Breaking down the 2025 Stanford Football schedule
Football season is just around the corner, which means it is time for me to provide a breakdown of the 2025 schedule for Stanford football. Stanford is coming off a season in which they went 3-9 overall and 2-6 in the ACC. It is Andrew Luck’s first season as general manager and with Troy Taylor no longer coaching the program, Frank Reich is stepping up to the plate to serve as the interim head coach for the season. It should be an interesting fall on The Farm as Stanford looks to outperform their preseason finish of 17th (last place) in the 2025 ACC Media Poll. Ok, let’s dive into the schedule!
GoStanford.com: 2025 Stanford Football Schedule
Stanford will begin their season in Week 0, which means it’s the week before most college football teams begin their season. Stanford will play at Hawaii on Saturday, August 23rd at 4:30 PM PT on CBS. The Rainbow Warriors went 5-7 overall and 3-4 in the Mountain West last season.
Back in 2023, Stanford had a convincing 37-24 win over Hawaii on the road when they last faced off, so Stanford will look to recapture some of the magic from that game. The Warriors currently are favored by 2.5 points over Stanford according to BetMGM, so odds are actually against the Cardinal in this one. Given how the last four seasons have gone for Stanford, all ending in 3-9 finishes, they should be happy if they can come out of Hawaii with a win no matter the score.
Following the Week 0 game at Hawaii, Stanford will get an early bye the weekend of August 30th, giving them a chance to see what went well and what didn’t go well in the game against Hawaii. It will also give guys an extra week to heal up in case there were any bumps or bruises incurred against the Warriors.
Following the August 30th bye week, Stanford will play at BYU on Saturday, September 6th at 7:15 PM PT on ESPN. The Cougars went 11-2 overall and 7-2 in the Big XII last season, currently receiving votes in the AP Top 25 Poll. The Cougars dealt with some offseason drama as their starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff transferred to Tulane after violating the BYU honor code. With Retzlaff no longer with the program, the Cougars are turning to true freshman Bear Bachmeier to be their starting quarterback.
In case that name sounds familiar, it should. Bachmeier played for Stanford during the spring before transferring to BYU and his brother Tiger Bachmeier grad transferred from Stanford to BYU to join him as a wide receiver, deferring his master’s program in computer science from Stanford until after his NCAA eligibility is up. The Bachmeier brothers facing Stanford will make for a really interesting storyline going into the game.
As for the game itself, BYU will be expected to win handily, but with a true freshman under center and Stanford rolling with a 6th year veteran in Ben Gulbranson, this is one that could get interesting. This should be a fun game in Provo. I can’t wait to see it unfold in person.
After two weeks away from The Farm, Stanford will finally return home to play their first home game of the season against Boston College on Saturday, September 13th at 7:30 PM PT on ACC Network. Boston College went 7-6 overall and 4-4 in the ACC last season, picked to finish 13th in the ACC Media Poll.
On paper, this is about as winnable of a game as Stanford is going to get all season long. The Eagles will be dealing with a late-night game on the West Coast, which I’m sure will feel a bit weird to them and then combined with the fact that this game will open up the Andrew Luck/Frank Reich era on The Farm, there should be plenty of buzz for the Cardinal coming into the game. If Stanford doesn’t win this game, that could be indicative of a long season ahead.
Stanford will then hit the road to face Virginia on Saturday, September 20th. Kickoff time is TBD. Virginia went 5-7 overall and 3-5 in the ACC last season, currently picked to finish 14th in the ACC. If there’s a road game for Stanford to pick up in ACC play, this would be the game. The Cavaliers weren’t very good last season and they’re not expected to be much better this year. Being the first ACC road game will provide some challenges for Stanford but having already played two road games at Hawaii and BYU, the Cardinal should feel comfortable being on the road at this point. Similar to the Boston College game, if Stanford doesn’t win this one, that could spell a long season. Especially if they fail to defeat Boston College the week before.
Stanford will then come back home to welcome San Jose State to The Farm on Saturday, September 27th. Kickoff time is TBD. The Spartans went 7-6 overall and 3-4 in the Mountain West last season, defeating Stanford in the final game of the regular season at home by a final score of 34-31. They then went on to have a wild 5OT loss to South Florida in the Hawaii Bound Bowl.
With their star wide receiver Nick Nash now in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons, the Spartans won’t have him to rely on as a weapon. That said, they should still feel confident that they can get the job done against Stanford given what happened last season. This will be a real litmus test game for Stanford. If they can beat the Spartans (especially if they do so convincingly), that will indicate progress from last season.
Following their game against San Jose State, Stanford will get a bye week for the weekend of October 4th. That will give Stanford a chance to heal up and evaluate where they are five games into the season with two ACC games behind them. They better hope they are at least 2-3 on the season at this point, though in truth, 3-2 should be the goal. Each of their first five games are legitimately winnable.
Following the early October bye, Stanford will hit the road to face No. 16 SMU on Saturday, October 11th. SMU went 11-3 overall and 8-0 in the ACC last season, losing to Clemson in the ACC championship game 34-31 before then losing to Penn State in the College Football Playoff. The Mustangs had a fantastic season, demolishing Stanford on The Farm 40-10.
Given that this game is on the road and SMU is coming off the season they are having, it would be shocking if Stanford pulled out this game. That’s why it’s so important they get off to decent start in the months of August and September. SMU on paper should win this game handily as they are picked to finish 3rd in the ACC.
After facing the Mustangs in Dallas, Stanford will come home to face Florida State for homecoming on Saturday, October 18th. Kickoff is set for 7:30 PM PT on ESPN. Florida State went 2-10 overall and 1-7 in the ACC last season, having an absolutely terrible season. Their lone win of ACC play last year was at home against Cal in which they narrowly won 14-9. It’s kind of amazing Mike Norvell wasn’t canned after last year, but clearly, they believe in him as head coach.
Florida State is expected to bounce back this season as they are picked to finish 7th in the ACC with four first place votes, also receiving votes in the AP Top 25. But is that because people really believe in their roster or is it because of the name on the front of their jerseys? It’s hard to say. This is probably the hardest game to predict on Stanford’s schedule. Hopefully for them, they get a good crowd out and Florida State plays more like the team they did last year than the team everyone is expecting this year. If Stanford wins this game, we could be looking at a situation where the seat upon which Norvell sits becomes piping hot.
After facing the Seminoles for homecoming, Stanford will then play No. 10 Miami on the road on Saturday, October 25th. Kickoff time is TBD. The Hurricanes went 10-3 overall and 6-2 in the ACC last season, currently picked to finish second in the ACC behind No. 4 Clemson.
I’ll be there in person, so I’m very much looking forward to this game. The Hurricanes on paper are the toughest road opponent for Stanford this season. This is a game that could get ugly if Stanford is not careful. Of course, if Stanford is significantly improved from last season, perhaps they’ll be able to make it interesting. You just never know.
Stanford will then come home to face Pittsburgh on Saturday, November 1st. Kickoff time is TBD. The Panthers went 7-6 overall and 3-5 in the ACC last season, but they are expected to be better this season as they are receiving votes in the AP Top 25 and also picked to finish 9th in the ACC. This will be a challenging game for Stanford, but with it being at home, they have to feel like they at least have a shot. Ideally, this one will be a night game for Stanford, but we’ll just have to see what decision the TV networks make on that front. Given this is the game that kicks off the final month of the regular season, a win against Pitt would be a real shot in the arm for the Cardinal.
Stanford will then hit the road one final time to face North Carolina on Saturday, November 8th. Kickoff time is TBD. North Carolina is coming off a season in which they went 6-7 overall and 3-5 in the ACC. With the legendary Bill Belichick now at the helm in his first season as head coach, the Tarheels hope to have a new lease on life, picked to finish 8th in the ACC. Stanford had an amazing win at Colorado a couple years ago, who was and still is coached by an NFL legend in Deion Sanders. They’ve certainly shown they are not afraid of facing big name coaches and if anything, the fact that they are facing against Bill Belichick will likely get the Cardinal even more fired up.
Stanford will then get one more bye week as they won’t play the weekend of November 15th. That will once again give them a chance to heal up and reflect on how the season has gone. With two rivalry games left on the schedule, there will plenty for the Cardinal to play for even if the wins and losses aren’t what they want it to be.
After getting a week off, Stanford will welcome Cal to The Farm on Saturday, November 22nd for Big Game. Kickoff time is TBD. The Golden Bears went 6-7 overall and 2-6 in the ACC last season, currently picked to finish 15th in the ACC. They continue to play mediocre football and hey, mediocre is better than what Stanford has been the last four seasons.
With Jaydn Ott and seemingly the entire running back room from last year gone, Cal is going to be a very different looking team. They also have a true freshman starting at quarterback in Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who is coming in with a lot of buzz. The hot seat for head coach Justin Wilcox might in fact be real this year, so there’s going to be a lot on the line for Wilcox in this game. Stanford has to see a real opportunity here to reclaim The Stanford Axe for the first time since 2020.
Finally, Stanford will wrap things up on Saturday, November 29th at home against No. 6 Notre Dame. The Irish went 14-2 overall last season, demolishing Stanford 49-7 in their meeting in South Bend before losing to Ohio State in the national championship game after an impressive run in the College Football Playoff.
Stanford last defeated Notre Dame in 2022 in a 16-14 shocking victory that left many people wondering if head coach Marcus Freeman was the right man to lead the Irish. Freeman has stayed at Notre Dame and done well since then as he has the Irish knocking on the door of a national title. This will be a challenging game for Stanford, but with it being at home and on senior day, they should be plenty fired up. This game could have a lot more on the line than just the Legends Trophy. If all goes as well for Stanford as I think it possibly could, perhaps a win in this game would give them bowl eligibility. As for Notre Dame, a loss in this game could have huge implications on their playoff status. This is always a fun game to end the season with, but even more fun if both teams are playing for something beyond the trophy.
Takeaways: This is a very strong schedule for Stanford in terms of the quality of opponents. Three opponents are ranked in the AP Top 25 entering the season and a couple more are knocking on the door. There really isn’t any easy opponent on the schedule for Stanford. Every week they better be prepared to bring their A-game. Part of that of course is a function of not playing an FCS school, but just in general, one could easily look at the schedule and have Stanford be underdogs in all of these games.
One other thing to note is that Stanford will be playing in five different time zones: Hawaii-Aleutian, Mountain, Central, Eastern, and of course Pacific. That means they’ll be covering a lot of ground geographically. All that travel will be challenging, but having the Hawaii game be a Week 0 game helps as they’ll get a bye after that and then after flying to Provo, Utah to face BYU (Mountain), they’ll return home. So, the order in which they hit all these time zones is about as manageable as you could ask it to be.
Lastly, while it is a strong schedule, one thing that does help is the first five games collectively have opportunities for the Cardinal to rack up some wins. A 5-0 or 4-1 start I think is too much to ask, but a 3-2 start to the season is certainly doable. If the Cardinal hit their third win of the season before the month of October, that would give them a lot of confidence heading into what will be a much tougher slate of games.
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