Kansas State Wildcats vs Stanford Cardinal Point Spread Picks

Kansas State finished with a rare losing season in 2015, but the Wildcats return 14 starters, including nine on defense. Safety Dante Barnett is back due to a medical redshirt and the defensive line returns Jordan Willis and Will Geary. The Wildcats were #104 in total offense last season and #108 in passing yards per game. Jesse Ertz will be the starting quarterback after missing last season with an injury he suffered on the first play from scrimmage. Joe Hubener filled in, but completed only 47.6 percent of his passes with nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The Wildcats will need to rely on the running game again and they have experience in that department with Charles Jones, who played in all 13 games and rushed for 696 yards on 142 carries.  Stanford also will use a lot of the clock running the ball primarily because Heisman Trophy runner-up Christian McCaffrey is back. McCaffrey broke the NCAA season record with 3,864 all-purpose yards, including a school-record 2,019 rushing yards. The bad news is that the Cardinal has to replace three starting offensive linemen and four-year starting quarterback Kevin Hogan. Senior Ryan Burns will start at quarterback after appearing in only four games last year. The defensive line is inexperienced, however, the Cardinal is solid at linebacker and the secondary. Unproven quarterbacks, solid running games and decent defenses add up to a lower scoring game. Play the UNDER.