Stanford
Stanford Cardinal college sports coverage and analysis.
Stanford Cardinal
Stanford football and the rest of the Cardinal, covered from the Bay rather than from a wire desk. The 2026 story is a rebuild with an unusual structure: Andrew Luck is the general manager, Tavita Pritchard is the new head coach, and the season starts early with a Week 0 game against Hawaii on 29 August. Then the ACC, Notre Dame, and the Big Game against Cal in November.
Week 0: Hawaii, 29 August
The season opens at 4 p.m. PT on Saturday 29 August at Stanford Stadium, on the ACC Network, against a Hawaii side that beat the Cardinal 23-20 on the final play of this same fixture last August and then went 9-4 and won a bowl. The full preview is here, the rematch, both quarterback situations, and the four things that decide it.
Two pages carry the rest of the season and get updated as it moves: the schedule game by game, including the six-day turnaround into Miami and the four-week window where a bowl bid is actually won, and the season preview on what Pritchard inherited. Stanford holds the Axe after the 128th Big Game, and realignment explains why the road games are all three time zones away.
Reaction lands after the game is played, not before.
Latest coverage
Stanford Hands the Keys to Tavita Pritchard, and Andrew Luck Has to Live With It
A first-time head coach who used to hold the clipboard behind Andrew Luck, a quarterback coming off a knee injury, and a Week 0 kickoff.
Stanford Opens in Week 0 Against Hawaii, and Getting the Country to Itself Is the Whole Point
One game, one Saturday, and nothing else on the schedule to compete with it. For a programme that needs people to look again, the calendar just did it a favour.
Andrew Luck Is Running a Football Program, and the Rest of College Football Should Be Watching
A retired quarterback with a general manager title at his alma mater is either a vanity appointment or the first sane answer to what this sport became.
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