Oct. 10, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern seniors Brett Basanez (Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator) and Tim McGarigle (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick) were honored by the Big Ten Conference Monday as its respective Offensive and Co-Defensive Players of the Week for their performances in the Wildcats' 51-48 win over previously unbeaten Wisconsin.
Basanez engineered Northwestern's record-setting offensive day, accounting for 430 of the Wildcats' school-record 674 total yards. The fourth-year starting quarterback completed 26-of-36 passes for 361 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Basanez also ran for a career-best 69 yards (on 12 carries) and scored a touchdown on the ground.
With his performance, he continues to climb closer to the top of several Big Ten career marks. Basanez now ranks sixth on the Big Ten's all-time total offense list with 9,126 yards. His 430 yards vs. Wisconsin was the fifth-best single-game total in Northwestern history. He also eclipsed the 8,000-yard mark for passing yards and has 8,345 for his career.
McGarigle, who shared this week's defensive honor with Penn State's Paul Posluszny, totaled a career-best 25 tackles, including a personal-best 15 solo hits, against the Badgers. He also added a career-best 3.5 TFL's, which included two quarterback sacks. On Sunday, McGarigle was named the Walter Camp Football Foundation National Defensive Player of the Week.
McGarigle now has 459 career stops and is just 45 tackles away from becoming Northwestern's all-time leader. His 25 stops fell one shy of the official NCAA record (the NCAA began keeping official defensive statistics in 2000), which is ironically co-held by a former NU teammate, Doug Szymul (26 vs. Duke in 2002). Northwestern's official single-game record for tackles is 31, which is held by current all-time tackle leader Chuck Kern.
This is the third career Big Ten honor for both Basanez and McGarigle.