Stanford Football Ready to Rebound After Tough Loss to Hawaii

Back to the drawing board. Coming off of a 23-20 loss to Hawaii in Week Zero, Stanford football returns to the practice field this week where they will look to put their opening week woes behind them. Now on a bye week, the Cardinal will use the week off to regroup and regain focus so that they can avoid an 0-2 start and get into the win column.

Interim head coach Frank Reich met with the media on Monday following the weekend's loss and spoke on the state of affairs within the program, ranging from troubles in the passing game to the team's prep for BYU in Week Two. Here are the takeaways from Reich's press conference on Aug. 25.

The passing game was a major problem

All throughout the game, the Cardinal showed promise in a variety of areas, particularly in the run game and defensively. But when it came to moving the ball through the air, the Cardinal struggled mightily, which was a major contributor to their late game collapse that led to the 23-20 loss.

Starting quarterback Ben Gulbranson only completed 15 out of his 30 pass attempts for 109 yards and an interception in his debut game for Stanford.

"We were not good enough in the passing game," Reich said. "Three point something yards per attempt, not that it's all about the stats, but we need to do better. I think we only gave up the one sack, had a couple of times where we're pressured and Ben did a good job of throwing the ball away.

"I thought most of the game the protection was decent, but we did have our lapses, like what I alluded to earlier, which we cannot have. So we got to be more consistent there and then, as I mentioned earlier, when we have the opportunities for those big, 10, 20, 30 yard plays, we've got to make them. And we left about three or four of those out there that we should have easily converted and didn't."

Gulbranson won the starting job over guys like Elijah Brown and Dylan Rizk because of a strong camp but if he does not improve next game and struggles to help Stanford's offense, a change could be coming sooner rather than later.

BYU prep will be incorporated into this week

Stanford may be on a bye week, but that does not mean that they are not looking ahead to the next game. In fact, while the Cardinal work on adjustments from the Hawaii game, they will also incorporate some prep for BYU so that they can get ahead of the curve and be ready come game time.

"Yes, it is both," Reich said. "I would say it's 75% about us. Let's do what we're doing better, make the corrections that we have to make from the game. About 25% of it is advanced stuff on BYU."

BYU will be a very big game and with a matchup against two former Stanford signees in Tiger Bachmeier and Bear Bachmeier, Stanford will want to make sure that it plays its best game so that it gets into the win column and heads into the bulk of the season with major momentum.

Stanford could be getting much healthier in time for BYU

For the most part, Stanford was healthy going into the Hawaii game but once the game was over, some guys were banged up. But the advantage of having a bye week is that it gives each player extra time to recover and a chance to be ready for the game against BYU in Provo.

For the Cardinal, a few players are banged up, but Reich and Co. are confident that those players, such as safety Scotty Edwards, will return for Week Two.

"We're going to take this week to just reaffirm," Reich said. "Guys like Scotty [Edwards] and the like, just double down and make sure they're ready. I think we got about three or four guys in that category that we're optimistic could be ready for BYU. But we don't need to make that decision right now this week, so we'll continue. We'll be patient with our progression."

Stanford can be patient with its players this week given the week off, and with a gauntlet of a schedule coming up, the program does not want to take any chances and risk losing key players long term.

Expect a running back by committee approach for this season

One position of strength for the Cardinal this season is at running back, with multiple players expected to play some sort of role in the running game.

While Micah Ford took a majority of the carries and is expected to be the team's workhorse, Reich is leaning towards using a running back by committee approach and will likely mean that many of the other Cardinal ball carriers, such as Chris Davis, Cole Tabb, and Sedrick Irvin, will contribute significantly to the offense.

"I've always been a running back by committee guy," Reich said. "There's always typically a quote, unquote, a lead dog. And for right now, Micah is that guy, but you guys know, it's no secret. And as you saw in the game, we had 43 rushing attempts. If Micah is touching the ball 20 plus times, 20-25 times, and those other guys are getting their five to 10 carries, I think that's a pretty good mix.

"You got one lead dog, you want him to get 20 carries, and then you want the other guys to kind of mix in there, keeps everybody fresh."

Stanford will want to lean into its strengths this season and with running back being a strong group, keeping their stars healthy while getting other guys involved could prove to be a smart move.