Postgame Notes
10/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
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• Northwestern improved to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten (1/2-game out of first place). The Wildcats defeated the Boilermakers for a second straight year, and for the first time since 1995 in West Lafayette. Northwestern has a two-game winning streak in its series vs. Purdue.
• Since 2003, Northwestern has an 11-8 composite record versus Big Ten competition.
• The victory gave Northwestern coach Randy Walker his 34th victory at Northwestern, leaving him in sole possession of fifth place on the school's all-time win list. With one more win, he will equal Gary Barnett (35-45-1) and move into a fourth-place tie on NU's win list. Walker is seven wins shy of 100 career victories.
• QB Brett Basanez passed Steve Schnur on Northwestern's career passing TD list with his three touchdown passes today. He now has 33 career TD passes. Len Williams (44) and Zak Kustok (42) are first and second on NU's all-time list.
• Basanez made his 40th career start today, the last 33 in succession. He won his 19th career game, equaling Steve Schnur's modern-era record for most wins by an NU quarterback.
• Basanez eclipsed the 400-yard passing mark for just the second time in his career. It was the sixth time in his NU career he passed the 300-yard mark. Basanez threw for a career-best 513 yards in NU's 48-45 double-overtime loss to TCU in 2004. He passed Illinois' Kurt Kittner and Jack Trudeau on the all-time Big Ten passing list and now is in seventh place on the Big Ten career list (8,808 yards). Basanez is 124 yards shy of Michigan State's Jeff Smoker (8,932) and 446 yards shy of Michigan's John Navarre (9,254).
• Basanez also moved past Purdue's Mark Hermann on the Big Ten's career total offense list and is now in fifth place (9,632 yards), 21 yards behind Purdue's Kyle Orton. Drew Brees (Purdue), Antwaan Randle El (Indiana) and Chuck Long (Iowa) are the only players in Big Ten history to eclipse the 10,000-yard mark for career total offense. Basanez passed Orton and Northwestern's Len Williams on the career total offensive plays list and is now in third place (1,665 plays) behind Brees and Randle El.
• Basanez's rushing TD was his third of the season and the 14th of his career.
• Basanez finished with 506 yards of total offense, his second-best single-game figure and the eighth-best figure in Big Ten history. It was the third-best single-game figure in NU history (Brett Basanez, 548 vs. TCU, 2004, and Zak Kustok, 532 vs. Bowling Green, 2001).
• Northwestern, which came in with the nation's sixth-best total offense average, went over the 400-yard mark for the seventh straight game, and over the 500-yard mark for the fifth time in that seven-game stretch. The Wildcats eclipsed the 600-yard mark for the second straight week, recording back-to-back 600-yard games for the first time in school history.
• Northwestern's 206 yards of total offense in the first quarter gave the Wildcats 856 yards of offense for four consecutive quarters (second through fourth quarters of the Wisconsin game and the first quarter of the Purdue game). In its last seven quarters, Northwestern has accumulated 1,253 yards of total offense, or 179 yards per quarter.
• WR Eric Peterman's 67-yard touchdown reception was the first score of his college career. The 67-yard pass was also Northwestern's longest play from scrimmage in 2005.
• TE/HB Frayne Abernathy also caught his first career TD pass, a 5-yarder late in the first quarter.
• The first-quarter interception by CB Deante Battle was the first of his career, and coupled with CB Marquice Cole's game-clinching interception with just over a minute remaining, gave the NU defense nine for the year. The nine interceptions surpass last year's entire NU defensive total. Seven players have interceptions this season, with CB Marquice Cole the only one with more than one (three).
• Northwestern's four takeaways give the Wildcat defense 16 for the season, surpassing last year's 12-game total of 15.
• RB Tyrell Sutton established a career high with 10 receptions for a personal-best 89 receiving yards. He is now the Wildcats' third-leading receiver. Sutton finished with 178 total yards-89 rushing and 89 receiving. Although he was held to a season- and career-low 89 rushing yards, he had a single-game low 13 carries and still averaged 6.8 ypc for the game. Sutton's only score of the game, a 1-yard run on fourth down with 1:50 remaining in the game, gave him 12 rushing TD's and 13 scores for the year. He now has 861 rushing yards in six games.
• The 11-yard TD reception by RB Brandon Roberson was the first score of his collegiate career.
• WR Shaun Herbert finished with a career-high 11 receptions and 96 yards. He now 86 career receptions for 1,005 yards.
• WR Mark Philmore has now caught a pass in all 34 career games played. He moved into sole possession of eighth place on NU's career reception list with 124 (Brian Musso is seventh with 132). Philmore remained in 13th place on NU's receiving yardage list with 1,314 yards.
• LB Tim McGarigle, who began the day as the Big Ten's leading tackler, totaled nine tackles, a pass deflection and a fumble recovery, giving him 468 career tackles and tying him for second place on NU's all-time list.
• LB Nick Roach led NU with 10 tackles while LB Adam Kadela had nine hits (all solo tackles).
