Brett Basanez Quotations

We always have to score more points than they do. We get just as many chances as they do so we have to make good on our chances and take our shots. If it (the score) comes down to 99-98, that's what it needs to be and we have to have 99. If it comes down to 3-2, we've got to have the three.

We really hit it off. There are a lot of great quarterbacks in the (NCAA), so it was cool.

I don't think we played well enough. It's not that we thought we were better than we were. We got behind the chains and made costly turnovers.

Joel played fantastic. He was playing great all week. We didn't have any bad snaps. It's the first time in a while.

I think I've learned a lot in my career here. I'm kind of at a point now where I know what's it like. You come in and you kind of think you know, but now I know what this team needs and what this offense needs as far as leadership style.

I thought, 'OK, they scored pretty fast. Let's see if we can answer. But then they did it again.

That's what happens when you don't play well against a good team, ... They make you pay for it.

That's the risk you take in the shotgun. But it was nothing serious.

We needed to score some points, but we just couldn't get it going.

We let so much get away from us early. We didn't play well enough to win.

We let so much get away from us early that it came back to haunt us. It's not any one thing. We just did not play well enough to win. And when you do that in a bowl game, you're not going to win.

When people think of Northwestern, they don't think of a traditional winning program here, ... We're trying to change that.

When we play to our level, we can play like that. Wisconsin, they kept bringing it on every play. We had to keep the pedal down.

Drew's a lot better-looking guy. Ours needs work.

Our defense played great. They got a lot of turnovers and the offense needed to respond and score touchdowns.

(Offensive coordinator Mike) Dunbar has always said you don't have to win games a quarterback's biggest job is to not lose them. I knew I had to put this team in a position to win, not make dumb decisions. I knew if I didn't turn the ball over we have enough guys to make plays. It was a conscious effort to watch film and work on decision-making.

This makes us the favorite now if we weren't before, ... We like that. We like knowing that teams have a little bit of fear in facing us.

That kid was everywhere - he was head-hunting,

It's definitely a big win, ... They're obviously a ranked team and anytime you can go out and execute your game plan like we did today it's huge for your confidence.

Their defense is great. They all seem to be 6-5, 300 and run a 4.4 40.