Senior quarterback Brett Basanez used to be the scapegoat for Northwestern (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) football.

He came into the game against then-No. 25 Michigan (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) on the Heisman radar and as the top quarterback in the Big Ten, and after the contest, Basanez put the blame back on himself.

He said the offensive line didn’t do a poor job, he just scrambled too early. Basanez said receivers weren’t running the wrong routes, he was just making bad passes.

“I thought I threw it good, and then I threw it right to their guys,” Basanez joked after the game. “So I was like, ‘That wasn’t so good.’ “

Basanez was 26 for 49 for 326 yards in the game but threw two interceptions – double the number he had thrown the rest of the season.

When he was told he was 10 for 22 for 62 yards in the second half, Basanez interrupted the line of questioning.

“That’s horrible,” he said.

Despite Basanez’s tough critique of himself, he managed to break NU records in the contest.

Basanez threw for more than 300 yards for the fourth-straight game, and with two touchdown passes, he moved to fourth place on the NU single-season list with 14 this year.

He surpassed 10,000 yards of total offense for his career in the Cats’ second offensive play of the game, a 23-yard strike to junior wide receiver Shaun Herbert.

target practice

Michigan senior wide receiver and kickoff and punt returner Steve Breaston was a major concern for Walker coming into the game Saturday.

NU chose to kick away from Breaston on kickoffs, and he had four punt returns for only 55 yards. But Walker was not happy with the punting effort.

“We were doing the one thing you can’t do, and that’s hit a line drive right at Steve Breaston,” Walker said. “I’m amazed he didn’t run about three back, but he didn’t.”

Breaston averaged almost 11 yards per return and more than 25 yards per kickoff, including a touchdown, before the game.

He was less than three yards above his season average on punt returns Saturday, but senior punter Ryan Pederson, who kicked seven punts for an average of just fewer than 45 yards a punt, was replaced at the end of the game.

Junior punter Slade Larscheid relieved Pederson for NU’s final punt and kicked it 36 yards. Breaston lost two yards on the return.

“We tried to directional punt and target the ball,” Walker said. “We just were not getting that, and I just decided to make a change.

“We’re going to find a punter that can hit a target because we haven’t hit a target for about five weeks, and I think it’s important to do that in this kicking game.”

careering it

Although NU’s offense was stymied, there was a bright spot on that side of the ball.

Senior wide receiver Mark Philmore had a career-high 139 receiving yards on nine catches.

“If there was a good game on offense, it was probably his,” Walker said.

Philmore caught both touchdowns the Cats scored Saturday, and the 62-yard touchdown strike from Basanez to Philmore at the end of the first half was the longest of Philmore’s career. He moved to 10th on NU’s all-time list with 1,509 receiving yards.

Philmore earned his career-high yardage in the first half but had just three catches for two yards in the second.

“I still feel as though no matter what I did in the first half, in the second half I didn’t (make) enough plays to help our offense,” Philmore said.

Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].