This was supposed to be a formality for Stanford. Instead the Cardinal spent the final 15 minutes watching Hawaii erase their lead in real time. Brett McMurphy had Hawaii up 23-21 early in the fourth after a missed 2-point conversion threatened to keep the door open for the Cardinal.
Aloha: Rainbow Warriors pull w/23-21 at Stanford, but can't convert 2-point conversion early 4th quarter
It didn't stay close for long. Hawaii kept scoring, and Stanford couldn't answer, with McMurphy's live updates showing the margin balloon possession by possession until the Rainbow Warriors were sitting on a 28-23 lead with just over 4 minutes left.
Hawaii has scored 21 straight points, now leading at Stanford 28-23 w/4:07 remaining
That's 21 unanswered points from a Hawaii team that had every reason to fold after Stanford built its early cushion. Adam Rittenberg summed up the swing in one line, crediting the quarter to Timmy Chang's group as the Rainbow Warriors turned a road trip to Stanford Stadium into a statement.
Quite a fourth quarter for Timmy Chang’s team 🔥🔥🔥
For Chang, this is starting to look like a pattern rather than a fluke. He's entering his fifth season at his alma mater coming off a 9-4 campaign, a Hawaii Bowl win over Cal, and an AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year trophy, largely built on Hawaii's ability to hang with and beat power-conference opponents it isn't supposed to beat. A season-opening win over an ACC program was part of that breakthrough a year ago too.
It wasn't just Stanford's locker room that took the hit. Chris Vannini's reaction afterward pointed at the betting market, where Stanford covering as a backdoor lean got wiped out the moment Hawaii's fourth-quarter surge turned a coverable loss into an outright Cardinal collapse.
Oh no Hawaii. And the backdoor cover.
Hawaii now opens the year with another marquee scalp against an Autonomous Four opponent, exactly the kind of result that's turned Chang's program from a Mountain West afterthought into one that shows up on national radar in Week 0. Stanford, meanwhile, has to figure out how a lead evaporated that fast against a team that flew across an ocean to beat them.