Andrew Luck has overseen an unprecedented amount of movement in his first season as Stanford’s general manager.

The Cardinal welcomed 17 transfers for the 2025 season, more than all in previous seasons combined (14), and Luck hired his former coach with the Indianapolis Colts, Frank Reich, to take over on an interim basis after Troy Taylor was fired just before spring camp.

A national audience will now see if it was enough to turn around a team that has finished 3-9 in each of the past four seasons when the Cardinal will face Hawaii Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on CBS.

Expectations aren’t high — Stanford was picked to finish last in the 17-team ACC in the conference’s preseason media poll, and the Cardinal is a slight underdog against their Mountain West opponent on Saturday. Here are the keys for the Cardinal to get off to a winning start:

DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
The most notable transfer is sixth-year QB Ben Gulbranson, who made 12 starts in five years at Oregon State and put off medical school to play a final season at Stanford.

Gulbranson’s experience – he was 7-1 as a starter in 2022 – helped him win the starting job over redshirt freshman Elijah Brown. But the Ventura County native has had less than four months with the program since arriving after spring camp.

Stanford University quarterback Ben Gulbrandson (15) takes part in football practice on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Palo Alto, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group) 

“I think it’s just a lot of change really fast, and really the No. 1 challenge is trying to become familiar with the playbook and get that down,” Gulbranson said. “I want to get to a point where it just comes automatically, and that takes time.”

WR TARGETS

Gulbranson will have a brand new set of targets, as Stanford and Utah State are the only teams in the country returning one or fewer receptions from their wide receivers.

The expected starters are Wisconsin transfer CJ Williams, South Carolina State transfer Caden High, and speedy sixth-year Bryce Farrell, who missed most of last season due to injury.

They will need to make up for the loss of Tennessee Titans receiver Elic Ayomanor and transfers Emmett Mosley V (Texas), Ismael Cisse (Arkansas) and Mudia Reuben (South Florida).

Gulbranson will have one of the top tight ends in the conference in senior Sam Roush, who was third on the team last year in receptions (40) and receiving yards (344).

Stanford tight end Sam Roush (86) runs on the field during the first half of an NCAA football game against Syracuse on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024 in Syracuse, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus) 

But freshman JonAnthony Hall, a unanimous four-star recruit from Indiana, is likely unavailable Saturday due to an injury suffered during fall camp.

PASS DEFENSE

Stanford ranked 131st out of 134 FBS teams in passing yards allowed (280.6) last season, and now must face a pass-happy Hawaii offense led by redshirt freshman Micah Alejado.

In Alejado’s only start last season, the finale against New Mexico, he became the only FBS player to throw for 450 yards and run for 50 yards in a game that season. He finished with 469 passing yards and five TDs.

Alejado’s targets this season include Stanford transfer Jackson Harris, Kentucky transfer Brandon White, and all-Mountain West selections Pofele Ashlock and Nick Cenacle.

While the Cardinal doesn’t have any players who received all-conference recognition – defensive end David Bailey, their most highly-regarded player, transferred to Texas Tech after Taylor was fired – they do have new leadership in co-defensive coordinator Andy Thompson, who had succeeded Taylor as the coach at Sacramento State.

“Not going to spoil anything right now, but we’re going to be really physical in the run game and the pass game, and I can’t wait to show it on week zero,” Cardinal edge Tevarau Tafiti said.

HOT WEATHER

Reich is hoping that his depth will help get through a mid-day game where the expected conditions are 87 degrees with moderate humidity.

“We want to spread the ball around, we want to rotate guys in and out,” Reich said. “We want to get everybody on the field. It doesn’t always happen, but that’s what you’re going in and trying to do, especially in Hawaii, where it’ll be hot and humid.”

The game will be played at the 15,000-seat Ching Complex while Aloha Stadium is being rebuilt. Stanford does have recent experience there – the Cardinal won its 2023 season opener at Hawaii 37-24.

“We have a great sports science staff who put a lot of effort,” Reich said. “We want the players to just focus on football, the game plan, and how we’re preparing to execute there. And then try to take the travel and the time difference and the heat, humidity, just take that out of the equation the best we can. Take all the right steps to prepare for that and then just go play football.”