Josh Nunes has emerged as the victor of a quarterback competition that lasted almost eight months at Stanford.

He knows he's got big shoes to fill in replacing Andrew Luck for the No. 21 Cardinal, who open the season Friday night at home against local rival San Jose State.

There was no competition the last three seasons at quarterback because of Luck, who finished tied for fourth in the country last year with 37 touchdowns as the Heisman Trophy runner-up in leading Stanford to an 11-2 mark before he was selected as the top overall NFL draft pick by Indianapolis this April.

Luck's absence created a three-way battle for the starting job between Nunes, Brett Nottingham and redshirt freshman Kevin Hogan. Second-year coach David Shaw named Nunes the starter Aug. 21.

"Josh has done a great job," Shaw told the Cardinal's official website. "The guy who is going to play quarterback is the guy who can do it all - managing the running game, managing our protections and getting us into the right play. Josh has done that."

The only passes Nunes has thrown for Stanford came in 2010 after he served as Nottingham's backup a year ago. He knows replacing Luck won't be easy.

"Being behind Andrew Luck was pretty much the biggest blessing I think you could ever ask for," Nunes said. "I learned a lot from him, and I feel like I'm ready to lead this team."

Luck isn't the only offensive star Stanford will have to replace. Tight end Coby Fleener, who led the team with 10 touchdown receptions a year ago, was a second-round pick by the Colts while offensive linemen David DeCastro and Jonathan Martin were selected in the first and second rounds, respectively.

Shaw is confident in senior running back Stepfan Taylor, whose 2,467 yards rushing over the last two seasons ranks as the nation's 11th-best total. The Cardinal also have returning starting linemen in right tackle Cameron Fleming, left guard David Yankey and center Sam Schwartzstein.

"We have the most underrated running back in the nation with back-to-back 1,000-yard years and this is going to be a third straight," Shaw said. "I think we have a great front seven, as good as college football has had (this) year."

Seven starters are back on a defense that ranked second in the Pac-12 in scoring (21.9 points per game) and total defense (337.6 yards per game). That includes Shayne Skov, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the third game of 2011 after leading the Cardinal with 84 tackles the year before.

Skov has been suspended for Friday's contest due to a DUI arrest in February.

Stanford will be heavily favored to win its season opener for the fifth straight season in this matchup dubbed the "Bill Walsh Legacy Game." Walsh was a San Jose State graduate before he became famous for coaching Stanford and the 49ers.

The Cardinal cruised to a 57-3 rout of the Spartans in last season's opener in Shaw's first game taking over as coach for Jim Harbaugh, who left for the 49ers.

That defeat was part of a 5-7 campaign for San Jose State, and it marked a major improvement for a program that went 3-22 over the two previous seasons.

The Spartans also had a quarterback battle heading into this year, and David Fales emerged as the winner.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Fales transferred from Monterey Peninsula College before spring practice. He completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 4,635 yards and 37 touchdowns in two seasons, and beat out Dasmen Stewart and Blake Jurich along with freshmen Joe Gray and Jason Habash after the latter two started practicing in August.

"David Fales is going to be our starter. We're excited about what he brings to the table. He did a good job this spring and a good job this fall," coach Mike MacIntyre said. "He did a real good job working with everything. He runs the offense real well."

Defensive end Travis Johnson, the preseason Western Athletic Conference defensive player of the year, had 9 1/2 sacks a year ago and will be chasing after Nunes on Friday.

"He has a relentless motor, he's got a great knack of being able to get to the quarterback," MacIntyre said.

San Jose State, which will join the Mountain West Conference next season, has been picked to finish third in the WAC.

© 2012 STATS LLC

Lucky: Stanford sloppy in win over San Jose State

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) -- David Shaw has never been one to show too much emotion, keeping his cool no matter the circumstances. He heaps praise on players but isn't afraid to call out poor performances, either.

Late Friday night was different.

Following No. 21 Stanford's season-opening 20-17 victory over San Jose State, the second-year coach had little patience trying to explain one of the most frustrating games of his tenure. At one point, a reporter asked him if this season might be more fun without No. 1 overall pick Andrew Luck, considering the room for growth his young team could make.

"Fun?" Shaw asked. "For whom?"

Certainly not for the coach.

The post-Luck era got off to a disappointing debut, with former backup Josh Nunes throwing for 125 yards and a touchdown, and struggling to move the offense in the running game before getting bailed out by Jordan Williamson's rejuvenated right foot.

Williamson kicked a career-long 46-yard field goal and the go-ahead score from 20 yards to save Stanford from what would've been a stunning start to this season.

"It was real close," senior running back Stepfan Taylor said. "But close will get you beat in a heartbeat."

Almost did.

Williamson, who missed three field goals - including a potential game-winner in regulation - in a 41-38 overtime loss to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2, might have been the only one with a reason to hold his head down following that fantastic effort from both sides.

Now he might be the only Stanford player who should hold his head high after a shaky start this season.

Nunes finished 16 for 26 with no interceptions in place of Luck, but the offense stalled when it counted most - and it almost cost the Cardinal (1-0) dearly against the Spartans (0-1).

"We were close to doing a lot of really good things tonight," Nunes said. "But close doesn't always win football games."

It usually loses them.

The David Fales-Blake Jurich quarterback combo gave Stanford fits until De'Leon Eskridge fumbled in Spartans territory late in the third quarter. That set up Williamson's tiebreaking kick, giving the redshirt sophomore a small stroke of redemption after months of public silence and tissues and tears back home.

"That shows the kind of person he is," said Taylor, who ran for 116 yards and a touchdown. "That's a lot of pressure, and missing them in the Fiesta Bowl you know all the pressure is going to be on him. He's cold blooded."

So was San Jose State's passing game.

Fales threw for 216 yards with one touchdown and an interception that landed in the hands of Ed Reynolds with 71 seconds remaining to seal Stanford's victory. Jurich ran for 32 yards and a score.

The fight Stanford showed so many times behind Luck dissolved.

With the two-time Heisman Trophy finalist now with the Indianapolis Colts, the Cardinal converted only 2 of 13 third downs (although it was 2 for 3 on fourth downs) and allowed the Spartans to move methodically at times down field. San Jose State outgained Stanford 288 to 280 in total yards.

Stanford beat San Jose State 57-3 last year and has won five straight meetings.

"Since we got our butts kicked here last year, we could have won every game since," third-year San Jose State coach Mike MacIntyre said. "So we're making progress. We're getting bigger, stronger and faster. We're making strides. But in no way, shape or form is this a moral victory. We're a better football team, but we have to finish it off."

Taylor ran for 38 yards almost untouched until a defender tackled him on the game's first drive. Remound Wright converted a fourth-and-1 from the 10-yard line, and Taylor dived over the pile for a 1-yard TD on fourth down to give Stanford a 7-0 lead.

Nunes quickly led Stanford down field again and tossed a perfect ball in the corner on a stop-and-go route by Drew Terrell for an 11-yard score and his first career touchdown pass.

The first-game hiccups eventually surfaced, though, and bubbling later than expected until they almost completely popped Stanford's season.

Game-clock management became an issue on Stanford's final drive of the first half, tossing a short pass over the middle to tight end Zach Ertz, then throwing incomplete and running on third down to settle for a field goal. Williamson, who tore a groin muscle last October and was never the same when he returned, made his career-high 46-yarder as time expired to extend Stanford's lead to 17-3.

"I feel like I finally put everything from the past in the past and now I can focus on the future," a smiling Williamson said. "It was a tremendous feeling."

All the same problems that plagued the Cardinal defense in losses last year to Oregon and Oklahoma State - no cornerback coverage, poor open-field tackling and quarterback pressure when it counts - looked even worse with two new starting safeties.

Jurich ran for a short touchdown on San Jose State's first possession of the third quarter and Fales floated a 21-yard touchdown pass to Noel Grigsby to tie the score at 17-all late in the third quarter.

Fales, who transferred from Monterey Peninsula Community College in the spring, redshirted at Nevada in 2009 but quickly had San Jose State in position for the season's first shocking upset.

One mistake ended all that.

Reynolds stripped Eskridge on a pitch play, and Usua Amanam recovered the fumble at San Jose State's 38-yard line. Stanford's offense stalled again, and Williamson made his second field goal.

San Jose State stuffed Taylor on fourth-and-1 with fewer than 7 minutes to play, sending MacIntyre jumping and high-fiving all over the sideline and on the field. Fales and the offense failed to even get a first down on the next two possessions and Reynolds stepped in front of his final pass to close out San Jose State's rally.

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© 2012 STATS LLC