Northwestern Wildcats Seeing Red As They Prepare To Take On Stanford
EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) -- Northwestern is coming off a Big Ten West Division title and a bowl victory.
But the Wildcats are unranked heading into Saturday's season opener at Stanford. As CBS 2's Megan Mawicke reported, the purple are seeing red as they get ready to take down the Cardinal.
As it happens, safety J.R. Pace recently added some red dye to his hair.
"I was just, you know, trying to do something different, and I was just thinking of a color I wanted to do, I ended up just going with red – probably wasn't anticipating that we'd be playing Stanford the first game," Pace said.
Pace and the Wildcats hope they are as red-hot as his hair against 25th-ranked Stanford on Saturday; a high profile game right out of the gates.
"Playing Stanford in the opener is a great test for us. It's a new squad – it's not the same squad we had last year. So a lot of guys have got to fill roles of seniors who graduated last year, so it'll be a great test for us," said defensive lineman Joe Gaziano. "But we're definitely, you know, anxious to get on the field and hit someone of a different color."
But the big mystery is whether fifth-year senior T.J. Green or highly-touted transfer Hunter Johnson - who have been splitting reps – will be their number one quarterback.
"Whoever's out there is out there and we're ready to go with them. They're ready either way. I don't even think about it anymore in practice anymore," said wide receiver Riley Lees. "We're just out there playing."
So we might not know who Northwestern's starting quarterback will be until they run out onto the field. But they do know they are going to have their hands full with Stanford's starting quarterback, K.J. Costello, who has a cannon for an arm.
"We're preparing. We've been watching them. We know that experience, obviously, so he knows the game. He knows coverages really well. He can read defenses," Pace said. "I think it's an advantage for him."