Persa's hand and Kafka's hammy

It's Land of Lincoln Trophy week. Northwestern at Illinois. 11 a.m. Saturday. ESPN Classic.

The state is abuzz. Well, at least they're buzzing in the greater Evanston area as the Wildcats are trying to clinch a bowl berth and defeat Illinois for the sixth time in the last seven years. However, there should be additional excitement amongst the Illinois clan with the Illini on a two-game roll.

Here's the latest on Northwestern quarterbacks Dan Persa and Mike Kafka out of Trienens Hall:

"The X-rays and everything that came back from Danny were clean," said NU coach Pat Fitzgerald. "So I feel optimistic about him. Right now list him day-to-day. Mike's good to go. He came out of (the Iowa game) feeling better than he did on Friday, so that's a positive after playing as much as he did."

Not much new on NU's depth chart. Senior safety Brendan Smith apparently remains out with his broken left thumb. He's not on the chart.

News reports out of Champaign say that senior quarterback Juice Williams is questionable with a sprained ankle: http://www.illinihq.com/news/football/2009/11/08/charest_in_line_to_star...

If Juice can't make his 43rd career start, then redshirt freshman Jacob Charest (pronounced "shuh-REST") gets his first start.

LW