Northwestern Wildcats @ Rice Owls Football Preview

What is it with Northwestern’s 2010 schedule? First, the Wildcats went to Vanderbilt to open the college football campaign. Two weekends later, they’re on the road in another red state against yet another academic powerhouse.

Yes, Northwestern’s brainiac-and-geek football tour continues. Having already vanquished Vanderbilt in one “Nerd Bowl,” the student-scholars from Evanston, Illinois, are now making their way to Houston to take on another elite institution of higher learning.

Rice University remains Conference USA’s biggest question mark heading into week three of the 2010 college football season. No less an authority than Texas coach Mack Brown has said that Rice is an improved team from the one that went 2-10 in 2009.  Saturday’s matchup with the visitors from the Big Ten may help answer the question of just exactly what “improved” really means.  It could mean that coach David Bailiff’s team will win its final two non-conference games of the season and carry some meaningful momentum into conference play, perhaps to the extent that it can win enough games to go bowling. On the other hand, “improved” could very well mean that Owls will succumb to the Wildcats and (next week) the Baylor Bears in their final two non-conference games, heading into Conference USA with no momentum and even less confidence.

While holding serve versus Northwestern isn’t pivotal, a victory would help the Owls to build on last Saturday’s dramatic 32-31 win at North Texas.  Owls’ quarterbacks Taylor McHargue (9-of-21, 146 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Nick Fannuzzi (15-of-26, 212 yards, 1 touchdown) will have to be precise versus an opportunistic Wildcats secondary that has four interceptions in two games.  Don’t be surprised if Bailiff turns to junior running back Tyler Smith (23 rushes, 132 yards) and sophomore running back Sam McGuffie (28 rushes, 65 yards) to grind out yards versus a Northwestern defense that has yet to be significantly tested. 

Efficient Northwestern junior quarterback Dan Persa (38-of-44, 231 yards, 5 touchdowns, 212.1 quarterback rating) will, in his own right, challenge a Rice defense that was shredded by North Texas’ senior quarterback Nathan Tune (285 yards and 3 touchdowns) last Saturday. Persa’s jawdropping passing efficiency – at the top of the Big Ten and even better than Heisman Trophy front-runner Denard Robinson of Michigan – is one of the storylines of the young college football season. Persa’s 38-of-44 completion numbers are the envy of his peers in both the Big Ten and around the country. If Persa isn’t knocked off his game by Rice’s defensive front or any of the blitzes that RU defensive coordinator Chuck Dreisbach has in his bag of tricks, Northwestern should continue to conquer the other titans of American academia.

In a nutshell, Rice has to prevent Dan Persa from hitting his receivers as purposefully as Persa – like any Northwestern student – has been hitting the books this year. If the Owls can’t ruffle Northwestern’s amazingly accurate quarterback, the Big Ten’s most overachieving program will leave Houston with another scalp in its possession.

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