Stanford survives punch from Hawaii, faces quick week and top opponent Miami next

STANFORD – Stanford will have a lot to work on before No. 7 Miami visits The Farm on Friday. But there will also be a lot to celebrate.

The Cardinal gave up a 16-point fourth-quarter lead to Hawaii before scoring touchdowns on offense and defense in the final two minutes to pull out a wild 37-27 victory and give Tavita Pritchard a win in his head coaching debut Saturday at Stanford Stadium.

“When you think about even just playing on a short week, we know that we’re going to have to move on pretty quickly from this,” Pritchard said. “But our guys will take tonight and enjoy this.”

That includes some players who accomplished feats on Saturday that hadn’t been done since Heisman Trophy contenders regularly played for the program.

Davis Warren was the first Stanford quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards without an interception in the season opener since Andrew Luck; Micah Ford was the first Stanford running back to run for more than 90 yards with three touchdowns in a game since Bryce Love; and Atticus Joseph was the first Stanford player with 50 receiving yards and a TD in his debut since Christian McCaffrey.

“We got it in us, and now we know what our floor and what our ceiling are,” Ford said. “We have to learn to put the game away instead of making it hard for us, and we’ll figure out a way to get that fixed for sure for next week because we definitely are going to need it, definitely.”

Warren, a sixth-year senior, completed 22 of 34 passes for 310 yards and had four carries for 31 yards in his Stanford debut. Warren had never thrown for more than 204 yards at Michigan, where he started nine games in 2024. He tore his ACL at the end of that year and missed the entire 2025 season.

Warren was totally composed on the final drive. After Hawaii went up 27-23 with 4:06 to play, Davis completed all five of his passes for 58 yards.

“I’m just happy that we have a quarterback that’s able to lead us through that and stay poised in that type of situation, because it’s definitely not easy,” Ford said.

Three of the completions were to tight end Benji Blackburn, while freshman Liam Thorpe made a diving grab on the sideline that was upheld on review. Thorpe, Joseph and deep threat Zion Robinson, who caught a 48-yard pass, all played as true freshmen, while sophomore JonAnthony Hall, who played only 10 snaps last year before suffering a season-ending injury, had a 57-yard catch-and-run in the first quarter.

“I love the way that those guys compete, and so much about our receiver room is their ability to show up when the ball may or may not come their way in stretches, but they stay ready,” Pritchard said. “Every guy it felt like at different times had their number called, and they were ready.”

Having switched to a 4-3 alignment in the offseason under new defensive coordinator Kris Richard, the defense looked sharp at the outset, holding the run-and-shoot Hawaii offense to as many three-and-outs as points (seven) through nine possessions.

But the Rainbow Warriors, behind Mountain West Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Micah Alejado, stormed back in the fourth quarter with three touchdowns in nine minutes.

The comeback was reminiscent of its previous game, a 35-31 win over Cal in the Hawaii Bowl when Hawaii overcame a 21-point deficit.

But the Stanford defense forced the game’s only turnover to seal the win. On second-and-15 from the Hawaii 32, Zach Rowell stripped Alejado and Tevarua Tafiti returned the fumble 31 yards for a score with 1:12 to play.

Alejado finished 30 of 50 for 269 yards.

“I thought it was a matter of time until (Hawaii’s) timing and offense started to click,” Pritchard said. “Hats off to our defense that when it counted they got the stops that they needed and put the exclamation point on at the end.”

Fifth-year linebacker Matt Rose, the ACC’s second-leading tackler last season (106), had a team-high nine tackles on Saturday. Sophomore edge Gabe Kaminski had 1.5 sacks, and sophomore corner Lonnie McAllister III had six unassisted tackles and a forced fumble in his first start, and junior safety Charlie Eckhart blocked a Hawaii punt out of the end zone for a safety to start the second half.

The ending did mask some issues, including a depleted offensive line.

Niki Prongos, who started every game at left tackle last season, and Simione Pale, who was expected to start at right guard, both missed Saturday’s game with undisclosed injuries. Fifth-year center Aiden Kilstrom then injured his leg in the third quarter and needed to be carted into the locker room, which coincided with the start of Hawaii’s comeback.

But at least Stanford can worry about those concerns coming off a dramatic win.

“We’ll make our biggest jump from Game 1 to Game 2,” Pritchard said. “But really excited for our guys to get this first one under their belt.”