Frank Reich is glad that he and the Stanford soccer staff have an additional week to organize for his or her subsequent nonconference recreation early subsequent month when the Cardinal journey to Provo to face BYU.
As Reich, Stanford’s interim coach, tries to assist clear up among the points which have plagued the Cardinal over the past 4 seasons, there are, as anticipated, just a few points that have to be cleaned up.
That was evident Saturday as Stanford had its share of inconsistencies on offense and suffered late lapses on the defensive aspect in a 23-20 season-opening loss to Hawaii in Honolulu on Saturday within the first recreation of the Reich/Andrew Luck period.
Stanford held a 20-17 lead with lower than 10 minutes left within the fourth quarter after sophomore working again Micah Ford capped a punishing 20-play, 85-yard drive with a two-yard landing run.
However Hawaii responded with two discipline objectives, one after Cardinal quarterback Ben Gulbranson threw an interception and one other on the ultimate play of the sport after a Stanford three-and-out. Kansei Matsuzawa hit a 38-yard discipline objective as time expired to offer Hawaii its first win over an influence convention opponent since 2019.
It solely will get more durable from right here for Stanford, which, after a bye week, performs at BYU on Sept. 6.
“We came in off of what I felt like was a very good week of practice, a very good six months of preparation and hard work, so this hurts,” stated Reich, who Luck, this system’s GM, employed in late March. “It stings for all of us. But the message really to the team was we put in all that work, but not for one game. It’s a long season.”
Takeaways from Stanford’s loss:
PASSING ISSUES: It seems the power of Stanford’s offense can be its working recreation, as their prime three backs, Ford, Sedrick Irvin, and Cole Tabb, behind a revamped offensive line, mixed for 185 yards on 40 carries in opposition to Hawaii. The fourth quarter rating by Ford, who had 113 yards, snapped Stanford’s streak of 20 straight video games with no speeding landing, with the final one coming in a 21-20 loss to Arizona on Sept. 23, 2023.
It was clear Reich trusted the working recreation greater than the passing recreation, as Gulbranson accomplished simply 15 of 30 passes for a disappointing 109 yards. On what may have been a game-sealing drive within the fourth quarter with Stanford up 20-17, Gulbranson, on first down, didn’t put sufficient arc on a cross supposed for Jordan Onovughe, and was intercepted within the backfield by Hawaii DB Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen with 5:58 left.
“Just got to do a better job of understanding the situation there,” Gulbranson stated. “I’m going to take accountability for this one. I’ve bought to execute at the next stage.”
“We’re up by three really thinking, listen, we’re not playing it safe to kick a field goal,” Reich stated. “We had another kind of play pass, and what I felt was a very safe call play pass. Put a guy in a flat, and their defender made an unbelievable play, so you just got to give him credit.”
Reich favored the working recreation, however stated, “That better not be all we can do. We’re going to have to be a whole lot better in the pass game. … Honestly, I thought we’d have a bigger day in the pass, so I’m kind of shocked by it.”
Reich added that he was upset within the cross safety for Gulbranson, though Hawaii solely recorded one sack.
PENALTY WOES: Stanford shouldn’t be adequate to beat 70 yards in penalties, particularly three 15-yarders on protection on one drive.
Hawaii’s second landing drive, which coated 75 yards, got here with loads of assist from Stanford, which was assessed unsportsmanlike conduct, a face masks, and pointless roughness penalties on the possession.
The most costly of these penalties was the unsportsmanlike name on Clay Patterson, who blew up a flea flicker play by the Rainbow Warriors by sacking quarterback Micah Alejado, however danced after the play and was referred to as extreme celebration. What would have been a second and lengthy for Hawaii became a primary down on the Cardinal 21.
Two performs later, Hawaii was ultimately zone and took a 14-13 lead with the PAT.
“We want to play with a lot of passion. We encourage that,” Reich stated. “I want guys celebrating and celebrating with each other, but there is a line that can’t be crossed, and we talked about that. And we crossed it … and it cost us points.”
Stanford’s protection made some good performs, together with on Hawaii’s first offensive play, when Patterson strip-sacked Alejado, with Wilfredo Aybar recovering the free ball ultimately zone, which gave Stanford a 10-0 lead after the additional level.
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Alejado was sacked 4 occasions however seemed like a veteran as he carved Stanford over Hawaii’s remaining two drives, finishing 8 of 12 passes for 87 yards. He completed 27 of 39 for 210 yards.
“He was patient. He’s accurate,” Reich stated of Alejado. “They have a good scheme. It’s a unique scheme, that run-and-shoot offense and that short to intermediate passing game is tough to handle.”
HARSH REALITY: Hawaii performed properly, however virtually each staff Stanford faces from right here on out will doubtless be simply pretty much as good, if not higher. These subsequent two weeks can be big for Reich and his workers to iron out his staff’s points on each side of the ball; in any other case, it might be one other brutal 12 months on the Farm.
“We worked very hard in the six months that we’ve been here to put on a good show for the Stanford community and for the alumni,” Reich stated. “So disappointed in the start, that’s not going to get us down. We’re excited for the rest of the year. There’s a lot of football left. We’ve got a bye week next week, so what a great opportunity to take this film and learn from and get a whole lot better.”
