EAST LANSING, Mich. –

An offense that moved the ball at will, ripping off large chunks of yards every two or three plays.

A defense that gave up boatloads of points and yards, but still managed to hold up when it needed to.

A game coming down to the wire, with the outcome resting on nearly every play in the last five minutes of regulation, and the entirety of overtime.

Ringing any bells?

Saturday’s 48-41, overtime win over Michigan State conjured up a lot of memories of 2005, the finest vintage year in recent memory for Northwestern football.

Randy Walker’s last year. The last time the Cats got to a bowl game. The year NU got ESPN2-level national attention on a weekly basis.

And the last time the Cats looked like they had fun playing the game.

“It was the best big play day we’ve had in forever,” wide receiver Ross Lane said.

On Saturday, just like in 2005, it all started with the quarterback.

Two years ago, senior Brett Basanez kept the Cats in the game almost every week. They hung with teams they weren’t supposed to and pulled out wins at the end of games they had no right winning. Like the 28-27 win over Iowa in which Basanez led the team to two touchdowns in two minutes. Tyrell Sutton’s breakout freshman year certainly helped, but Basanez was the undisputed leader of that team.

Watching the Cats carve up the Spartans time and again, you would think Basanez found another year of eligibility, if not for backup quarterback Joe Mauro wearing Basanez’s number 14 on the sideline.

But the one exploiting the porous Michigan State defense Saturday was not Basanez, but his protege, junior C.J. Bacher, the same player who came under fire last week for committing five turnovers in NU’s loss to Michigan.

Everything was working for Bacher. He was making the right reads. He was putting the right loft on the ball.

He even had a bout with supersonic hearing. On a 3rd and Goal from the Spartans’ one-yard line, Bacher scrambled right, went through his progressions and looked like he was throwing the ball away. But in ended in the arms of Lane, who was running a cross route in the back of the end zone.

Bacher said he heard Lane calling his name. From about 15 yards away. Over the din of the crowd.

“Later, he told me never to do that if I was covered,” Lane said.

Every time the Spartans scored, Bacher and the Cats’ offense had an answer. He even managed to upstage his predecessor, breaking Basanez’s NU record for passing yards in a game.

And he did it in style, flinging a flat-footed, sidearmed pass to running back Omar Conteh’s back shoulder for the game-winning score.

“I’m more excited by the win,” Bacher said of breaking Basanez’s record. “These personal stats I really don’t care about.”

All humility (feigned or genuine) aside, Bacher had a wonderful game. He can credit it to the offensive line, he can credit it to his receivers, but for the entirety of Saturday’s win, Bacher was downright Basanez-like.

His performance in the game helps it transcend the level of a normal win. With Bacher’s 520 yards, and the 611 in total offense, the Cats were making a statement.

They’ve overcome the three-game swoon. They’ve overcome the spectre-like memory of last year’s loss to the Spartans. They’ve transformed from a forgotten team to one that has a real chance at a bowl game, all in one week.

And Bacher has shown that when he is good, he is very, very good. Good enough to keep the Cats in pretty much any game.

“We have the confidence in C.J. that he can play like that every week,” wide receiver Eric Peterman said. “It’s just up to him to come out with that mindset too.”