Four years ago, a ranked Stanford team and an unranked Northwestern squad faced off in Evanston, Ill., to open the season. The Wildcats pulled off the upset.
On Saturday, Northwestern will attempt to repeat history, this time on the road, as it visits No. 25 Stanford for the 2019 opener.
Like in 2015, the Wildcats will play a quarterback making his first start. Last time, it was redshirt freshman Clayton Thorson, who went on to start 53 consecutive games for the team.
Now, the competition is between redshirt sophomore Hunter Johnson and fifth-year senior TJ Green.
Johnson redshirted last season after transferring from Clemson. One of the top recruits in the country coming out of high school, Johnson was 21-for-27 as Kelly Bryant’s backup in 2017.
Green is the son of former NFL quarterback Trent Green. Early last season when Thorson was on a “pitch count” due to an ACL injury, Green was part of a quarterback rotation.
Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald, who emphasized throughout the offseason that it was an open competition for the job, said a decision will not be announced before kickoff Saturday. There has been some speculation that the two quarterbacks might split snaps.
“I thought the whole room had a great camp,” Fitzgerald said. “They have done everything in their power to improve and get better. I think we have multiple guys that we can win with and win a championship with.”
On the flip side, the Cardinal will start senior K.J. Costello. The California native took over as Stanford’s starting quarterback halfway through the 2017 season and started every game in 2018.
Costello has been named to the watch lists for the Maxwell Award, Davey O’Brien Award, Manning Award and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. He was All-Pac-12 second team in 2018, throwing for 3,540 yards and 29 touchdowns with a 65.1 completion percentage.
“The ceiling for K.J. is very high,” Stanford head coach David Shaw said.
“I think last year he played at a high level. In spurts, he looked as good as anybody in America playing quarterback. Now it’s about taking that next step, and not just about making more great plays but making fewer bad plays and really fine-tuning his efforts every single week to be consistently great — not great sometimes and good sometimes but consistently great.”
However, Costello will not have his two best returning weapons on offense, with running back Bryce Love and wide receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside in the NFL.
Costello — along with Malik Antoine, Colby Parkinson, Cameron Scarlett and Casey Toohill — have been selected team captains. Costello was a team captain in 2018 as well.
Fitzgerald compared Costello to former Duke quarterback Daniel Jones, now a rookie with the New York Giants. The Wildcats faced the Blue Devils twice over the past two seasons, and Jones led Duke to wins in both games.
“I thought Jones going into the last few years was one of the best quarterbacks we were going to face all year,” Fitzgerald said. “I feel the same way when I watch K.J. on tape. I think he’s a guy with a high, high ceiling. … He’s just next in line of the great Stanford quarterbacks.”