By Jeremy Harness

sfgate.com photo: Stanford’s Michael Rector receiver (3) celebrates touchdown with Francis Owusu (6) in the second quarter against Kansas State on opening night at Stanford Stadium on Friday

STANFORD – There may be a dispute regarding who the starting quarterback will be for Stanford this season, but there’s no doubt about who the team goes to when things start to get a little tight, as was the case Friday night.

Christian McCaffrey, the runner-up in last year’s Heisman Trophy voting – although, in many circles, it was thought that he should have been the run-away winner – is that guy.

The junior running back-return specialist-receiver once again came up with the big plays when the Cardinal offense needed them in a 26-13 win over Kansas State in the season opener at Stanford Stadium.

Head coach David Shaw did say, however, that his team will need to make a huge jump in performance if it hopes to beat USC, who they will play at home in two weeks, following Stanford’s upcoming bye week.

“We’ve got to get better,” he said. “In the first half, we were great, but in the second half, I thought we left a little bit out there.”

McCaffrey didn’t put up the video game-type numbers that he did last season – he amassed 210 all-purpose yards, including 133 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns – but then again, the Wildcats spent a great deal of effort keeping their collective eye on him to be sure that he did not go completely crazy on them like he did with other schools last year.

He would have had 97 more yards – thanks to a highlight reel-worthy punt return in the first quarter, which saw him break at least a pair of tackles and sidestep a few others – only to see it get called back on an illegal-block penalty.

“That was the best punt return, that didn’t count, that I’ve ever seen,” Shaw said.

The question heading into Friday night’s game was who was going to get a leg up in the battle for the team’s starting signal-caller. However, although one guy got most of the work, that question still remains rather unanswered.

Senior Ryan Burns played all but one series against Kansas State and performed very nicely, completing 14 of his 18 throws for 156 yards and a touchdown. Although he slightly overthrew a pair of deep throws by a matter of inches, his only real blemish came early in the third quarter, when was late in handing the ball off to McCaffrey on an option read and resulted in a lost fumble and the Wildcats getting the ball on Stanford’s 29-yard line.

However, the Cardinal’s defense, as it did for much of the game, held firm and eventually forced Kansas State to kick a field goal.

Keller Chryst, a junior who spent last season as the now-departed Kevin Hogan’s primary backup, played his lone series early in the second quarter and connected on his only pass, an 11-yarder over the middle to McCaffrey. The remainder of the drive consisted of just giving the ball to his all-world runner, as he capped things off by juking his way to a 35-yard touchdown to give the Cardinal a 17-0 lead.

Chryst, meanwhile, was out in front of the play and finished off that run by knocking cornerback Duke Shelley, against whom he has a 65-pound advantage, through the end zone as McCaffrey waltzed in.

“I never talk about competing for a starting position,” Shaw said. “(But) he’ll continue to get worked in. He’ll continue to play, just as long as we see improvement.”

There were a few hiccups early on, however, that appeared to keep some points off the board and make the margin closer than it needed to be.

Working from the Kansas State 37-yard line in the first quarter, for instance, fifth-year senior receiver Michael Rector took an end around and had at least three blockers in front of him.

Rector appeared to have a clear path to the end zone just outside of the left tackle area, with a blocker accompanying him. However, he bounced it too far outside and allowed defensive tackle Will Geary to stop him after picking up only a single yard.

Three plays later, Stanford was faced with a third-and-two, which typically prompts the Cardinal to bring in its jumbo package and picks up short yardage by force. This time, however, Stanford tried an option play and got dropped for a 3-yard loss, forcing the Cardinal to settle for a 50-yard field goal by Conrad Ukropina.

However, Stanford soon got the home-run play it was looking for anyway. On the first play of the second quarter, Burns went play-action and found a wide-open Rector down the middle of the field for a 40-yard touchdown to give the Cardinal a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, Kansas State also alternated their two quarterbacks, Jesse Ertz and Joe Hubener, but the Wildcats did so with far more regularity than did Stanford. However, the duo was not quite as effective.

Although Ertz finished with more yardage than Burns, he did so by completing 16 of his 34 passes for 207 yards. He did complete a touchdown pass late in the game, but by that time, the Wildcats were fighting a fierce battle against the clock that they would eventually lose.