Persa's Return to Penn State

Growing up in Pennsylvania, Northwestern's Dan Persa cheered on the Penn State football team. Both his mother and older sister are Penn State alums, and Persa too, hoped he would draw recruiting interest from the Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions as a star high school quarterback in PA. Despite a productive career, one in which he became the first player in Pennsylvania to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a single season, Persa barely drew any notice from Paterno and his staff. Apparently Persa was overlooked, because he was perceived as too small to play for Penn State. Instead, Persa opted to play at Northwestern, where he has emerged as one of the country's best quarterbacks, and a legitimate candidate for the Big Ten MVP
. Persa has completed 74.4 percent of his passes (2nd in the nation) and ranks in the top ten in total offense.

Tomorrow, Persa will return home to lead Northwestern against Penn State in State College, PA. The game will be intriguing, not only because of Persa's return, but the fact that Joe Paterno is seeking his 400th coaching win. This is a huge milestone, only two other coaches have won 400 games, and may never happen again. College football coaches simply have too much pressure, from the media, large contracts, alumni, boosters, and university officials, to last as long as the ageless Paterno, Penn State's coach since 1966. Most college football writers believe that, at best, seeing 400 again is extremely unlikely. Because of the rarity of this feat, the game will be broadcast nationally on ABC or ESPN2 at 2:30 CT. Paterno has admitted he regrets not recruiting Persa. For Persa, this is the game to show his State University what he is made of.

The game should be a close one, and hopefully the Wildcats can delay Paterno's milestone for the next week. Either way, it will be compelling.

Northwestern at Penn State
State College, PA
2:30 CT/3:30 ET
TV: ABC (Midwest), ESPN2 (Outer Markets)