For some, college football’s dwarfed “Week 0” slate is a cruel tease before the true start to the season, but for some others, it’s an appetizer that often packs a punch worthy of holding you over, and I’d say this year’s edition better fits the latter.
From North Carolina-TCU to Memphis-UNLV, Aug. 29 has all kinds of storylines, whether they pertain to prominent programs (several at the P4 level), make-or-break coaching arcs, post-realignment rebirths, or a mixture of such. The day’s weakest link by those metrics would have to be Hawaii’s trip to Stanford.
The Rainbow Warriors are coming off a good season, but it’s just one after several stinkers. As for the Cardinal, they are also coming off their best season in years, but it only amounted to 4-8, making them the furthest thing from prominence.
So, with some of the other guys/implications on the agenda, this pairing may not seem like anything special—but isn’t that exactly what you thought this time last year?
Many shrugged off Stanford’s 2025 date with Hawaii because neither team was some colossal head-turner, but that mutual ugliness ended up being precisely what gave the game an unpredictable flair. Long story short, fans all over were taken aback by how tight the game ultimately was.
I know the Rainbow Warriors have only gotten better since that 23-20 win (which they could’ve taken by more, by the way), just as I know that Stanford has yet another face debuting at head coach, which only resets the little progress it had made toward foundational solidity. But let’s look at things a bit more optimistically, shall we?
By kicking off under new leadership, the Cardinal make for a challenger that’s all the harder to study for. Now, combine that with the facts that the game’s taking place in Stanford and that it’s already never easy for a G6 school to open with a bigger fish. Sounds a bit closer to call when you put it like that, huh?
I’ll take Hawaii to pull it out, but I see it being done with a late score, preceded by what will be another all-time classic—hideous in all the right ways as one of the G6’s finest dreamers and one of the P4’s cursed rejects slug out each other’s inevitable rustiness.
Especially when grading on the “Week 0” curve, that game is, without question, one to circle for this weekend. So hear me, America, and hear me now: do not make the error you made last season and once again pass on this matchup, because if it won’t tell you that college football is back, nothing will.
Add us as a preferred source on Google