The Brett Basanez that played for the Northwestern Wildcats last season is no more.
The man who threw for 82 yards combined in his team’s final two games is gone.
The underclassman that threw 12 interceptions to only four touchdowns last season is history. The quarterback that seemed to perform his worst when his team needed him most is no longer with us.
“It was rough, man; it was rough,” Basanez said of his sophomore season. “You always want to come out and play your best and do your best and have that perfect game. When stuff doesn’t go your way, it’s rough.”
Basanez has made a 180-degree turnaround from last season, when he went through one of the most profound cases of the sophomore slump in recent memory. After earning All-Big Ten freshman team honors in his rookie season, where he threw for 2,204 yards and seven touchdowns, Basanez struggled mightily last season, throwing for only 1,916 yards in 13 games with the aforementioned 4:12 touchdown to interception ratio.
Six games into this season, however, Basanez has already thrown for 1,586 yards and has tossed eight touchdowns to only five picks while navigating Northwestern to a 3-3 record, including two overtime victories against Ohio State and Indiana.
So what is the secret behind the massive turnaround?
“You just kind of deal with it and keep fighting,” Basanez said. “I’m working a little harder this year, just trying do whatever I can to be the best I can be.”
The paths of Basanez and Northwestern have long gone in opposite directions, ever since Basanez’s freshman campaign, in which the young gunslinger had an exceptional season but could not prevent the Wildcats from going 3-9 and returning to their traditional position of Big Ten doormat.
Yet last season, while Basanez was undergoing the woes of the “worst season I’ve ever played [at any level],” the Wildcats showed life, going 4-4 in the Big Ten and making a bowl game for the first time since 2000, when Northwestern went 8-4 and won a share of the Big Ten title.
The inverse relationship between the successes of Basanez and Northwestern hit a head last season when the Wildcats took on their biggest rival, Illinois, in the final game of the season. A win would make Northwestern bowl eligible, but Basanez and Co. would have to accomplish the feat on the road.
Basanez promptly turned in the least productive game of his career, going 3-9 for 27 yards with an interception, but Northwestern defeated the Illini 37-20 to earn a ticket to the Motor City Bowl against Bowling Green.
Basanez made it clear that the success of last year’s team made it a lot easier to handle not playing up to his expectations.
“Having [graduated running back Jason Wright] and Noah [Herron] running their tails off and the line giving them huge holes, I think that really helped me,” Basanez said, adding, however, that he still had the confidence that he could carry the Wildcats on his shoulders if called upon. “The running game’s effectiveness kept the coaches from having to put me in a spot where they thought that I needed to make something happen for us. If they would’ve put me in that spot though, I’m sure I would’ve done it.”
This year, in the Wildcats’ season opener, it looked as if the fortunes of Basanez and Northwestern would continue to work in opposition. Northwestern lost to Texas Christian University 48-45 in overtime despite a career day from Basanez, as he threw for a ridiculous 513 yards and four touchdowns in the losing effort. This turned out to be an aberration however, as both Basanez and Northwestern have excelled since the early loss, losing only at Minnesota and defeating then-No. 7 Ohio State and Indiana back-to-back weeks in overtime in Evanston.
Basanez and the Wildcats are coming off a bye week and will now attempt to stage a repeat performance of last year’s upset of the Badgers, when Northwestern downed a sleepwalking UW squad 16-7. This time, the Wildcats are hoping to do accomplish the feat at Camp Randall. Basanez believes it will take a near-perfect performance from both he and his comrades to take down the Badgers.
“We are going to have to execute,” Basanez said. “We can’t beat ourselves. We can’t put ourselves behind and make our offense, or our defense for that matter, dig us out of a hole. Wisconsin’s got a great team and when you play a great team, you have to capitalize on your opportunities.”
Basanez himself has a deep respect for the Badger defense and isn’t surprised that Wisconsin has been so dominant defensively this year.
“They’re stout,” Basanez said. “Every aspect of their defense is top-notch and obviously they are top ranked. Especially up front, they are very stout,” Basanez said, adding that he will sleep more soundly knowing that he will not have to take any hits from Erasmus James this weekend, who will sit out with an ankle injury sustained Saturday. “It definitely takes some pressure off me and our line because he is such a great player.”
For all the respect that Basanez has for the UW defense, he still believes that he and the Wildcats will be able to make something happen Saturday.
“We expect to put some points on the board,” Basanez said. “If we didn’t there would be no point to going all the way up to Madison. We think that if we play our game and don’t beat ourselves, we should give ourselves a good chance to win.”
The Badgers will look to keep Basanez under wraps in a similar manner to the way they held Purdue’s Kyle Orton in check for most of Saturday’s game. If they do, Wisconsin will have a good chance of avoiding a second-straight upset at the hands of the Wildcats. However, the man under center Saturday will not be the Basanez of old, and Wisconsin might find the task easier said than done.
