Oct. 10, 2005
OFFENSE:
Brett Basanez, Northwestern
SR, QB, Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator
Basanez was at the helm of Northwestern's most productive offensive attack in school history, accounting for 430 of the Wildcats' school-record 674 yards in a 51-48 shootout over nationally-ranked Wisconsin. The senior signal caller completed 26 of 36 passes (72.2 percent) for 361 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for a career-best 69 yards on 12 carries with another score. After trailing 17-10 at halftime, Basanez rallied the hosts with a touchdown pass to culminate the opening drive of the second half and boosted the Wildcats to 41 second-half points and a 51-34 advantage with five minutes left in the game. The Arlington Heights native leads the Big Ten and ranks ninth nationally with 319.0 yards of total offense per outing while also rating among the top four in the league with 277.4 passing yards per game (2nd) and a pass efficiency rating of 142.0 (4th). Basanez currently appears among the top 10 in conference annals in career passes, completions, passing yards and total offensive plays and yards. This is the third weekly award of his career.
CO-DEFENSE:
Tim McGarigle, Northwestern
SR, LB, Chicago, Ill./Saint Patrick
McGarigle racked up a career-best 25 tackles in the win over Wisconsin, one defensive stop shy of the official NCAA record of 26 tackles (since 2000) held by fellow Wildcat Doug Szymul (2002) and Central Michigan's Brian Leigeb (2000). McGarigle boasted a career-high 15 solo stops on the day and also set personal bests with 3.5 tackles for loss (-13 yards) and two sacks (-11 yards). His 25 defensive stops boosted his career total to 459 tackles, just 44 away from the school record of 503 set by Chuck Kern in 1980. The senior linebacker picks up a share of his third weekly Big Ten defensive accolade, which is tied for the second-highest career total in league history.
Paul Posluszny, Penn State
JR, LB, Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell
Posluszny becomes the first player in Big Ten history to earn at least a share of Player of the Week accolades in any category for three straight weeks after leading the Nittany Lions with 14 tackles and two tackles for loss (-13 yards), including a sack (-10 yards), in a 17-10 win over nationally-ranked Ohio State. The junior linebacker spearheaded a PSU defense that limited the Buckeyes to no points in the second half and only 10 points for the game, nearly 20 points below their season average of 28.5 points per contest entering the week. Posluszny picked up his sack with less than six minutes left in the game to force a third-and-17 and eventual punt on OSU's second-to-last possession. He now has three weekly defensive awards this season, which equals Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald (1995) and Wisconsin's Tom Burke (1998) for the single-season Big Ten record, and his four career weekly accolades equal the league record held by Fitzgerald (1993-96), PSU's Courtney Brown (1996-99) and Minnesota's Tyrone Carter (1996-99).
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Jason Giannini, Minnesota
FR, K, Canton, Ohio/Glen Oak
Giannini was perfect on a career-high three field goals at Michigan, including a 30-yarder with one second remaining to snap Minnesota's 16-game losing streak in the series and give the Gophers the Little Brown Jug for the first time since 1986. The redshirt freshman produced a career-high 11 points in the game, hitting a 29-yarder to knot the score at 3-3 in the first half and a 26-yarder to tie the game at 13-13 early in the second half before his game-winning boot. Giannini ranks second in the Big Ten in both field goals per game (1.67) and field goal percentage (83.3) and has connected on 10 of 12 kicks in his first season on the field. This mark's Giannini's first weekly laurel.
