In addition to Colorado and Arizona State, Stanford also rolled out a new coach this season after David Shaw’s resignation at the end of last year. Head coach for 12 seasons, Shaw resigned after two consecutive 3-9 seasons and the 2022 season ending loss to BYU. Enter Troy Taylor, head coach of the Sacramento State Hornets for the last four years. Under Taylor the Hornets had a record of 30-8 and 23-1 in a pretty stout Big Sky Conference. In his introduction, the Stanford AD mentioned that neither Jim Harbaugh or Bill Walsh had high level coaching experience when they took over the Stanford program and he believes that Taylor has the passion, energy, and attributes to bring the program back into prominence. Whether Taylor ever reaches the lofty heights of those great coaches remains to be seen but with Stanford agreeing to loosen up its restrictions on transfers through the portal, as long as they are academically qualified, and Taylor is willing to go find them it certainly can’t hurt. As the new head coach commented; “There’s players out there that fit that bill. You’ve just got to reach out a little bit further and travel a little bit more miles and all those things. I’ve been assured that they’re open to bringing players in through the transfer portal as long as they fit the identity of Stanford.”
Week-1 for the Cardinal went just like Week-1 went for every other PAC-12 team—they won, beating the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on the road 37-24. Sophomore Starting QB Ashton Daniels, in his first career start, completed just a tick under 70% of his passes for 248 yards, 2 TD, and no interceptions—his favorite target Senior TE Benjamin Yurosek who pulled in a career high 9 passes for 138 yards and 1 go-ahead 32 yard TD early in the 2nd Qtr. Stanford was just as effective on the ground, averaging almost 5 yards per carry while picking up 158 yards and another two scores.
Hawaii had to completely rely on their passing game as the Stanford defense put a grinding halt to any rushing attempts while recording six sacks, eight tackles for loss and holding the Rainbow Warriors to a negative 5 yards on the ground. Hawaii’s QB, Junior Brayden Schafer, put it up over 50 times, connecting on 56% of his passes for three TD’s and no interceptions. Although Stanford took a committee approach regarding their ground game with QB Daniels being a big part, it was Sr. RB Casey Filkins who stood out averaging 11.2 yards on six carries.
Hawaii out-paced Stanford in total passing yards but the Cardinal had more first downs, total yards, and led in time of possession. Both teams shot themselves in the foot regarding penalties with a staggering 20 penalties combined for just 5 yards short of 200! It’s baptism by fire for the new coach this next Saturday as they travel to the Coliseum to face Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans.