Hawaii at Stanford
They were held to a three-and-out to start but Stanford, under new head coach Tavita Pritchard, took the early lead on a nine play 89 yard drive and 2 yard TD run by Junior RB Micah Ford and then barely hung on after entering the final quarter with a sixteen point lead. But they did and started their 2026 season with a 37-27 win over the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. It was the only score in the first quarter by either team as all the rest of the drives ended in punts. After holding Stanford to yet another three-and-out to start the second quarter Hawaii would tie it up on an 8 play 55 yard drive highlighted by 24 and 19 yard pass completions and a three yard touchdown run by Sophomore RB Devon Rice. Stanford would retake the lead on their very next possession with a 22 yard pass completion, a 29 yard run, and a six yard TD pass from Senior QB Davis Warren to Freshman WR Atticus Joseph to make it 14-7. The Cardinal defense would hold the Rainbow Warriors with back-to-back-to-back three-and-outs but couldn’t take advantage, missing a FG on their only opportunity to add points to the board before the half.
Stanford would force a safety and then follow it up with another TD to start the 2nd half—now up 23-7 and holding Hawaii to another three-and-out to end the 3rd Qtr. After holding the Rainbow Warriors to basically six-three-and outs in the first half and another in the third, it didn’t look as though there was any chance that the Cardinal could lose this game. But then Hawaii decided to make it a game after all scoring on back-to-back-to-back TD’s in the 4th Qtr and taking a 27-23 lead while holding Stanford to a three-and-out and forcing another punt after just five plays. With four minutes left in the final quarter the Cardinal would go on a 7 play 60 yard drive ending in another Micah Ford TD run to regain the lead 30-27 with less than two minutes left. But just four plays into their drive Hawaii’s Sophomore QB Micah Alelado fumbled the ball to Stanford’s Senior LB Tevarua Tahiti who took it to the house to preserve the win in a 37-27 victory.
For Stanford, Senior QB Davis Warren connected on 22-of-34 for 310 yards and 1 TD while on the ground Junior RB Micah Ford and Senior Sedrick Irvin combined for 157 of the team’s 173 yards with Ford picking up all three rushing TD’s. On the defensive side Stanford forced seven punts, most of those three-and-outs, a safety, and a fumble returned for TD in addition to a couple of sacks and seven tackles for loss. For Hawaii, Sophomore QB Micah Alejedo connected on 31-of-51 for 272 yards, 2 TD’s and no interceptions. The ground game for Hawaii was pretty non-existent, picking of 46 yards on 22 carries. Much more difficult assignment coming up as the Cardinal host the No. 7 Miami Hurricanes on Friday.
UCLA at Cal
Heritage PAC-12 teams Oregon and USC met a couple of the new PAC-12 teams in Boise State and Fresno State on Saturday while UCLA met an old PAC-12 rival in Cal who now is part of the ACC along with Stanford. Both teams have brand new head coaches. For UCLA it is the former James Madison head coach Bob Chesney while for Cal it is Tosh Lupoi calling the shots. Chesney brought with him Offense Coordinator Dean Kennedy who led the 11th highest scoring offense in the FBS under Chesney and Defensive Coordinator Colin Hitschler who worked under Luke Fickell at Cincinnati and Wisconsin before becoming co-defensive coordinator for Kalen DeBoer at Alabama.
But in spite of new captains at the helm it all felt just like an old south vs north conference match-up with the game tied at 7-7 after the 1st Qtr and 24 each at the end of the third. But, as usual with these teams who have played each other 94 times now since 1923, it was a couple of big mistakes that made the difference as Cal’s Sophomore QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele threw back-to-back interceptions in the 4th Qtr and UCLA taking advantage with back-to-back-to-back TD’s to win it in the end going away, 45-24. Both run in by Senior RB Wayne Knight who transferred through the portal to UCLA from James Madison. Thank you Coach Chesney!
Both teams scored on their first possessions of the game to make it 7-7 before holding each other on back-to-back punts to close out the first quarter. After holding Cal to a field goal to start the 2nd Qtr, UCLA would score on back-to-back TD’s to make it a 21-10 game with just 3:23 left in the half. The Bruins would get a chance to add to that lead after a Cal fumble at their own 43 yard line with two minutes left, but UCLA QB Imaleava would have his pass intercepted sitting 1st and 10 inside the Cal red-zone with a few ticks of the clock less than a minute left. Five plays and just 38 seconds later the Golden Bears would make it a 21-17 game on an 8 yard TD pass from Sagapolutele to Junior Tight End Mason Mini. Unbelievably with only 12 seconds on the clock, after a short kick-off and a 42 yard pass, UCLA would score again just 9 seconds later on a field goal to make it 24-17 going into the half.
Holding the Bruins to a three-and-out to start the 3rd Qtr, Cal would grind out a very long 14 play, 85 yard, 8+ minute drive resulting in a TD and a tie game with less than four minutes left in the period. After holding UCLA to a three-and-out on their first possession of the 4th Qtr, Sagapolutele would throw the first of back-to-back interceptions—both leading to TD’s and a 38-24 UCLA lead with less than three minutes left in the game. After forcing the Golden Bears to a turnover on downs the Bruins would score once again on their first play from scrimmage—a 53 yard TD run to the house by Senior RB Anthony Woods—his second of the game.—to make it 45-24 with just over a minute to play.
For UCLA, Senior QB Nico Iamaleava was just 14-of-22 for 184 yards, no TD’s, and 1 interception in addition to rushing 9 times for 29 yards and a TD. On the ground Senior RB’s Anthony Woods, Wayne Knight and Jaivian Thomas combined for 230 of the team’s 277 yard total on 21 carries with Woods picking up 2 TD’s and Knight 3. Although not finding the end zone, Iamaleava connected with four different receivers multiple times with Mikey Matthews who had 4 receptions for 88 yards his favorite target. For Cal, Sagapolutele had a tough day while connecting on less than 50% of his passes for 271 yards, 2 TD’s and those 2 interceptions leading to Bruin TD’s late in the game. Junior RB Adam Mohammed picked up virtually all the positive yardage for the Golden Bears, rushing 28 times for 120 yards and their only TD on the ground. UCLA plays host to one of the new PAC-12 teams this next Saturday—San Diego State.
No, 7 Miami at Stanford
This one turned out the way everyone expected with Stanford held to a couple of field goals in the first half, shut out in the second, and losing easily to Miami 45-6. Miami’s Junior QB tore up the Cardinal secondary, connecting on 90% of his passes for a tick over 400 yards, 5 TD’s and no interceptions. On the ground Miami collectively ran the ball 32 times for 121 yards with Junior RB Charmar Brown picking up their sole rushing TD. For Stanford, Senior QB Davis Warren was 21-of-41 for 214 yards without a TD or an interception. On the ground they were equally ineffective picking up just 78 yards on 34 carries without a score. Miami out-paced the Cardinal in every category picking up 10 more first downs, 250 more total yards, 72% of their 3rd downs compared with 32% for Stanford, in addition to winning the time-of-possession battle by thirteen minutes. Stanford gets a week off to figure things out before they hit the road to take on Duke.