Preview: Stanford Football opens up 2025 season at Hawaii
On Saturday at 4:30 PM PT (1:30 PM HT) on CBS, Stanford football will open up their 2025 season on the road at Hawaii. With most teams starting their season the weekend of August 30th, Stanford is playing in Week 0 and will thus not play the following weekend in Week 1.
VIDEO: Stanford Football Weekly Press Conference: Hawaii
READ: Five questions going into the 2025 Stanford Football season
On Hawaii: The Rainbow Warriors went 5-7 overall and 3-4 in the Mountain West last season. As a team, the Warriors averaged 22.3 points per game while giving up 26.0 points per game. They averaged 282.2 passing yards and 97.7 rushing yards per game last season, so they’re more of a passing team. Their head coach is Timmy Chang, who has been their head coach since 2022. He has a career record of 13-25.
Their starting quarterback is redshirt freshman Micah Alejado, who went 49-70 for 585 yards, six touchdowns, and zero interceptions last season in four games played. Alejado got his feet wet last season, preserved his redshirt, and now gets the chance to lead his team.
In the backfield for the Warriors is senior running back Landon Sims and junior running back Cam Barfield. Both guys will look to carry the load on that front. Sims rushed for 351 yards and one touchdown on 71 carries last season while Barfield rushed for 158 yards on 33 carries.
The top wide receiver on the Warriors is senior Nick Cenacle, who had 63 receptions for 721 yards and six touchdowns last season. Junior Pofele Ashlock also had six receiving touchdowns on 61 receptions for 629 yards. The two of them are by far and away the top receiving targets on the team, so the Cardinal will really need to contain them. One former Cardinal receiver is on the team in sophomore Jackson Harris, who had three receptions for 19 yards and one touchdown last season. Harris will look to have a bigger role on the Warriors this season.
The top tackler for the Warriors last season is back in junior linebacker Jamih Otis, who had a team-high 55 combined tackles (39 solo) to go along with five tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks. The co-top pass rusher from last season is also back in senior defensive lineman Jackie Johnson III. Johnson had 20 combined tackles (13 solo) to go along with 5.0 sacks and five tackles for loss. Also on the defensive line for the Warriors is Aiden McComber, brother of Stanford freshman linebacker Landon McComber. So this will be a fun weekend for the McComber family, I’m sure.
The only player with multiple interceptions last year for the Warriors was cornerback Cam Stone, who had two. Suffice to say, ball hawking isn’t a strength of this Warriors team. At least it wasn’t last year as they had just six interceptions in 12 games, averaging 0.5 interceptions per game.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is simply take care of the ball. In addition to only having six interceptions last year as a defense, the Warriors also had only five fumble recoveries. They’re not great at forcing turnovers. Stanford has to make sure that trend continues. If Hawaii is able to force some turnovers, that will give them an edge that they’re not used to having.
As a quick extension of that, Stanford needs to force some turnovers of their own. They’ve been preaching three turnovers a practice. Now is their chance to show what they’ve been working so hard on. Their pass rush better deliver. With it being a homecoming for outside linebacker Teva Tafiti, he in particular should look to make some noise.
Secondly, Stanford needs to win their one-on-one matchups. From what wide receiver Caden High was telling me this week, it sounds like Hawaii plays a lot of man. That means it’s going to come down to who wins those one-on-one matchups. It’s really that simple.
Third, Stanford needs to execute in the red zone. Like many teams that struggle, Stanford has had a hard time making plays in the red zone these past few years. That needs to change this year. They’ve made that a major point of emphasis in fall camp and that needs to translate over to game time.
Starting quarterback Ben Gulbranson by all accounts did a nice job of that in fall camp. That was a major reason why he won the starting job. One guy who he should look to target in the red zone is tight end Sam Roush. Roush is looking to have a big season and the red zone is where he’s going to look to make plays.
Finally, Stanford needs to make sure they are the less penalized team. This is expected to be a close game. Whichever team plays the cleaner game and commits fewer penalties will have an advantage in this game.
Prediction: This is a game I could see going either way. Given Stanford should have the superior roster and talent coupled with the fact that they defeated Hawaii 37-24 a couple years ago on the road, I’ll give Stanford the edge. 28-24 Cardinal is how I see this one shaking out. It should be a good game.
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