Northwestern @ Rice Recap

Good news, 'Cat fans! We are half way to bowl eligibility. Of course, our competition has not been great, but 3-0 is never a bad thing, and there was a lot to like about this week's performance. So let's break down the game.

• The Feed: Well, this was an unmitigated disaster. Our only means of watching the game was a crappy feed of the Owls' jumbotron that spent more time buffering than actually working. And our means of listening to the game was WGN radio, which was way behind the video and also prone to failure. I didn't even attempt to watch the second half (instead traveling to Six Flags). So disclaimer for the rest of my recap: My analysis is based primarily on radio, highlights, and statistics, and thus should be taken with a grain of salt. 
• The Attendance: Ouch. Rice has a 70,000+ person stadium. However, many seats are covered; so it holds around 40,000. Even with this modification, the stadium looked just about empty. The official attendance was 15,562 fans, a large percentage of which were 'Cats fans. Again, Rice, ouch.
• Dan Persa: Continues to impress. A career-high 24 completions on 32 attempts for a career-high 307 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed 9 times for 34 yards including a big 18 yard touchdown run. His second half was especially great: 9-10 for 159 yards. While he dropped to number 3 in the country in QB rating, his completion percentage remains number 1. Persa is looking like the ideal spread offense quarterback.
• Running Backs: Still bad. Our best performance was a mere 55 yards on 17 carries for Arby, and he never got a carry that went for more than 9 yards. I really don't know what else I can say. 
• Drake Dunsmore: A solid game for him. 6 catches for 87 yards. He also had a play reminiscent of his famous play in the Outback Bowl, looking completely untacklable. 
• Jeremy Ebert: Same ol' Ebert. It seems any catch he makes goes for a lot of yards. In this game, he had 4 grabs for 82 yards and a touchdown. His 20.7 yards per catch on the year is 18th best in the nation.
• Rush Defense: Here was the rush defense I expected from NU. The Owls picked up only 86 yards on the ground, and were forced to pass more than I am sure they hoped. And while the Rice pass game did manage 291 yards, they never seemed terribly threatening. 
• Quentin Davie: What a beast. 10 tackles, a sack, and an interception returned for a TD (his third pick of the year). He is really, really good. 
• Special Teams: The punt game continues to be good, Bates looked very good on returns, and, best of all, Demos finally had a perfect game. Much of this, I believe can be attributed to the fact that we have supposedly switched long snappers, although I am not sure who now has the duties. 

And with that I will leave you with the highlight video. Props to NUBears for making a great reel out a crappy feed.