Stanford Cardinal vs. Northwestern Wildcats: Start time, TV coverage, how to watch online, betting line, more

Northwestern football is finally back. The Wildcats welcome No. 21 Stanford to Ryan Field Saturday to open the 2015 season. For both teams, the offseason has been long. Northwestern's 2014 season ended Nov. 29th in disappointment with a 47-33 loss to Illinois, while Stanford finished with a regular season mark of just 7-5, a 'down' year for the Cardinal

Here's what you need to know ahead of kickoff:

Broadcast information below. All game week content can be found here.

Links

- Northwestern redshirt freshman quarterback Clayton Thorson won an offseason-long QB competition, and will start against Stanford.

- Northwestern could keep things conservative with Thorson, even as a former four-star recruit, in his first college game.

- In the end though, it'll be Thorson's play that determines the outcome of the game.

- Injury news: For Northwestern, defensive tackle Greg Kuhar and wide receiver Cam Dickerson are both out.

- Three simple things to know about Stanford.

- We sent one of our writers, Kevin Dukovic, to go spy on Stanford.

- Three key matchups for Saturday's game.

- We spoke with SB Nation Stanford site Rule of Tree to get a better sense of the Cardinal.

- Last year, Cal surprised Northwestern in Week 1. We wonder if the Wildcats could do the same to Stanford this year.

- EVERY WEEK IS HATE WEEK. In our new weekly video series, Ben Goren hashes out all the reasons to hate Stanford.

- Saturday's game also matters for recruiting.

- Here is the Wildcats' official depth chart.

- Notes, quotes and video from and of Pat Fitzgerald, Thorson and other NU players on Monday.

- We had two podcasts this week, as we will every week: One on overall expectations, the other previewing the Stanford game.

- Ian McCafferty and Zach Pereles go back and forth on why Northwestern will or won't win.

- Here are the uniforms Northwestern will wear Saturday.

- Finally, our predictions for the game.

Broadcast Information:

Kickoff time: 11 a.m. CT
TV: ESPN
Watch Online: WatchESPN
Mobile: WatchESPN app
Radio: WGN 720 AM, WNUR 89.3 FM
Listen Online: WGN, WNUR
Betting Line: Stanford -11.5

For the full TV schedule for the first Saturday of the college football season, click here.