The media has picked Stanford to win the Pac-12 for the first time in the 56-year history of its preseason poll, but the Cardinal aren't having it.

"That just truly shows that you guys have no idea what you're doing," head coach David Shaw responded.

So don't tell the Cardinal that they're the Pac-12 favorites, because they're accustomed to being underdogs -- and they're willing to do plenty of mental gymnastics to maintain that dark horse status.

"Even though [the media] picked us to win, they may not mean it," defensive lineman Solomon Thomas offered.

It's not hard to see why Stanford is so aggressively opposed to being viewed as the preseason favorite: The role is completely foreign -- and unexpected --- to the Cardinal. They've actually embraced the chip-on-the-shoulder mentality that comes from the underdog role, using it as a motivational tool over the past several years.

Because despite all of this program's accomplishments this decade, there hadn't been a true carryover of media expectations to the following year -- until now.

Consider recent media preseason perception surrounding the program:

Entering 2011, the return of a core including Andrew Luck couldn't garner the Cardinal favorite status. Many voters doubted Stanford because of Jim Harbaugh's departure that year.

Luck graduated before 2012, so Stanford surprised virtually everybody -- preseason pollsters included -- with its Rose Bowl championship run behind stellar defense that year.

In 2013, despite the return of the Cardinal's ferocious defense, the media picked Oregon to win the league again. Stanford responded by repeating as Pac-12 champions.

Entering 2014, the media again tabbed the Ducks as favorites, a selection that was ultimately validated after the Cardinal lost five games that year.

In 2015, Stanford re-entered doubt-us-if-you-dare mode, winning its third Pac-12 title in four years to turn the preseason media poll -- one that predicted Oregon and USC in the league championship game -- on its head.

So the favorite's role that Stanford has attained entering 2016 is a status that even the return of Luck, a trio of dominant defenses and two previous Pac-12 championships couldn't attain over the past five years.

Now, before a season in which the Cardinal return just 33 percent of their league-leading offense, they're finally the cool kids on the first day of school.

Talk about a 180-degree reversal in perception.

Either the media no longer wants to risk being wrong about Stanford, or it's been convinced to pick the Cardinal because of their returning star.

"[Being picked to win the Pac-12] is a sign of respect," Shaw said. "But I think it has a lot to do with the guy that's in the back left corner of the building there in Christian McCaffrey."

Coincidentally, that happens to be the very guy who specializes in deflecting the hype. McCaffrey's record-breaking 2015 campaign has created Stanford's attention breakthrough, but in a rather ironic twist, he's the one who spent a good chunk of media days brushing it away.

McCaffrey spoke frequently of the need -- both individually and for the Cardinal as a team -- to maintain a chip on their shoulder. He credited the underdog mentality for much of Stanford's success so far this decade, even saying that it was one of the reasons that he chose the Cardinal coming out of high school.

"Everybody on that team was salty," McCaffrey said. "I wanted to go play with a bunch of salty guys."

So never mind the preseason poll that has Stanford at the top for the first time ever: The Cardinal are willing to jump through hoops to ignore it. They fear that the pats on the back can soften them and steal the edge that has fueled three Pac-12 championship runs in four years.

There's a concerted effort at Stanford, then, to not take satisfaction in this preseason anointment -- even if it is no more than a nod of respect from the media.

"There's still a lot of doubters out there," McCaffrey said. "You'd be surprised."