Photo courtesy of tennessean.com.

Are we delusional? Yes. Are we homers? Most likely! But, hey, we’re going to give our opinions, anyway. We will be posting these predictions right here every week, and if you want to get in on the action, just tweet your predictions @WNURSports before 11:59 Thursday night! If you missed out, feel free to put your predictions below in the comments, or you can just tell us how stupid we really are.

Jim Sannes  (@JimSannes): Northwestern’s going to take this one by a score of 27-24. Like it says above, delusional is part of our mantra, so I have decided to live up to that. Kain Colter and Trevor Siemian will have trouble moving the ball through the air, so the ‘Cats will be forced to look to the ground game. Hopefully an extra week for Mike Trumpy’s knee will make him look better than he did against ‘Cuse, and the combination of Colter, Venric Mark and Treyvon Green will be too much for the Vandy defense. Logic is overrated. Player to Watch: Brian Mulroe.

Seth Bernstein (@SethBernstein67): 41-35 Northwestern. It’s going to be another high-scoring affair with Northwestern’s ability to both score–and give up a lot of points. I didn’t see anything against Syracuse that made me think this season will be profoundly different than the last one. Player to Watch: Kain Colter.

Jon Rosenberg  (@BigJonRosenberg): Vanderbilt 38 – 24 Northwestern. This week, Northwestern unfortunately faces a competent defensive front. With the woes they’ve had on the offensive line expect the offense to sputter and expect the tone around the ‘Cats QBs to shift from “wow, they have to great unselfish quarterbacks” to “wow, if they don’t pick a quarterback soon, I’m going to forsake my possessions and flee to a Tibetan monastery.” Player to Watch: Tony Jones. He will be a stud.

Sam Block (@Blockless): 31-28 Vanderbilt. If the Michigan-Alabama was game was any indication, the SEC has a significant leg up on the Big Ten. Vandy looked strong against a top ten team in South Carolina, so expect their quicker defense and Northwestern’s secondary problems to open up just enough space for the Commodores to steal one on the road. Player to watch: Chris Boyd. Although Jordan Matthews will get all the attention after his 147 yard performance against South Carolina, NU’s secondary problem is not their top cornerback (Nick VanHoose played a good game against Syracuse), but who lines up opposite of him. Whoever it is, expect Boyd to exploit the match up.

Michael Anders (@MikeAnders819): Northwestern wins 28-24. The Cats have won every home opener since 2006. Despite this being their biggest challenge to end that streak in years, the Cardiac Cats should win again in a back and forth nail-biter.Player to Watch: Jordan Rodgers. Though Northwestern should pull out a win, Rodgers is in line for a big day against the porous NU secondary. I wouldn’t be surprised if he threw for at least 300 yards and a few TDs.