The Stanford Cardinal, ranked 21st in the country, open their season on the road in College Football Saturday action when they take on the Northwestern Wildcats. The game is scheduled for a 12:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on ESPN. Currently the college football odds for the game have the Cardinal favored by double digits on the road in this one.
Stanford is playing in the typical west-coast team in the early game slot in this one, it's interesting they're laying double digits over Northwestern. The Wildcats were 5-7 each of the last two years after posting an impressive 10-3 record in 2012. Pat Fitzgerald seems like he's going to be a lifer at Northwestern, but he needs to get close to those double digit win seasons and not the 5-7 variety.
The Cardinal have experience at the quarterback position in Kevin Hogan, who has tossed for 48 touchdowns at Stanford and led them to some solid seasons. Hogan is a big quarterback and loves to hand it off to the Cardinal tailbacks. Those backs love running behind the annually big Cardinal offensive line, which will be looking to bruise their way for consistent yardage against Northwestern. If Hogan is accurate in the passing game as well, the Cardinal should be able to keep Northwestern off-balanced.
The Wildcats are going to be without starters Cameron Dickerson (WR), Matt Frazier on the offensive line and defensive tackle Greg Kuhar for this one, Fitzgerald announced. Northwestern is going to need all the bodies they can get at this point, because Stanford is typically a physical football team under head coach David Shaw.
Still, getting double digit points seems like a lot for a season opener like Northwestern. The Wildcats are looking to have a nice season and the early start time has to play some role in this, at least early on, for Stanford. The Wildcats love to spread teams out and will look to take advantage of some skill positions in open space. Northwestern should play with a chip on their shoulder in this one.
Free Pick: Northwestern plus the points
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