Frank Reich explains what ‘shocked’ him about Stanford’s stinging loss to Hawaii

Frank Reich is glad that he and the Stanford football unit have an extra week to prepare for their next nonconference challenge early next month when the Cardinal tour to Provo to face BYU As Reich Stanford s interim coach tries to help solve certain of the issues that have plagued the Cardinal over the last four seasons there are as expected a sparse issues that need to be cleaned up That was evident Saturday as Stanford had its share of inconsistencies on offense and suffered late lapses on the defensive side in a - season-opening loss to Hawaii in Honolulu on Saturday in the first contest of the Reich Andrew Luck era Stanford held a - lead with less than minutes left in the fourth quarter after sophomore running back Micah Ford capped a punishing -play -yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run But Hawaii responded with two field goals one after Cardinal quarterback Ben Gulbranson threw an interception and another on the final play of the battle after a Stanford three-and-out Kansei Matsuzawa hit a -yard field goal as time expired to give Hawaii its first win over a power conference opponent since It only gets tougher from here for Stanford which after a bye week plays at BYU on Sept 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 explained Reich who Luck the activity s GM hired in late March It stings for all of us But the message really to the band was we put in all that work but not for one meeting It s a long season Takeaways from Stanford s loss PASSING ISSUES It appears the strength of Stanford s offense will be its running encounter as their top three backs Ford Sedrick Irvin and Cole Tabb behind a revamped offensive line combined for yards on carries against Hawaii The fourth quarter sum by Ford who had yards snapped Stanford s streak of straight games without a rushing touchdown with the last one coming in a - loss to Arizona on Sept It was clear Reich trusted the running challenge more than the passing competition as Gulbranson completed just of passes for a disappointing yards On what could have been a game-sealing drive in the fourth quarter with Stanford up - Gulbranson on first down didn t put enough arc on a pass intended for Jordan Onovughe and was intercepted in the backfield by Hawaii DB Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen with left Just got to do a better job of understanding the situation there Gulbranson reported I m going to take responsibility for this one I ve got to execute at a higher level We re up by three really thinking listen we re not playing it safe to kick a field goal Reich mentioned 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 liked the running battle but stated That better not be all we can do We re going to have to be a whole lot better in the pass tournament 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 disappointed in the pass protection for Gulbranson although Hawaii only recorded one sack PENALTY WOES Stanford is not good enough to overcome yards in penalties especially three -yarders on defense on one drive Hawaii s second touchdown drive which covered 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 Clay Patterson who blew up a flea flicker play by the Rainbow Warriors by sacking quarterback Micah 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 Two plays later Hawaii was in the end zone and took a - 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 defense made specific nice plays including on Hawaii s first offensive play when Patterson strip-sacked Alejado with Wilfredo Aybar recovering the loose ball in the end zone which gave Stanford a - lead after the extra point Related Articles Last-second field goal sinks Stanford in first tournament of Reich Luck era What channel is televising the Stanford-Hawaii college football challenge On media Where and when to find Big games on ESPN Fox and TNT this season Stanford football What to know about the Cardinal s season opener at Hawaii CFB recruiting The five biggest games for talent acquisition on the West Coast this season Alejado was sacked four times but looked like a veteran as he carved Stanford over Hawaii s final two drives completing of passes for yards He finished of for yards He was client He s accurate Reich noted of Alejado They have a good scheme It s a unique scheme that run-and-shoot offense and that short to intermediate passing encounter is tough to handle HARSH REALITY Hawaii played well but almost every association Stanford faces from here on out will likely be just as good if not better These next two weeks will be huge for Reich and his staff to iron out his club s issues on both sides of the ball otherwise it could be another brutal year 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 region and for the alumni Reich reported 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