Recap: Illinois State @ Northwestern

Sorry I haven't written a blog post in a while. My soul has been possessed by band camp. Anyways, there's a lot I've wanted to write about, but I have no idea if I'll remember it all or if I'll be able to keep interest long enough to cover it all. We'll see.
There wasn't a whole lot to complain about in Saturday's game. Almost every part of Northwestern's game was clicking, and they took care of business. Granted, NU was expected to win by a substantial margin, but run-away wins are so rare for the Wildcats, I will go ahead and be excited. I'll again take a point-by-point look at the game.

• Pregame Excitement: Northwestern has introduced some new routines for the team's pregame entrance, including a new tunnel, a new video, and coolest of all, some pyrotechnics. A video of it all can be seen here. I'm a fan.
• The Weather: The day started out with a monsoon, but the precipitation thankfully was mostly stopped by kickoff. The field, however, remained basically a swamp. It was fairly unclear how much this affected the players' performance. 
• The Crowd: I am not sure about the official numbers, but I am fairly certain we beat last years' average attendance. Against an FCS opponent. In a downpour. Before classes even start. Let's keep that up. 
• The Marching Band: It is fairly obligatory that I mention this, this being our first performance and all. I promise I'll get to real football analysis after this. But I need to give my fellow NUMBers their props. The conditions were terrible. The field was about as slippery as an ice rink, and my sax was so waterlogged I could only play a couple notes, but despite this, everyone did a pretty good job, especially the newcomers. Great job guys!
• Dan Persa: Persa continued to be a beast, going 19-23 for 240 yards, 2 TDs, and no interceptions in just over 2 quarters of play. On the year he has the single best qb rating in the country with a 212.1. To put that in perspective, the best qb rating at the end of the '09 season was Tim Tebow's with a 164.2,  and the single season record belongs to Colt Brennan with a 186.0. I'm not saying Persa will break that record or anything, don't get me wrong, but it does show that he is off to an extremely good start. Persa is also leading the nation in completion percentage with an 86.4. The next closest is Nick Foles of Arizona with an 83.1, and beyond that, there is a big jump down to Blaine Gabbert of Missouri with a 75.9. Absolutely no complaints about Persa's performance this week.
• Arby: Arby reminded me why I still occasionally have faith in him. When he could hit holes, he made good moves and looked like a very good running back. He managed 96 yards, almost ending our drought without a 100 yard rushing performance dating back to Tyrell Sutton's performance in the Alamo Bowl of the '08-'09 bowl season. 
• Receivers: Ebert again looked very good, pulling in 3 catches for 67 yards. He is averaging over 20 yards per reception on the year. Stewart looked like the same old Stewart. He dropped a sure touchdown pass, but he also brought in an insanely acrobatic grab. He can make the impossible look easy. Drake Dunsmore is establishing himself as a sure-fire short yardage threat. He is a big target who will go low over the middle to make a catch, and he scored two touchdowns in this manner. I'm not sure how teams can defend him. He'll outrun linebackers and beat up on corners. Rashad Lawrence got his first catch of the year, a beautiful 50-yarder. 
• Venric Mark: I'm listing him separately from the receivers because he contributed in many different ways. He seemed to be able to beat corners at will, he was an effective decoy, a pretty good gunner in the punting game, and he had a surprisingly exciting 7-yard punt return. The more I see of this guy, the more I like him. I hope the coaching staff continues to use him and that they find inventive ways to do so. I fully believe he could play a role similar to that of Percy Harvin for the '06 Gators. 
• The Cornerbacks: This was the one area that scared me a bit. Our guys often got beat by the ISU receivers, something that simply should not happen against a team like this. The linebackers and safeties did a good job covering, however. 
• Brian Peters: HOLY CRAP HOW DID YOU NOT KILL THAT GUY!!?? Allow me to clarify: On one play, Peters essentially picked up a guy and threw him so he landed on his head. What a beast. 
• Punting: Continues to be awesome. Brandon Williams is doing a good job, and the coverage has been great. Thank our speedy gunners. 
• Kicking Game: Seriously, get better. I don't know whose fault it is, but missed extra points are unacceptable. Seriously. 
• Everybody Else: We played a ridiculous number of players in this game, and almost all of them successfully contributed. It's great to see such depth on the team. It was also a good opportunity to glimpse into the future of the team. 

There's a lot more I could say about the game, but, quite frankly, I'm tired, and this wasn't a terribly interesting game to write about. So I will leave it at that and end with a link to a highlight video of the game.