Stanford at Hawaii
I think the only thing surprising about this game wasn’t that Stanford lost but that they lost by only three points, 23-20, on the road at Hawaii. It took the Rainbow Warriors the entire game to win it thanks to Senior Place Kicker Kansei Matsuzawa who was a perfect three-for-three including a 38-yarder as time expired. With the win Hawaii has a chance to match their opening of 2019 when they beat then two PAC-12 power conference teams back-to-back as they hit the road to take on Arizona next week.
Stanford took the early lead at the end of a long 16 play, 70 yard drive that took up almost eight minutes but stalled on the Hawaii 5 yard line. The Cardinal’s PK Emmet Kenney came in to make a 23 yard field goal to put them up 3-0 with over half the 1st Qtr gone. On Kenney’s kick-off Hawaii’s Junior Wide Receiver Brandon White ended up downing the ball at their own 1 yard line instead of in the end zone where the ball would have been spotted at the 25 yard line. On their first play from scrimmage Hawaii’s Freshman QB Micah Alejado lost the ball during a sack which was recovered in the end zone by Stanford Senior Linebacker Wilfredo Aybar to put the Cardinal up 10-0 with seven minutes left to play in the first quarter. The Rainbow Warrior QB Alejado shook off the strip-sack and led his team on a quick 6 play, 58 yard drive and 3 yard TD pass to Junior WR Pofele Ashlock to make it 10-7 with just about two minutes left in the quarter.
Stanford went on another time consuming six plus minute drive of 13 plays and 64 yards that bogged down at the Hawaii sixteen yard line. Kenney came in to try a 34 yard field goal but missed leaving the Cardinal still up by three early in the 2nd Qtr. In spite of a Stanford face mask penalty Hawaii still couldn’t get anything done on their next possession and ended up turning the ball over on downs after failing to convert a 4th and 3 at the Stanford 36 yard line. Eleven plays and five minutes later, after a sack of Cardinal QB Ben Gulbranson on a 3rd and 9 play at the Hawaii 15 and a loss of 13 yards, Kenney came back in again for another field goal attempt—this one from 46 yards—which he made putting Stanford up 13-7 with less than four minutes left before the break. But that was plenty of time for Hawaii’s QB Micah Alejado to connect on his 2nd TD of the day on a 75 yard drive right after a play where he got sacked and lost 12 yards but then got all the yards back and then some on a Stanford unsportsmanlike penalty. On the very next snap he hit Sophomore WR Jackson Harris with a 19 yard TD pass to put Hawaii up 14-13 going into the locker room.
Hawaii held Stanford to two three-and-outs in the 3rd Qtr while only scoring one time themselves on a 40 yard field goal by PK Kansei Matsuzawa to make it 17-13 at the end of three. The Cardinal would come back with their most time consuming and longest possession of the game, a 20 play, 85 yard, 9 minute and 37 second drive that resulted in a 2 yard TD run by their Sophomore RB Micah Ford to finally retake the lead at 20-17 with 9:47 left in the 4th Qtr. But it would be an interception of Stanford’s QB Ben Gulbranson and a three-and-out by the Hawaii defense that would put their PK Pofele Ashlock in a position to hit back-to-back field goals, first to tie the score at 20 a piece and then to go ahead 23-20 with less than two minutes to play where it stayed.
If there was a plus for Stanford it had to be their ground game where Sophomore Micah Ford carried the ball 26 times for 113 yards and their only trip to the end zone with Junior RB Sedrick Irvin contributing another 46 yards on 10 carries. All toll the Cardinal rushed 43 times for 177 yards which resulted in 12 more minutes of possession but just couldn’t cash that in with more points on the board. Their Senior QB Ben Gulbranson connected on just half of his pass attempts, 15-of-30, for 109 yards and 1 interception. In spite of getting hurt early in the 2nd half, Hawaii’s Alejado connected on almost 70% of his 39 attempts for 210 yards, 2 TD’s and no interceptions. On the ground the Rainbow Warriors rushed 24 times for 96 yards.
Hawaii will have to beat a lot better QB on Saturday, August 30th, if they want to start the season 2-0 as they hit the road to take on the Arizona Wildcats and their talented returning signal caller Noah Fafita. For Stanford, who will get an extra week to work out the problems, it won’t look nearly this good come September 6th as they’ll be on the road at BYU where they’ll stand the proverbial snowball’s chance. Honestly it’s sad. My memories of Stanford are Bill Walsh, Jim Harbaugh, Andrew Luck, Christian McCaffrey, John Elway, Jim Plunkett, Richard Sherman, Jack Ertz and James Lofton. Read about it here in a Stanford Daily article written last November by Mason Harris entitled; “Autumn blues: The state of the Stanford football program.” https://stanforddaily.com/2024/11/06/state-of-stanford-football-program/