Stanford's Internal Competition Fuels 37-27 Win Over Hawai'i

All during Stanford's training camp, the focus had been on the internal competition for every spot on the roster. With a new coaching staff, no spot was guaranteed. Depth charts could be flipped, and we saw plenty of new faces make big plays on Saturday in the Cardinal's 37-27 win over Hawai'i.

True freshman Atticus Joseph not only had his first career touchdown in his first career game, but was also Davis Warren's target on 3rd and 4 with 1:46 left and Stanford on the doorstep to take the lead. Liam Thorpe added a huge 18-yard catch to put the Cardinal deep into Hawai'i territory late in the fourth quarter. 

JonAnthony Hall and Zion Robinson also earned their first catches in college on huge plays. Hall's catch went for 57 yards and was Stanford's biggest offensive play, while Robinson's catch went for 48 yards. That added dimension for the offense is going to be critical as the season progresses. 

"Love the way that those guys compete," head coach Tavita Pritchard said after the game. "So much about our receiver room is their ability to show up when the ball may or may not come their way in stretches. But they stay ready. Every guy, it felt like at different times, had their number called, and they were ready." 

During camp, when Pritchard was asked to define what he looks for in a quarterback, his keys were competitiveness, accuracy, and leadership.

Davis Warren showed off each of those traits on Saturday, finishing 22-34 for 310 yards passing and one touchdown. This is the first time in Warren's career that he's topped 300 yards in a game. His previous high had been 204 against Texas in 2024. 

Earlier this week Warren talked about getting his 10,000 reps in with his wide receivers, and he showed that rapport with each member of this group each time he put the ball in the air. He also broke off his longest run of his career, going for 25 yards on a trick play. 

Warren not only helped build up the lead early, but also led the offense right down the field after Hawai'i broke through in the fourth quarter and took a brief 27-23 lead.

A huge kickoff return from Chris Davis Jr. put the Cardinal at the Stanford 38 to start the drive and build some momentum. Warren then went 5-for-5 for 58 yards on the drive with a two-yard scramble mixed in before handing the ball off to Micah Ford for his third touchdown run to retake the lead. 

After seeing how Stanford used Micah Ford last season against Hawai'i, and the success he had against them, we figured he'd be heavily involved in this game plan as well. 

Ford finished with 25 carries for 99 yards and three rushing touchdowns in this one, but it was really a tale of two halves for him. In the first half he had 15 rushes for 85 yards and two touchdowns, while the Rainbow Warriors slowed him down in the second half, holding him to 10 carries for 14 yards. That one touchdown he scored was critical, however.

"Hopefully the one yard shy [of 100] kind of motivates him a little bit," Pritchard said. "Proud of the way he ran behind his pads tonight. He broke tackles. He ran tough. He has worked incredibly hard. I'm really excited about Micah. I'm really excited about that running back room." 

The offense in general seemed to slow down after center Aidan Kilstrom was helped off the field. Fisher Anderson took over at center for the remainder of the game. There was no update on Kilstrom postgame.

"No matter what five go out there on Friday, they'll be ready to go," Pritchard said.

The key play for the defense came after Ford's third touchdown, as Zach Rowell forced a fumble from Hawai'i QB Micah Alejado, which Tevarua Tafiti picked up and returned for a game-sealing touchdown. Even with 1:12 remaining, this TD seemed to drain the will from Hawai'i, who had just fought back from 16 points down to take the lead, then found themselves back down by 10.

While Hawai'i had the big comeback in the fourth quarter, what the Stanford defense showed in the first three quarters was completely different from what we've seen in recent seasons. 

Every pass that was attempted had at least one Stanford defender playing tight man coverage on the opposing receiver, and if the pass was caught, they were typically hit immediately and with authority. Pritchard has said that the defense will play with violence, and that was on full display in the win. 

Hawai'i ended up with 322 net total yards, and 193 of those came in the fourth quarter. Last year, Hawai'i ended up with 306 total yards in their win against Stanford as Ben Gulbranson went 15-30 for 109 yards for the Cardinal. 

Beating Hawai'i was a must for Stanford to have any hope of making it to a bowl game later this year. Next up they'll face one of the best teams in the nation in Miami, also at home, in what should serve as a real measuring stick game for the new-look Cardinal.