The nightcap of College Football's Week 0 came as two programs that desperately need the momentum of a season opening win as the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors hosted the Stanford Cardinal. Timmy Chang and the Rainbow Warriors got arguably the biggest win of his tenure as their Head Coach winning on a walk off field goal.
Andrew Luck and Frank Reich had to piece this team together on the fly and while everyone expects this team to be terrible, they had every chance to win this game. The Stanford Cardinal are going to be at a steep talent disadvantage in almost every game they play this season but, on Saturday Night it was clear where their biggest issue lies.
This offseason, Stanford brought in Oregon State transfer Ben Gulbranson to fill the void at quarterback. It was clear on Saturday Night that he's not going to be the player that leads this team on a turnaround season as he completed just 15 of his 30 attempts for 109 yards and an interception with just 3.63 yards per attempt.
Gulbranson's interception came at the worst possible time as Stanford was trying to run time off of the clock and turning the ball over ended up costing them in the end.
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
The part that makes Stanford's loss is that they got the contributions they needed from everyone else on the team and that may not be the case most games. Running Back Micah Ford was incredible constantly breaking tackles on his way to picking up 113 yards and a touchdown. The defense came through and helped the offense out with a fumble recovered for a touchdown while allowing just 20 points.
Stanford doesn't have a deep quarterback room but, Redshirt Freshman Elijah Brown may be worth giving a chance. The Cardinal will have next week off to prepare before they take on a BYU team that is always strong on defense.
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