Northwestern Football: Preview, predictions, and live stream vs. Purdue

Following busy offseasons for both programs, Northwestern football will head to Ross-Ade Stadium for their Week 1 matchup with the Purdue Boilermakers.

Despite this week’s matchup being the first of the season for both teams, questions, especially in regard to injuries, still abound. For Northwestern, one of the key storylines has been the health of quarterback Clayton Thorson, a focal point in the Wildcats offense. However, Purdue has its fair share of injuries on offense as well, especially in the running back corps.

As we all know, the game of college football cares little for injury excuses. A loss is a loss, regardless of who happened to take the field. For these particular teams, Purdue has been on the right side of the box score more often than not, claiming a 50-31-1 overall record against Northwestern.

Don’t let the overall record fool you though, as the Wildcats have taken victory in six of the last seven meetings dating back to 2008. Northwestern has been the better team as of late, but all bets are off when you face an opponent for the fifth time in as many seasons.

This year’s meeting should be one of the more competitive Thursday night games, so here’s how to make sure you don’t miss a moment.

Date: Thursday, Aug. 30
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
Location: West Lafayette, IN
Venue: Ross-Ade Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN

Keys to Victory

With Thorson’s Week 1 fate hanging in the balance, Northwestern may have to turn to a run game that is missing last year’s rushing leader in current Los Angeles Charger Justin Jackson. However, Purdue was much more defensively sound on the ground than through the air in 2017, suggesting that Northwestern may need backup TJ Green to step it up if they want to pull this one off.

We’ve talked a lot about Northwestern’s quarterback situation so far, but the Boilermakers aren’t out of the woods yet when it comes to their signal callers. As of now, we may see either David Blough, Elijah Sindelar, or a combination of the two at quarterback for Purdue. With so many questions about such a critical position, this game will be all about adjustments.

Betting Odds

Point Spread: Purdue -1

Over/Under: 51

Prediction

As you can see, this game is expected to be a nail-biter given the questions and uncertainty surrounding it. As I said before, the key to this game lies in which team will be able to make quicker, more effective adjustments. Should this be the case, the scales begin to tip in the favor of Pat Fitzgerald in his 13th season as a Northwestern head coach.

Final Score: Northwestern 27, Purdue 24