Last-second field goal sinks Stanford in first game of Reich/Luck era

The Stanford football team was unable to hold onto a fourth-quarter lead as Hawaii kicked two late field goals, including one as time expired, to hand the Cardinal a bitter 23-20 loss in the first game of the Frank Reich/Andrew Luck era.

After the Cardinal failed to get a first down on a drive that began with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, Rainbow Warriors quarterback Micah Alejado, a redshirt freshman, drove his team 51 yards on eight plays before Kansei Matsuzawa kicked a 38-yard field goal on the game’s final play.

With the win, Hawaii beat a power conference opponent for the first time since opening the 2019 season with back-to-back victories over then-Pac-12 teams Arizona and Oregon State.

Playing its first game under interim coach Reich, whom Luck, the first-year GM, hired in March, the Cardinal jumped out to a double-digit lead but was largely inconsistent on offense in the second half. But Stanford took a 20-17 lead after putting together a 20-play drive, in which it ran the ball 15 times, in the fourth quarter, capped by Micah Ford’s two-yard touchdown run with 9:47 left.

After Cardinal quarterback Ben Gulbranson was intercepted by Hawaii defensive back Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen with 6:01 to go, the Rainbow Warriors drove deep into Stanford territory before Matsuzawa kicked a 37-yard field goal with 2:01 left in regulation to tie the game at 20.

Regardless, it was evident under the bright sun at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex that Stanford has a long way to go before it can begin to replicate the Luck-era Cardinal teams that went 23-3 from 2010 to 2021.

Stanford finished with just 286 yards of offense, including 155 yards in the second half, as it lost a one-possession game for the fifth time since the start of last season, when it finished 3-9. Gulbranson was 15 of 30 passing for 109 yards and one interception.

Stanford dominated the time of possession (20:38) in the first half, going on three clock-eating drives, but still trailed 14-13 after two quarters due to defensive miscues and costly penalties.

Emmet Kenney kicked a 23-yard field goal with 7:13 to go in the first quarter before Hawaii returner Brandon White mistakenly called for a fair catch on the ensuing kickoff after the ball had already bounced on the field.

That gave Hawaii the ball on the 1-yard line, and on first down, Clay Patterson strip-sacked Alejado, with Wilfredo Aybar recovering the loose ball in the end zone, which gave Stanford a 10-0 lead after the extra point.

But the Rainbow Warriors steadied their run-and-shoot offense, and Alejado threw two touchdown passes, a 3-yarder to Pofele Ashlock with 2:19 left in the first quarter on a six-play drive, and a 19-yarder to Jackson Harris, a Berkeley native and transfer from Stanford, with 48 seconds to go in the second quarter.

Hawaii’s second touchdown drive, which covered 75 yards, came with plenty of help from Stanford, which was assessed unsportsmanlike conduct, a face mask, and unnecessary roughness penalties on the possession.

The costliest of those penalties was the unsportsmanlike call on Patterson, who blew up a flea flicker play by the Rainbow Warriors by sacking Alejado, but danced after the play and was called excessive celebration. What would have been a second and long for Hawaii turned into a first down at the Cardinal 21.

Even before Saturday, though, Reich, Luck, and everyone else associated with the Stanford football program know they’ll face enormous challenges this season.

Reich was hired on March 31, just six days after Luck dismissed Troy Taylor after reports emerged that Taylor had allegedly mistreated staffers. That left Reich, who has six years’ experience as an NFL head coach, including one season with Luck as his quarterback with the Indianapolis Colts.

They’re both now charged with breathing new life into a moribund football program that has gone 3-9 in four consecutive seasons.

Luck has even taken part in on-field drills with the Cardinal offense, an obvious sign of his passion for the program.

“We’ve had a lot of fun working together, but really it started to shine even more once we got out there for training camp,” Reich said Monday. “Him being out on the field as much as he was and letting the team feel his presence on the field and in the meeting room. He’d pick his spots to address the team.

“I just felt like it had a major impact. When he’s out on the field, you just feel his presence, and I think it really lifts the whole program.”

The Cardinal saw a ton of players transfer out, notably wide receivers Emmett Mosley V (Texas) and Tiger Bachmeier (BYU). Mosley had 48 receptions and 525 receiving yards last season to lead all ACC freshmen, to go with six touchdowns.

Stanford saw a program record 17 transfers into the school, including Gulbranson, who spent the past five seasons at Oregon State and was named the Cardinal’s starter earlier this week. Other offensive transfers include offensive linemen Niki Prongos (UCLA), Nick Fattig (Texas Tech), and receiver C.J. Williams (Wisconsin).

Last season, Stanford averaged just 323.9 yards per game, which ranked 16th out of 17 teams in the ACC.

The Cardinal also ranked 16th in defensive yards per game (413.5), and not surprisingly, went 2-6 in its first season in its new conference. Stanford was picked to finish last in the ACC in the conference’s preseason media poll and was a slight underdog against Hawaii on Saturday.