On Friday at 8:00 PM PT on CBS Sports Network and KNBR Radio, Stanford football will open up their season on the road at Hawaii. This will be the first game of the Troy Taylor era, making it an historical game for the Cardinal program.
READ: Stanford Football Depth Chart: Hawaii
READ: Breaking down the 2023 Stanford football schedule
On Hawaii: The Rainbow Warriors dropped their opener at Vanderbilt last week, losing by a final score of 35-28. Vanderbilt led 28-14 at the end of the 3rd quarter with Hawaii outscoring them 14-7 in the 4th. Hawaii junior quarterback Brayden Schager went 27-35 for 3 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and 351 yards. Were it not for those interceptions, Hawaii might have won the game.
Hawaii is coming off a dismal 3-10 season in which their only wins were over Duquesne, Nevada, and UNLV. Given how much they have struggled as of late, it’s hard to fathom that this program once played in the Sugar Bowl. But that was many moons ago.
Touching a bit more on their starting quarterback, Brayden Schager started 10 games last season, so he’s got plenty of experience. Redshirt freshman wide receiver Pofele Ashlock had a big-time performance last week against Vanderbilt, having 7 receptions for 127 yards and 1 touchdown. Senior wide receiver Steven McBride had a strong outing as well with 7 receptions for 98 yards and 2 touchdowns. On the ground, sophomore running back Landon Sims led the Warriors with 40 rushing yards, so it’s clear that this team is much more of a passing team.
Building off that, the Warriors are a very aggressive team that converted three of four 4th down conversions against Vanderbilt while not punting the entire game. That’s something Stanford is going to need to be ready for. Especially since Hawaii wasn’t so hot on 3rd down conversions (3-11).
Defensively, senior inside linebacker Isaiah Tufaga led the way for the Warriors with 8 tackles, all of which were solo while senior defensive lineman Andrew Choi had 7 tackles (6.0 solo). Those are two guys who will look to bring it on defense and disrupt the Cardinal offense.
Keys to the game: The first thing Stanford needs to do is force Hawaii into difficult 4th down decisions. The Rainbow Warriors aren’t going to want to punt, but if Stanford can force them into long 4th downs, that will at least up the odds of Hawaii punting and perhaps having to revert away from their more aggressive tactics. Even the most aggressive of teams have a hard time deciding to go for it on 4th and 5 or longer. If Stanford forces multiple 4th and 5 situations or longer, they should be in good shape.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is run the ball well. Regardless of who the starting quarterback is for Stanford, it’s going to be somebody who is new to the role. In such a game, the running game needs to be on. If E.J. Smith and Casey Filkins perform well along with the other backs, that’s going to make the Cardinal difficult to stop.
Finally, Stanford needs to use the element of surprise. Nobody has seen this Cardinal team before. They’ve seen the personnel and they’ve seen the schemes before, but not the combination of them together. This is a chance for Stanford to catch the Warriors off guard and surprise some people. If they do that, Stanford should be in a good spot to win this game.
Prediction: Given that Hawaii played Vanderbilt tougher than they did last year, this could end up being a pretty close game. I still gotta roll with Stanford to win 31-27, but if this game gets close, nobody should be surprised.
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