Cats fall short; TCU wins in 2OTs.

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Cats fall short; TCU wins in 2OTs.
By STEPHEN HAWKINS, AP Sports Writer
Sep 3, 2004 - 2:53:00 AM

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FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Peter LoCoco made up for his missed kicks and gave TCU a wild season-opening win.

Brett Basanez passed for 513 yards Thursday night -- a Northwestern single-game record.

After the walk-on kicker missed his first extra point, then had a 25-yard field goal blocked in the first overtime, LoCoco made a 47-yarder in the second overtime Thursday night to give the Horned Frogs a 48-45 win over Northwestern.

``It started out a little rough with my first collegiate kick hitting the upright,'' said LoCoco, who took over after record-setting kicker Nick Browne graduated. ``After that first one, all my teammates were still behind me and patted me on the back.''

A game that featured 1,152 total yards and 12 touchdowns came down to the kickers.

Brett Huffman missed five field goals for the Wildcats, including both of his attempts in overtime.

``He hasn't missed six kicks all camp,'' coach Randy Walker said. ``He just wasn't striking the ball ... but he's a good kicker. He's devastated as you might guess. It wasn't him kicking out there. I don't know who it was, but it wasn't him.''

Northwestern never led, but came back to tie the game three times. The last rally came with 13 seconds left when Brett Basanez's 8-yard TD pass to Shaun Herbert forced overtime.

After his first overtime attempt was blocked, LoCoco got another chance when TCU went backward on its second overtime possession. Tye Gunn was sacked by Adam Kadela for a 6-yard loss, and then threw an incomplete pass before the go-ahead kick.

The Wildcats got one more possession, but Huffman's 38-yard field goal was wide right to end the four-hour game. He had missed from 25 yards in the first overtime.

Gunn threw for a career-high 368 yards on 20-of-38 passing with four touchdowns in his return as TCU's starter to remain undefeated.

Basanez also had a career night, completing 39 of 62 passes for a Northwestern record of 513 yards and four touchdowns -- matching his total from last season.

On the last drive of regulation, Basanez converted a fourth-and-3 with a 20-yard pass to Ashton Aikens and then completed five more passes in a row to move to the 8. After an incompletion, he threw the tying TD.

That made up for his only interception, a pass that deflected off Mark Philmore to Marvin Godbolt. The safety returned the ball 31 yards, and a late-hit penalty moved the ball to the Northwestern 44. The Frogs needed just five plays before Gunn's 24-yard pass to Rogers provided a 45-38 lead with three minutes left.

Reggie Harrell, who last season year became TCU's first 1,000-yard receiver, had two touchdowns among his five catches for 95 yards. Michael DePriest had three catches for 125 yards, including an 82-yard touchdown, and Lonta Hobbs ran for 142 yards and two scores.

And all 525 yards of total offense and all those points almost weren't enough for the Frogs.

Northwestern ran 100 plays for 637 yards.

``That will keep me upset for about six months,'' said TCU coach Gary Patterson, the team's former defensive coordinator.

Jonathan Fields had eight catches for 202 yards and three touchdowns for the Wildcats. Philmore caught 12 balls for 131 yards. It was the first time Northwestern had two 100-yard receivers in a game since Nov. 21, 1998 against Hawaii.

``Whatever we or I did, how many yards we had, we were short there at the end,'' Basanez said. ``As an offense, you don't have a good day unless you win. We had plenty of chances there at the end of the game.''

Northwestern tied the game at 31 with 17 points in the third quarter, aided on two of its scoring drives by huge penalties against safety Flander Malone.

A roughing the passer penalty against Malone wiped out an interception, and Northwestern drove for Huffman's 41-yard field goal -- the only one he made.

Three plays after LoCoco's 37-yard field goal, Basanez hit Fields for a 63-yard touchdown.

Northwestern faced third-and-5 at the 31 on the next drive. Basanez threw a pass that seemed out of Herbert's reach, but Malone was called for pass interference. Noah Herron's 16-yard run on the next play tied the game for the first time at 31.

TCU took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, after Gunn threw TDs to Harrell and DePriest.

Gunn is 9-0 in the starting role, having won four games in each of his first two injury-plagued seasons.

Coach Gary Patterson named Gunn the starter again just this week. He was chosen ahead of Brandon Hassell, who was 7-2 with 2,039 yards passing when Gunn was out with a separated right shoulder and then a groin injury last year.

Huffman missed three field goals in the first half, two of them hitting the upright.

--nusports.com contributed to this report.