Winning the Pacific-12 Conference is nothing new for the Stanford football team. After all, the Cardinal has won three of the past four Pac-12 titles under David Shaw, entering his sixth season.But getting the preseason nod as the favorite? Thats a first for this regime.Amid those expectations, No. 8 Stanford opens its season against Kansas State on Friday night at Stanford Stadium.This is hardly a slam-dunk opening victory, but it does figure to be the easiest game of a brutal first half of the season for the Cardinal, which returns Heisman runner-up running back Christian McCaffrey but is breaking in only its third starting quarterback since 2009.Redshirt junior Ryan Burns won the job in camp, following in the footsteps of Andrew Luck and Kevin Hogan. But Burns, who has thrown one collegiate pass, isnt a lock to keep the job. Sophomore Keller Chryst competed well enough in camp to get a look, too.Keller Chryst will play as well, Shaw said. Were going to play both guys and try to win a game. There hasnt been a huge separation between the two. Both guys have played extremely well. Ryan has been enough ahead to get the nod.Kansas State, which was 6-7 last year in an injury-riddled campaign, welcomes back quarterback Jesse Ertz, who suffered a torn ACL on the teams first snap last season. Ertz, who should be active in the run game, beat out Joe Hubener and Alex Delton in fall camp to reclaim his starting job.One day youd say this guy lit it up and the next day it was somebody else, said Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, who has 193 wins with the Wildcats, the most of any FBS coach at his current school.It was very competitive, and Jesse pulled himself away probably in the last four days of being able to have greater consistency on the practice field.The Friday night will be a good spotlight for McCaffrey in advance of a full holiday weekend of great college football matchups. McCaffrey had 20-plus touches in every game last season except the season-opening loss to Northwestern (17). Hell get all the work he can handle this week with speedy sophomore backup Bryce Love out with an undisclosed injury.Love is likely to return after the bye week for Stanfords trip to Southern Cal.With 3,864 all-purpose yards last season, McCaffrey shattered the 27-year-old NCAA single-season record of 3,250, set by Oklahoma State legend Barry Sanders. McCaffrey had 2,019 rushing yards, 645 receiving yards, and he picked up the rest of his yardage on kick and punt returns.Hes the best player in the country and well continue to challenge him, Shaw said. We know he can handle it.Stanfords bread-and-butter is its power running game, but the offense has ample speed in McCaffrey and receivers Michael Rector, Trent Irwin and Francis Owusu.Kansas States defense allowed 452.2 yards and 31.5 points per game last season, when young players gained experience as injury fill-ins. A veteran coming back is senior safety Dante Barnett, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the 2015 opener.This is the first meeting between Stanford and Kansas State.After this, the Cardinal plays No. 20 USC, at No. 16 UCLA, at No. 14 Washington, Washington State and at No. 10 Notre Dame. It wont be easy for Stanford to replicate its 12-2 record of a season ago. We have a chance to be good, Shaw said. How good, you never know. http://www.steelersrookiestore.com/Steelers-Cameron-Heyward-Jersey/ . U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield in Manhattan agreed that lawyers on both sides could make their formal requests by Nov. 8. A hearing is scheduled for a day earlier. Jordan Siev, a lawyer for Rodriguez, wrote in a joint letter to the judge from lawyers on both sides that MLB lawyers planned to ask that the lawsuit be dismissed. http://www.steelersrookiestore.com/Steelers-Cameron-Sutton-Jersey/ . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. http://www.steelersrookiestore.com/Steelers-Landry-Jones-Jersey/ . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. http://www.steelersrookiestore.com/Steelers-Troy-Polamalu-Jersey/ .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. http://www.steelersrookiestore.com/Steelers-Jesse-James-Jersey/ .J. -- Pitcher Carl Pavano is retiring after 14 major league seasons. NEW YORK -- At last years trade deadline, Sandy Alderson fed a big meal to New York Mets fans hungry for a title, acquiring Yoenis Cespedes. This year, the general manager is more likely to add a side of fries.This is the entertainment business, and we talk about steak and sizzle, and I enjoy sizzle as much as anybody, Alderson said before Monday nights game against St. Louis was rained out and rescheduled as part of a doubleheader Tuesday.Then he added: I think realistically the bullpen is the area where we can probably get someone who can make a difference at a relatively low cost in terms of prospects.New York was 53-50 at the time of the trade last July 31, trailing Washington by two games in the NL East. Led by Cespedes and boosted by the acquisitions of relievers Tyler Clippard, Eric OFlaherty and Addison Reed, the Mets went 37-22 after the deal to win the division. They reached the World Series for the first time since 2000, only to lose to Kansas City in five games.Cespedes energized the fan base, re-signed and leads the Mets offense with a .299 average, 21 homers and 56 RBI. But New York is in third place and trails division-leading Washington by five games.Even sizzle becomes less sizzling over time, just because it becomes part of the everyday expectation, Alderson said. So I think its unfair to think that he could continue to have that sort of novelty impact as well as performance over a year or year-plus. But hes certainly a significant part of our team at this point and has done everything we could have expected.Without mentioning names, Alderson appeared to downplay the possibility of acquiring Jonathan Lucroy from payroll-paring Milwaukee for Travis dArnaud in a swap of catchers.Im thinking of the same rumors that youre thinking of, that rumor was dead on arrival, he told reporters.Alderson said splashier acquisitions were unrealistic because of high prices.For whatever reason this year, clubs keep asking for the top tier of our system, he said, and were simply not going to move players that we think are going to have a significant role for us in the somewhat near future for the possibility of getting the kind of unique return that we got last year.Third baseman David Wright is out for the yearr following surgery June 16 to repair a herniated disk in his neck, and first baseman Lucas Duda hasnt played since May 20 because of a stress fracture in his lower back.ddddddddddddNew Yorks rotation has been weakened by a season-ending injury to Matt Harvey, who had surgery July 18 to correct Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which affects blood and nerves near the shoulder. In addition, right-hander Noah Syndergaard and lefty Steven Matz are pitching with elbow bone spurs.Manager Terry Collins hopes for a spark during this nine-game homestand.This is when the good teams take off, he said, and we need to take off.ROTATIONSyndergaard (9-4) and the Cardinals Carlos Martinez (9-6) were pushed back a day and still start Tuesdays opener, scheduled for 4:10 p.m. The Mets Bartolo Colon (8-5) and St. Louis Jaime Garcia (7-6), who had been scheduled to pitch Tuesday, will start the second game. Less than an hour after Mondays game was called off, the rain stopped and a rainbow appeared over the ballpark.WHEELERAlderson projects right-hander Zack Wheeler could return in late August from Tommy John surgery but said thats a little bit speculative. Wheeler had elbow reconstruction on March 25 last year.WALKERSecond baseman Neil Walker was not in the starting lineup for the second straight day. He is hitting .155 (9 for 58) in July with eight RBI, dropping his season average to .239.We talked about just taking a couple of days to mentally kind of hit restart, he said.Collins has not detected any great mechanical problems with Walkers swing.Mental fatigue can lead to physical fatigue, and so the swings can start to get a little long, which we see, and even though they think theyre not tired, they dont feel tired, they are tired, he said. When your mind starts to fade, youre in trouble.WRIGHTWrights wife Molly gave birth Saturday to a girl, Olivia Shea Wright, who weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces. The middle name matches that of the Mets former ballpark, Shea Stadium. In August 2004, Atlantas Chipper Jones named his newborn son Shea Logan Jones after the ballpark, where Jones hit his first big league home run. 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