Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors at Stanford Cardinal

Stanford gets a late TD from Micah Ford to avoid a 4th quarter collapse in 37-27 win vs Hawaii

“It’s been a theme throughout our entire early goings together through the offseason, in the spring, up until training camp is how we finished,” Pritchard said. “We finished tonight.”

Davis Warren threw for 310 yards and one touchdown in his debut for the Cardinal and engineered the game-winning drive after Hawaii had scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to turn a 23-7 deficit into a 27-23 lead.

But instead of the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in school history, the Rainbow Warriors fell just short of beating the Cardinal for the second straight year in the season opener with the final attempt at a comeback ending when Micah Alejado fumbled and Tevarua Tafiti returned it 31 yards for the game-sealing touchdown.

Warren made his first start since finishing the 2024 season at Michigan with wins over Ohio State and Alabama. He sat out last season with a knee injury and then transferred to Stanford where he won the starting job this summer.

He went 22 for 34, committed no turnovers and set a career high in yards passing. He threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Atticus Joseph and set up Ford's first two TD runs with long passes, connecting on a 57-yarder to JonAnthony Hall and a 48-yard deep strike to freshman Zion Robinson to the Hawaii 4 on Stanford's first drive of the second half.

He then went 5 for 5 for 58 yards on the game-winning drive.

“I’m just happy that we have a quarterback that can lead us through that and stay poised in that type of situation because it’s definitely not easy,” Ford said.

Alejado went 30 for 50 for 269 yards and two TDs that both came during the fourth quarter comeback. His 29-yarder to DeVon Rice had given Hawaii a 27-23 lead with 4:06 to play.

The Takeaway Hawaii: A sloppy start to the second half on special teams proved costly for the Rainbow Warriors. A botched fair catch on the opening kick of the second half led to a drive starting at the 6. Hawaii couldn't generate a first down and Charlie Eckhardt blocked a punt for a safety.

Stanford: The first game under Pritchard was an exciting one with the Cardinal passing game looking sharp with Warren running a balanced attack. There were five pass catchers with at least 40 yards receiving.

Up Next Hawaii hosts UNLV on Saturday.

Stanford hosts No. 7 Miami on Friday.

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