Answering the question before it could be asked, Stanford head coach David Shaw said Tuesday, “No we’re not looking forward to USC.’’

His No. 11 Cardinal are huge favorites for Saturday’s season-opening home game against UC Davis, a week before they host No. 15 USC.

As a Stanford alumnus, he remembered having “a pit in my stomach’’ in 2005 when he found out the Aggies had shocked the Cardinal 20-17. Stanford, then coached by Walt Harris, went on to a 5-6 record that year, a far cry from the golden era the Cardinal now enjoy.

Shaw was an assistant coach with the Baltimore Ravens then. “It was a rough day, especially since I had a couple of Cal guys on the team,’’ he said.

Aside from reminding his current players that “if you don’t strap it up, we have a chance to lose,’’ he said he wouldn’t stress the last time the two teams met to his players. It might as well be ancient history to them since they weren’t even in high school at the time.

Stanford will have wholesale changes to its starting lineup from last year and lacks the 220-pound running back it had in Tyler Gaffney. But the offense seems to have more weapons.

The most explosive is probably wide receiver and kick returner Ty Montgomery, who was cleared Monday to play after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

Going into the season, any group of potential Heisman Trophy candidates would have to include Montgomery, Shaw said. “From the beginning of training camp, he’s been awesome,’’ he said.

Quarterback Kevin Hogan echoed his coach on the players not looking past UCD to USC. Some fans certainly will, he said, “but I don’t see that in our locker room.

“We started game-planning for UC Davis midweek of last week, probably the most amount of time that we’ll spend on a game plan outside of a bye week. Our focus is on them. We’re not worried about how they’re projected to do. It’s our first game, and we want to come out strong.’’

Kelsey Young will get first crack at tailback, but Barry Sanders, Ricky Seale, Remound Wright and freshman Christian McCaffrey all will get ball at some point Saturday, Shaw said. Additionally, fullbacks Lee Ward and Patrick Skov might carry in short-yardage situations.

“What put Kelsey on top was being the most consistent since last spring through training camp,’’ Shaw said. But he said the gap separating him from the others “isn’t great.’’

According to Hogan, the offense might not be quite as conservative as it has been in the past. The primary goal of running the ball by dominating the line of scrimmage remains, he said, but “it’s very likely’’ that the offense will open up.

“We have to get the ball outside to our playmakers and tight ends and running backs on the edge,’’ he said. “They’re too fast and too athletic to just have them run up the middle.’’