Christian McCaffrey was welcomed into an exclusive Stanford club last December, joining distinguished Cardinal alumni. But there's a catch: It's one his teammates and coaches believe he did not deserve to be a part of after a record-breaking season.

Welcome to the Stanford Heisman Trophy Runner-Up Club, Christian. Four times in the past seven years a Stanford player has finished second on the Heisman ballot, and the frustration reached a crescendo in the Cardinal camp after McCaffrey fell short in the most recent voting.

"I think it's criminal that he didn't win the Heisman," former Stanford center Graham Shuler said after last year's Rose Bowl. "I'd be lying to you if we said it didn't really get under our skin. We all felt really disrespected."

That much was clear in the immediate aftermath of the Granddaddy of Them All, when lineman Joshua Garnett lumbered around the locker room, yelling to anyone in sight after Stanford thrashed Iowa 45-16 behind McCaffrey's record 368 all-purpose yards.

"They didn't know who Christian McCaffrey was?" Garnett shouted in every direction. "Well, they know now!"

Christian McCaffrey isn't an unknown, especially after his Rose Bowl performance. Will this be the season the Cardinal break their Heisman drought? Richard Mackson/USA TODAY Sports

After a season in which he broke Barry Sanders' single-season NCAA record for all-purpose yards, McCaffrey likely had the best case for victory last season, but the other members of the SHTRC -- Toby Gerhart (2009) and Andrew Luck (2010 and 2011) -- were worthy candidates as well.

Before the result was known, there was a concern in the Cardinal camp that the team's late kickoff times would negatively impact McCaffrey's chances, given the heavy concentration of East Coast voters for the award.

"Christian McCaffrey is the best player in the nation," Stanford coach David Shaw said a week before the Heisman ceremony last December. "It's not even a debate."

It almost seemed as if Shaw, with his sharp tone, was bracing for another Stanford disappointment -- and that's exactly what ensued when McCaffrey fell short a few days later.

His Cardinal teammates seethed. Many, like Shuler, said they used the runner-up finish as a perceived slight to motivate them for the Rose Bowl. If McCaffrey had any strong reactions to the Heisman voting, he kept them to himself, refusing to take any bait from reporters after the season ended.

"Great players always play with a chip on their shoulder, no matter if they have a reason to or not," he responded to a question about his determination following the ceremony. "I'm someone who believes in having motivation at all times, win or lose, individual awards. I play for my teammates."

But McCaffrey's teammates think the 2015 Heisman disappointment is motivating their star player.

"You put a chip on a kid's shoulder like that," Shuler said, "and it's scary what he's going to do."

And that sets the table for this 2016 season, and the question is unavoidable: Has a Stanford player's time to hoist the Heisman Trophy finally returned, or are the Cardinal destined to play second fiddle again? McCaffrey might not play in prime time as frequently as his counterparts will, but he's certainly no longer an unknown commodity.

"What I've learned, because I've been through all of [the runner-up finishes as a coach], is that the Heisman can never be a priority," Shaw said. "Whether you consider that a shame or not, it can't ever be a priority because it's not in your hands. It's not about being the best player in America. It's not about breaking records. It's about voting."

Stanford's offense is stocked with a bevy of playmakers at the offensive skill positions this year, including McCaffrey's backfield mate Bryce Love and speedy receiver Michael Rector. Shaw says he's wary of the temptation to overutilize McCaffrey in pursuit of the award, and he insists that focusing on it would hurt Stanford's team goals.

"You control the controllable," Shaw said. "Whenever something that looks so significant [like the Heisman] is in someone else's hands, you honestly have to fight the urge to placate to it. We're not going to sacrifice the production of our team or our team unity to put one person's goals ahead of where our team goals are."

Shaw is practicing one of his specialties: keeping Stanford level-headed and focused on the larger task at hand. But the allure of the Heisman Trophy -- and the Cardinal's quest to win their first since Jim Plunkett did it 46 years ago -- is impossible to ignore with McCaffrey back in uniform.

"We all thought they got it wrong this year," offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren said after McCaffrey's most recent game, about eight months ago. "This is a great example of, 'Man, if they voted today, I wonder how it would go.'"

There will be another vote in about four months, and Stanford is hoping that it goes differently than four previous ones.