By Curtis Pashelka | [email protected] | Bay Area News Group
Frank Reich is glad that he and the Stanford football team have an extra week to prepare for their next nonconference game early next month when the Cardinal travel to Provo to face BYU.
As Reich, Stanford’s interim coach, tries to help solve some of the issues that have plagued the Cardinal over the last four seasons, there are, as expected, a few issues that need to be cleaned up.
That was evident Saturday as Stanford had its share of inconsistencies on offense and suffered late lapses on the defensive side in a 23-20 season-opening loss to Hawaii in Honolulu on Saturday in the first game of the Reich/Andrew Luck era.
Stanford held a 20-17 lead with less than 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter after sophomore running back Micah Ford capped a punishing 20-play, 85-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run.
But Hawaii responded with two field goals, one after Cardinal quarterback Ben Gulbranson threw an interception and another on the final play of the game after a Stanford three-and-out. Kansei Matsuzawa hit a 38-yard field goal as time expired to give Hawaii its first win over a power conference opponent since 2019.
It only gets tougher from here for Stanford, which, after a bye week, plays at BYU on Sept. 6.
“We came in off of what I felt like was a very good week of practice, a very good six months of preparation and hard work, so this hurts,” said Reich, who Luck, the program’s GM, hired in late March. “It stings for all of us. But the message really to the team was we put in all that work, but not for one game. It’s a long season.”
PASSING ISSUES: It appears the strength of Stanford’s offense will be its running game, as their top three backs, Ford, Sedrick Irvin, and Cole Tabb, behind a revamped offensive line, combined for 185 yards on 40 carries against Hawaii. The fourth quarter score by Ford, who had 113 yards, snapped Stanford’s streak of 20 straight games without a rushing touchdown, with the last one coming in a 21-20 loss to Arizona on Sept. 23, 2023.
It was clear Reich trusted the running game more than the passing game, as Gulbranson completed just 15 of 30 passes for a disappointing 109 yards. On what could have been a game-sealing drive in the fourth quarter with Stanford up 20-17, Gulbranson, on first down, didn’t put enough arc on a pass intended for Jordan Onovughe, and was intercepted in the backfield by Hawaii DB Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen with 5:58 left.
“Just got to do a better job of understanding the situation there,” Gulbranson said. “I’m going to take responsibility for this one. I’ve got to execute at a higher level.”
“We’re up by three really thinking, listen, we’re not playing it safe to kick a field goal,” Reich said. “We had another kind of play pass, and what I felt was a very safe call play pass. Put a guy in a flat, and their defender made an unbelievable play, so you just got to give him credit.”
Reich liked the running game, but said, “That better not be all we can do. We’re going to have to be a whole lot better in the pass game. … Honestly, I thought we’d have a bigger day in the pass, so I’m kind of shocked by it.”
Reich added that he was disappointed in the pass protection for Gulbranson, although Hawaii only recorded one sack.
PENALTY WOES: Stanford is not good enough to overcome 70 yards in penalties, especially three 15-yarders on defense on one drive.
Hawaii’s second touchdown drive, which covered 75 yards, came with plenty of help from Stanford, which was assessed unsportsmanlike conduct, a face mask, and unnecessary roughness penalties on the possession.
The costliest of those penalties was the unsportsmanlike call on Clay Patterson, who blew up a flea flicker play by the Rainbow Warriors by sacking quarterback Micah Alejado, but danced after the play and was called excessive celebration. What would have been a second and long for Hawaii turned into a first down at the Cardinal 21.
Two plays later, Hawaii was in the end zone and took a 14-13 lead with the PAT.
“We want to play with a lot of passion. We encourage that,” Reich said. “I want guys celebrating and celebrating with each other, but there is a line that can’t be crossed, and we talked about that. And we crossed it … and it cost us points.”
Stanford’s defense made some nice plays, including on Hawaii’s first offensive play, when Patterson strip-sacked Alejado, with Wilfredo Aybar recovering the loose ball in the end zone, which gave Stanford a 10-0 lead after the extra point.
Alejado was sacked four times but looked like a veteran as he carved Stanford over Hawaii’s final two drives, completing 8 of 12 passes for 87 yards. He finished 27 of 39 for 210 yards.
“He was patient. He’s accurate,” Reich said of Alejado. “They have a good scheme. It’s a unique scheme, that run-and-shoot offense and that short to intermediate passing game is tough to handle.”
HARSH REALITY: Hawaii played well, but almost every team Stanford faces from here on out will likely be just as good, if not better. These next two weeks will be huge for Reich and his staff to iron out his team’s issues on both sides of the ball; otherwise, it could be another brutal year on the Farm.
“We worked very hard in the six months that we’ve been here to put on a good show for the Stanford community and for the alumni,” Reich said. “So disappointed in the start, that’s not going to get us down. We’re excited for the rest of the year. There’s a lot of football left. We’ve got a bye week next week, so what a great opportunity to take this film and learn from and get a whole lot better.”
