ohio W 38-14
Sept. 10 Northern Illinois W 38-37
Sept. 17 at Arizona State L 52-21
Sept. 24 Penn State L 34-29
Oct. 8 Wisconsin W 51-48
Oct. 15 at Purdue W 34-20
Oct. 22 at Michigan State W 49-14
Oct. 29 Michigan L 33-17
Nov. 5 Iowa W 28-27
Nov. 12 at Ohio State L 48-7
Nov. 19 at Illinois W 38-21
Dec. 30 UCLA, Sun Bowl L 50-38
PASSING ATT COM PCT YDS TD
Brett Basanez 497 314 63.2 3622 21
C.J. Bacher 15 6 40.0 59 1
RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LNG TD
Tyrell Sutton 250 1474 5.9 62 16
Brett Basanez 113 423 3.7 21 7
Gerard Hamlett 32 174 5.4 35 1
Br. Roberson 37 171 4.6 33 0
C.J. Bacher 6 25 4.2 18 0
Omar Conteh 6 21 3.5 12 0
Ryan Pedersen 2 19 9.5 19 0
RECEIVING ATT YDS AVG LNG TD
S. Herbert 79 862 10.9 34 6
Jon. Fields 60 555 9.2 38 0
Mark Philmore 55 662 12.0 62 6
Tyrell Sutton 44 396 9.0 41 2
Ross Lane 24 378 15.8 45 1
Kim Thompson 19 326 17.2 52 1
E. Peterman 12 181 15.1 67 2
Br. Roberson 8 65 8.1 19 1
Rasheed Ward 7 99 14.1 25 1
F. Abernathy 4 49 12.2 20 2
Sam Cheatam 3 37 12.3 33 0
Erryn Cobb 2 29 14.5 15 0
TEAM STATISTICS NU OPP
Scoring 388 407
Points per game 32.3 33.9
First downs 328 297
Rushing yardage 2,323 2,617
Rushing attempts 462 504
Average per rush 5.0 5.2
Average per game 193.6 218.1
Rushing TDs 25 26
Passing yardage 3,681 3,148
Att-Comp-Int 512-320-9 425-247-20
Average per catch 11.5 12.7
Average per game 306.8 262.3
Passing TDs 22 20
Total offense 6,004 5,765
Kick returns-yds 38-729 50-1,088
Punt returns-yds 18-264 30-352
Interceptions-yds 20-290 9-42
Fumbles-lost 22-12 22-10
Penalties-yds 74-582 74-661
Time of poss., game 29:39 30:21
Sacks by-yds 12-45 11-82
Field goals-att 12-22 15-20
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tabannon@tribune.com
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