Kansas State vs Stanford recap: 3 things we learned

Now that Kansas State vs. Stanford is in the books, here are the three things we learned the most from their Week 1 showdown.

Through the first two days of college football’s opening weekend, just two games have featured teams from different Power Five conferences. The second one came Friday night, when the Stanford Cardinal played the Kansas State Wildcats.

For Stanford, it was a chance to prove that the loss of Kevin Hogan at quarterback would be fine, considering they still had all-everything player Christian McCaffrey. For Kansas State, it was seeing how far they had to go in a season where they have been projected to finish anywhere from the Big 12’s top three to last place.

Early on, it was all Cardinal as they jumped out to a 17-0 lead, with the Wildcats getting a field goal before the half and one right after to stay in the game. They would add a touchdown with under three minutes left in the game to cut the deficit to six, but that would be as close as K-State would get as Stanford got a late second touchdown from McCaffrey, his second of the game, and took the opener 26-13.

Here’s a look at the three things we learned from watching the Cardinal and Wildcats knock helmets.

1) Christian McCaffrey is not going anywhere and will be one of the finalists for the Heisman Trophy again.

Okay, that might be slightly premature — but then again, watch the play he made to get his touchdown during the first half Friday. The moves he showed are stuff of video games and show that he isn’t going to be having much of a drop off this season.

Statistically, he only had 126 yards rushing to go with those two scores and 40 yards receiving, but Stanford would be the first to admit that they took their foot off the gas late in the game when the outcome was decided. His 200 total yards in the game, including return yards, is right where he picked off last season, so get used to hearing about McCaffrey again all season.

2) The question about who will replace Kevin Hogan still isn’t totally answered, but the Cardinal should be okay at quarterback.

When Kevin Hogan’s time in Palo Alto was done following the 2015 season, there were many critics (including the guy writing this post) who thought the Cardinal would take a step back in 2016. The season still has plenty of games left, but head coach David Shaw can breath easier knowing things might not be as bad as we labeled them.

The combination of Ryan Burns and Keller Chryst completed the first 11 pass attempts on the game, finishing with a  combined15 of 19 for 167 yards. No, those aren’t the type of numbers that will get them to the playoff system — but it’s a lot better than what critics like me thought was going to take place.

3) Kansas State is not a very good football team, which is not the way Bill Snyder’s career should end if this is his final season.

It’s almost kind of sad to see one of the good guys in college football coaching go out with a team that, on the field, is not looking like they will have a winning season in 2016.

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On offense, the Wildcats struggled to move the ball down on a  consistent basis (with the exception being their last two drives of the game – too little, too late), which put the defense in a tough spot even after they were able to contain the Cardinal for much of the second half.

For someone who built K-State football into something respectable, it’s depressing to realize that Snyder’s career will likely end with more disappointment than joy.