This offseason when the Stanford Cardinal had to fire Head Coach Troy Taylor at the end of March, it sent the program into a scramble. General Manager Andrew Luck got his first attempt at hiring a Head Coach and he turned to his former Head Coach Frank Reich to lead the Cardinal. Reich was available for Luck and Stanford as he was fired by the Carolina Panthers in his first season after going 1-10.
On Saturday Night, Frank Reich may have proved that he's not cut out to coach at the College level either as the Cardinal lost 23-20 to Hawaii. While Stanford didn't play a perfect game, Frank Reich should shoulder all of the blame for how badly he managed this game especially when it mattered most.
After Micah Ford scored the first rushing touchdown for Stanford since 2023, the Cardinal held a 3 point lead with just under ten minutes left to hold off Hawaii. When the defense forced a punt giving Stanford the ball back with the lead, based on how well Ford was rushing the team had a great chance to chew off time.
A massive play by Ben Gulbranson and Chico Holt was followed by a 17 yard run by Micah Ford which set the Cardinal up on the Hawaii 24 with just over 6 minutes to play. Rather than continuing to work time off of the clock, Frank Reich called a passing play which hadn't worked all day and Ben Gulbranson threw a pick right to a defender coming off of the edge.
Just when you thought Stanford was going to take control Hawaii gets a crazy interception and they are back in business. pic.twitter.com/xLFjLPRV0T
— The Get Back Coach (@TheGBCoach) August 24, 2025
After the interception, Hawaii went on a 10 play 50 yard drive which ended in a made field goal giving Stanford back the football tied at 20. The Cardinal got the ball just before the two-minute timeout and had a 2nd and 7 after the break. Rather than either running a screen pass to ensure a completion or running which had worked all day and would've kepr the clock running, Frank Reich opted for passes on back to back plays both of which were incomplete.
The decision to pass twice was such a massive blunder on Frank Reich's part as Hawaii was able to keep it's two timeouts while it also kept a ton of time on the clock. Frank Reich's clock mismanagement especially hurt the team as Hawaii was able to go on a clutch 9 play 52 yard drive making a 38 yard field goal to secure the victory.
The other part that doesn't make sense is why Frank Reich never opted to use any of his timeouts. The Cardinal had three timeouts and could've started to use them once Hawaii got into scoring range to try and get the ball back but, they'll instead go home with a loss and two timeouts in their back pocket.
This Stanford team is going to be at a massive talent disadvantage in most of the games they play this season which makes it so important that they win the games where they have a great chance to win.
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