OK, everybody, hands up.
All you who thought C.J. Bachér would start 17 consecutive games (and counting), throw for 990 yards and nine touchdowns in back-to-back games, and be an honorable mention on the All-Big Ten Team, get those hands high. Let us see who you are.
Liars.
Just two years ago, Bachér looked to be the odd man out in a three-way battle to replace the legendary Brett Basanez as Northwestern’s signal-caller. But the senior outplayed Andrew Brewer and Mike Kafka to get the starting job.
Once he did, Bachér never looked back, leading the team to several electric, last-minute wins while putting his name in the Wildcats’ record books.
Bachér’s eight victories have come in a variety of different ways. He has started off slowly, then rallied. See Oct. 13, 2007, when Bachér exploded for a 470-yard, four-touchdown performance against Minnesota, leading the Cats from 21 down in the final 16 minutes to a (literally) heart-stopping 49-48, double-OT win.
He has played within himself, letting the tandem of Tyrell Sutton and Omar Conteh grind down opposing defenses. See Nov. 4, 2006, when Bachér overcame two turnovers to steady the offense, and NU rushed for a season-high 225 yards in a 21-7 triumph over Iowa – Bachér’s first win as a starter.
He has brought the biggest gun to a shootout, racking up record yardage and scoring touchdowns faster than the other team can keep up. See Oct. 6, 2007, when it seemed like every NU record in the books would fall to Bachér’s right arm. The junior threw for a school-record 520 yards and added five touchdowns, keeping the Cats one step ahead of Michigan State the entire game on the way to a 48-41 OT win.
His 3,656 passing yards last season were the most in Cats’ history. And with 12 games left in his career, he is already the seventh most prolific NU passer of all-time.
Not bad for a guy who coughed up a 35-point lead in his first career start. But now the expectations are higher. Now .500 is a disappointment, and Bachér’s 8-9 career record looks good, but not good enough.
The Cats have bigger aspirations. Bowl aspirations. And if Bachér wants to join the pantheon of great NU quarterbacks, he will have to lead the Cats back to the postseason.
The list of Purple and White signal-callers to play in a bowl game is short. Basanez took the Cats to the 2003 Motor City Bowl and 2005 Sun Bowl but came up short both times. Steve Schnur was equally unsuccessful in the 1996 Rose Bowl and 1997 Citrus Bowl. And poor Zak Kustok could have been Tom Brady and still fallen short in a 66-17 loss to Nebraska in the 2000 Alamo Bowl.
For Bachér to succeed where they all failed and join Don Burson (who didn’t complete a single pass in the 1949 Rose Bowl) as the only NU quarterbacks to win a bowl game, he will need to lead the team – and not just by example. When it’s early in the second half at Michigan and the team is down by 10, it will be on him to rally the offense. It will be on him to play big in the big moments.
It will be on him to win.
Sports editor and Medill junior Jake Simpson can’t wait for C.J.’s first bobblehead doll. He can be reached at [email protected]
