Frank Reich on Week 0 loss to Hawaii: 'This hurts'

Frank Reich knew it was a gut punch as Stanford lost 23-20 to Hawaii to kickoff the season. Simply put, it hurt.

The interim head coach is here for just the 2025 season as his former QB and current GM Andrew Luck try to navigate rebuilding a program that has seen better days. Midway through the fourth quarter, Stanford held a 20-17 lead, but gave up back to back field goals to Hawaii, including the game winner as time expired.

Already up against it, it could be tough sledding for Reich and Stanford, especially when it comes to ACC play later this year. Still, Reich chose to be optimistic.

“Just to start out, obviously a tough loss,” Reich said. “I give Hawaii credit. They played a tough game, made the plays they needed to make to win the game. We came in off what I felt was a very good week of practice a very good six months of preparation, of hard work. And so, this hurts. You know, I’m not gonna lie. This stings. I know it stings for all of us. Especially for the players. All of us coaches. 

“But we know this. The message really to the team was we put in all that work not for one game. It’s a long season. So, we didn’t get what we wanted today, but we still have a lot of opportunity to get better and to rectify things. Even though we didn’t start off how we wanted to today.” 

The passing game wasn’t up to snuff for an offensive guy like Reich. QB Ben Gulbranson was 15-of-30 passing for 109 yards and one touchdown. The bulk of the production came from star running back Micah Ford, who had 26 carries for 113 yards and a touchdown.

“We’ll have to look at the film,” Reich said of Gulbranson’s performance. “Playing the quarterback position, there’s a lot that goes into it, right? Some of our protection. We had some protection problems early where we’re having to throw the ball away. We’re running for our life. So, that’s not all on Ben. But, we’ll look at it. Everyone of us have to look and hey, how do we put him in better position? We want to challenge every player to play better. Quarterbacks are included with that.” 

If there was any consolation on defense, despite the loss, linebacker Matt Rose had 13 tackles, a sack and two tackles for loss. But moving forward, close won’t be good enough.

Stanford will be back in action on Saturday, September 6th at BYU for a 10:15 p.m. ET kickoff. Their home opener is on September 13 vs. Boston College.