Scouting: Northwestern @ Vanderbilt

When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tenn.

TV: CSN; Radio: WGN 720-AM

Series: Vanderbilt leads 1-0-1

Coaches: Pat Fitzgerald (27-23, fourth year at NU); Robbie Caldwell (first year)

NU players to watch: Northwestern welcomes back 14 starters from last year's crew that won 8 games and nearly claimed the Outback Bowl, too, but most eyes will be on junior QB Dan Persa's first start. Like Mike Kafka before him, he'll spread the ball around to many receivers during the course of the warm night. Slot guy Jeremy Ebert could be his Zeke Markshausen. RB Arby Fields is expected to start after missing much of fall camp with a shoulder injury. LBs Quentin Davie and Nate Williams lead a solid defense where the question mark is the secondary.

Vanderbilt: The fall QB competition ended with junior Larry Smith edging senior Jared Funk from St. Viator. Smith started the first 9 games last year before ripping a hamstring (106 of 227, 1,126 yards, 4 INT, 7 TD). Vandy hopes to get some mileage out of explosive sophomore RB/KR Warren Newson (783 rush yards), but he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery two weeks ago and just returned to the practice field. MLB Chris Marve (121 tackles, 3 forced fumbles) far and away is the leader of the Commodores' inexperienced defense.

The skinny: Vanderbilt went winless in the SEC last year and underwent regime change when coach Bobby Johnson resigned unexpectedly over the summer, but Northwestern prefers to view its host as the program that won 7 games in 2008 (including the Music City Bowl). The Commodores retain just 5 starters from a defense that surrendered 198 yards per game on the ground, so the Wildcats should have a chance to prove their revamped running game can get things done. If that happens and Vandy doesn't unexpectedly pick apart NU's two new starters in the secondary, Fitzgerald will go 5-0 in openers as the Wildcats' boss.