In Northwestern's home opener, Wildcats head coach Pat Fitzgerald told his players one key point prior to their game against Illinois State of the Football Championship Subdivision, "Start fast." The Wildcats did so jumping out to a 14-3 lead after one quarter and put the game away by halftime heading into the locker room up 30-3.

"You want to come out and start fast," the coach said. "I thought we achieved that today." The Wildcats won by a final score of 37-3.

In Northwestern's first game, first year starting quarterback Dan Persa completed 19-of-21 passes against Vanderbilt in a victory. The senior managed to complete 19-of-23 passes for 240 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Through two games, Persa has completed 86 percent of his passes and tossed five touchdowns with no interceptions.

"The receivers made great plays for me all day," said Persa. "We were rolling pretty well on offense."

"He's playing really well right now," said Fitzgerald on his quarterback. "He has such a solid foundation and a grasp of what we're trying to accomplish offensively."

He could have thrown for another touchdown but Sidney Stewart dropped one in the first half. Stewart laughed about it after the game,

"You win some, you lose some," the senior receiver said. "It was such an easy catch that I dropped it."

The defense played well in the victory as well. The Wildcats intercepted three passes, recovered a lateral pass for a fumble recovery and had three sacks.

Senior linebacker Quentin Davie had two interceptions for the Wildcats. "I missed one last week so I kind of took some heat for that," he said. "I was just in the right place and we had great coverage downfield too."

Running back Arby Fields responded well after a tough game at Vanderbilt. The sophomore rushed for -7 yards on 10 carries in the season opener, but went for 98 yards and one touchdown against the Redbirds.

However, Fields said after the game his stats are a non-factor. "As long as we win the game, it doesn't matter what I do personally," he said. "We're going to do whatever it takes to win."

The only negative part of Northwestern's victory was place kicker Stefan Demos. Demos, a preseason all-conference selection, missed a 45-yard field goal and a point after touchdown.

Northwestern will travel to Texas to take on Rice on Sept. 18.