Friday night roundup: McCaffrey leads Stanford past Kansas State, Army upsets Temple

In case you were wondering, Christian McCaffrey is still good. Very, very good.

After a record-setting 2015 campaign, the Stanford running back got off to a solid start in 2016, racking up 210 all-purpose yards, including 126 on the ground, in Stanford’s hard-fought 26-13 win over Kansas State.

And his best play of the night didn’t even count.

The Cardinal already led 3-0 in the first quarter when McCaffrey fielded a punt in traffic inside his own five-yard line. He somehow broke three or four tackles and scampered about 97 yards for a score. However, the play was called back by a block in the back, depriving us of our first crazy McCaffrey highlight of the season.

Nonetheless, McCaffrey was able to dazzle with a 35-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Just look at this juke:

That’s unfair.

And while McCaffrey did his thing early on, the Cardinal got an encouraging performance from new starting quarterback Ryan Burns. The junior, who edged out last year’s No. 2 Keller Chryst in camp, completed 14-of-18 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown, a beautiful 40-yard pitch-and-catch to Michael Rector in the second quarter.

It looked like the Cardinal would cruise to victory after going into halftime with a 17-3 lead, but Kansas State hung around. The Wildcats’ defense was impressive in the second half, stacking the box and smothering McCaffrey. But on the other side, K-State’s offense just couldn’t take advantage of a few big chances to cut into Stanford’s lead.

David Shaw kept it conservative and played the field position game down the stretch, allowing the Cardinal defense to smother the Wildcats for most of the second half. KSU did cut it to 19-13 on a beautiful touchdown throw from Jesse Ertz to Isaiah Zuber with 2:20 to go, but after a failed onside kick, McCaffrey sealed the win with a 41-yard score off the left side.

Stanford has a bye next week before the Pac-12 fun begins with games against USC at home, at UCLA and at Washington in consecutive weeks.

Army’s big win

Elsewhere in Friday night action, Army pulled off a fairly big upset on the road. The Black Knights marched into Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and knocked off Temple, 28-13.

The Owls won 10 games last year and were thought to be one of the better teams in the AAC East, but Matt Rhule’s squad struggled mightily with the Black Knights’ triple option attack. Sophomore Andy Davidson, a converted linebacker, led the way for Army, racking up 121 yards and two scores.

And while the Black Knights’ ground attack controlled the time of possession all night, the Army defense forced three Temple (which was playing without standout running back Jahad Thomas) turnovers — all interceptions from senior Phillip (formerly P.J.) Walker.

It was the first FBS road win since 2010 for Army, which is in its third season under Jeff Monken and combined for only six wins in his first two seasons.

Sparty struggles

The first game in three years for Michigan State without Connor Cook was a bit of a struggle. With senior Tyler O’Connor starting at quarterback, the Spartans managed to hold off FCS Furman 28-13 at Spartan Stadium.

Furman was within striking distance, down just 21-13, early in the fourth quarter when O’Connor was intercepted. The Paladins took over in MSU territory, but the first play of that drive resulted in another interception, this one on a diving effort by Spartans linebacker Andrew Dowell.

From that point on, the Spartans regained their footing and pulled out the win. O’Connor struggled at times, but had his moments, too, including a beautiful 13-yard touchdown toss to Felton Davis in the second quarter. O’Connor finished 13-of-18 for 190 yards, three scores and the one interception.

MSU has a bye week before traveling to Notre Dame for a primetime matchup on Sept. 17.

Colorado cruises

If this is a make or break year for Mike MacIntyre at Colorado, he couldn’t have asked for a better start. The Buffaloes destroyed in-state rival Colorado State 44-7 in Denver.

The Buffs put up 578 yards of total offense while limiting the Rams to only 225 yards and forcing four turnovers. Back from a foot injury, CU quarterback Sefo Liufau threw for 318 yards and rushed for 66 more in the win. He set an all-time program record in the process.

Phillip Lindsay added 95 yards and two scores rushing for the Buffs.

Don’t forget about Baylor!

It’s been a long offseason for Baylor, but the Bears finally returned to the field Friday night.

Against undermanned Northwestern State, BU cruised to a 55-7 win. Seth Russell threw for touchdowns and was out of the game before halftime. Overall, Baylor put up 498 yards of offense while limiting its FCS opponent to just 78 yards.

Read more from Waco from our Pat Forde, here.

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Syracuse offense impresses in Babers’ debut

Well, that looked different didn’t it? Syracuse hasn’t shown much on offense in recent years, but showed off a major transformation in Dino Babers’ debut as head coach.

The Orange put up 554 total yards in a 33-7 win Friday night in the Carrier Dome. Granted, it was over FCS Colgate, but Cuse fans have to be pleased with what they saw.

Babers has a promising sophomore at quarterback in Eric Dungey. He put on a show Friday, completing 34-of-40 passes for 355 yards and two touchdowns on the evening. He found a favorite target in Maryland transfer Amba Etta-Tawo, who hauled in 12 passes for 210 yards and a touchdown. Ervin Phillips also added 87 yards and score on 14 catches.

Things get much tougher for the Orange next week when No. 19 Louisville comes to town next Friday night.

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Toledo cruises in early road test

Toledo looked like a team that will be competing for a MAC title in a few months on Friday night. The Rockets demolished defending Sun Belt champions Arkansas State 31-10 in Jonesboro.

Junior QB Logan Woodside had a big night for Toledo, throwing for 371 yards and three scores. Standout back Kareem Hunt added 78 yards and a touchdown on the ground while Cody Thompson totaled 174 receiving yards, including a 16-yard TD.

On the other side, Pitt transfer Chad Voytik struggled mightily for ASU. He completed only 11-of-24 passes for 124 yards. He was also limited to 38 yards on 18 carries.

Oh no, Buffalo

Buffalo’s season got off to a disastrous start with a 22-16 home loss to FCS Albany. The win was the first-ever over an FBS foe for the Great Danes.

More NCAAF coverage from Yahoo Sports:

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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