KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- On the first play of his season, Kansas State tailback Darren Sproles sprinted through a four-lane hole on the right side of the line and gained 53 yards.

On the first play of his season, a California offensive lineman twitched and drew a false-start penalty.

That would be as wide as the gap between the Wildcats and the Golden Bears stretched.

Things are never quite as bad as they seem in season openers, which is good, because Cal spent Saturday night pointing out why Kansas State fans should wait another week or two before they make Sugar Bowl reservations.

	Kansas State's Darren Sproles ran for a career-high 175 yards.

The Wildcats won the Black Coaches Association Classic, 42-28, in spite of a defensive line that didn't generate much pressure. The pass rushers looked like All-Americans compared to the K-State secondary. Bear quarterback Reggie Robertson, in his first start, threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns. His backup, Aaron Rodgers, in his first college game, threw for 121 yards and a score.

"I always think in terms of, 'Are we getting better?'" Wildcats coach Bill Snyder said, "and the answer to that is no."

Late in the first half, Wildcat corner Randy Jordan knocked Bear wideout Jonathan Makonnen flat after a catch over the middle, a catch that made a Cal first down. Jordan then followed Makonnen to yap about the hit. On the next play, Cal's Geoff McArthur beat Jordan by a step down the right sideline and went 65 yards for a touchdown.

The Kansas State defense wilted as if it has been in Kansas City all week. A week-long heat wave peaked at 106 degrees on Thursday. It's been so hot that the 50,823 fans regarded the game-time heat index of 96 degrees as the first sign of fall. That role used to be filled by the start of the college football season. As recently as 1994, Cal began its season on Sept. 10. This year, the Golden Bears play their fourth game on Sept. 11.

College football started so early that the Chicago Cubs are still in the pennant race. It started so early that you could at least understand why the Kansas State fan raced onto the field in the third quarter wearing only a purple loincloth. A security guard laid a big lick on him. So to speak. It may have been the best tackle made by a local all night.

But, oh, that Kansas State offense. Sproles, a junior, ran for a career-high 175 yards. Senior quarterback Ell Roberson completed 9-of-18 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for 145 yards and a score on 18 carries. Roberson has the size (6-foot-1, 205 pounds) and skills of a tailback and the decisiveness of a quarterback in his third season as a starter.

In the second half, Roberson showed passing skills that have been a long time coming. In the 19th start of his career, Roberson threw for three touchdowns, two more than he ever had in a game. On a third quarter play-action fake and rollout, he hit tight end Brian Casey for a 35-yard gain. And Davin Dennis caught the third touchdown pass, a 28-yarder early in the fourth quarter, without breaking stride.

Two years ago, as a passer, Roberson was a good running quarterback. He completed 39.7 percent of his passes, and threw twice as many picks (eight) as touchdowns (four). The pressure of leading the team weighed on him.

"He was kind of uptight. He'd get mad and frustrated with the little things. After a holding penalty or something that went wrong, he would come back to the huddle and yell at us," center Nick Leckey said.

That's the before picture. "He's loose," Leckey said of Roberson, "and that really makes us loose."

If Roberson is loose, it's only an act.

"It's much harder for me," he said Saturday night. "I have to prepare myself a lot better. I can't slack up. There's a lot of responsibility on me. I've had it all summer."

Amidst his doom and gloom, Snyder perked up when he heard that Sproles had his best game as a Wildcat. Then he heard that Sproles rushed for 175 yards. "Is that a career high?" the coach asked. "We've got to fix that."

It shouldn't be too difficult. Snyder has a soft spot for Sproles, the 5-7, 170-pound back from nearby Olathe, Kan. Snyder found him and recruited him when other schools barely looked in his direction. When they did, they couldn't see Sproles behind all his taller teammates.

"I was a high school coach for nine years," Snyder said the other day. "I used to get frustrated to a certain degree when the college recruiters would come in and I knew who the good players were. If they couldn't match up to the type of size the recruiters wanted, they just passed over them. What's important to me is who can play the game. Size is never the issue."

When Snyder made Sproles the starter a year ago, he promised him that he would call his number time and again in the first half of the opener against Western Kentucky.

"People thought he wasn't going to be a durable back," Snyder said. "I knew that not to be accurate. He may be short but he's a physical young back. He's as durable as anyone. I wanted him to understand that I was confident he could handle it."

Sproles remains dwarfed by his teammates, a big reason why he set eight school records last season when he rushed for 1,465 yards. Though the offense played well, give or take a few hiccups in the red zone, Sproles would have none of it.

"We just felt like we could do a lot better than we did," he said softly after the game. Not the sort of attitude one expects to get from a guy coming off of a career high. Do you think you could have done something better?

"I do," Sproles said. "Pass block, better, I guess."

The offense will carry Kansas State a long way. But Snyder has been around long enough to understand that the old saying is not, "Offense wins championships." Things may never be as bad as they appear in the first game. Still, anyone who would want to be on the Kansas State defense this week is a glutton for punishment.

Ivan Maisel is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ivan.maisel@espn3.com.