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KSU’s Jesse Ertz wins quarterback battle

It’s just Stanford’s luck that the Cardinal open the season against the one team in the country that is known for stubbornly sticking around in close games even when they’re completely outmatched on the field.

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Jesse Ertz has been named the starting quarterback for the Wildcats as Bill Snyder named him the starter on Monday.

The Kansas State football squad starts its 2016 season with a special Friday night contest.

The Cardinal backfield’s speedy counterpunch to Heisman Trophy candidate Christian McCaffrey averaged 10.8 yards per touch in 2015.

Ertz earned the starting job for the second straight summer. Burns won a two-man competition with Keller Chryst to replace four-year starter Kevin Hogan at quarterback. He tore his ACL on the first play of the season a year ago and left for good one play after that.

Shaw also announced that tight end Dalton Schultz will be available.

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He has yet to throw a pass in college and lacks many proven options at the skill positions. Sure, the same number of W’s doesn’t automatically make teams comparable, but Kansas State’s 2015 record really wasn’t bad considering how youthful they were and that they literally had to play a wide receiver at quarterback for parts of the season. Kansas State led the Big 12 last season with just 39.3 yards penalized per game. Assuming he can return to health, he figures to receive expanded carries during the coming campaign as Stanford looks to keep McCaffrey fresh. The good news for the Wildcats is they bring back nine defensive starters.

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