• Game two of the 2023 season takes place on Saturday, Sept. 9 as Stanford takes on No. 6 USC in its first Pac-12 game of the year.
• Saturday’s matchup against the Trojans will be the final Pac-12 meeting between these two storied programs, with USC leaving the conference for the Big 10, while Stanford accepted an invitation to the Atlantic Coast Conference on Sept. 1.
• The Troy Taylor era began on Sept. 1, with the Cardinal opening the season at Hawai’i and winning 37-24. The 37 points scored by the Cardinal are its most since the 2022 season opener against Colgate (41) and the most against an FBS opponent since Sept. 18, 2021 at Vanderbilt.
• The new-look Stanford offense gave the Rainbow Warriors plenty of fits in Week 1, racking up 406 yards of total offense, its most since last season’s Week 2 game at home against USC.
• Perhaps the biggest difference of the game came on the ground, where Stanford popped off for 158 yards while holding Hawai’i to -5 rushing yards. That net total on the ground for the Rainbow Warriors is the fewest the Cardinal has allowed in a game since its Oct. 10, 2014 contest against Arizona State (-26 yards). It was also the fewest rushing yards the Cardinal defense has allowed in a non-conference road game since Sept. 20, 2003 at BYU (-5 yards).
• Stanford has enjoyed quite a bit of recent success in road non-conference games. The Cardinal’s win in the season opener on Oahu is its third consecutive non-conference win away from home, the longest such winning streak for Stanford since 1971-72 (four games).
• The Cardinal was just 1-8 in the Pac-12 last year, and while it has struggled in conference play in recent seasons, it won in their most recent trip to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Stanford played at No. 14 USC on Sept. 11, 2021 and won 42-28. That game was the first collegiate start in the career of Tanner McKee.
• Leading up until kickoff against Hawai’i, there was intrigue over who would start under center for Stanford. No quarterback on the roster had attempted more than 30 passes in their collegiate career, and head coach Taylor kept the Cardinal starting quarterback under wraps in the week leading up to the game. When Stanford took the offense for the first time, it was sophomore quarterback Ashton Daniels who broke the huddle as the signal caller. Daniels entered the game with just six career pass attempts but flourished in his first collegiate start. Daniels went 25-36 in the air for 248 yards and his first two collegiate passing touchdowns, with the highlight coming on a 32-yard reverse flea flicker to Benjamin Yurosek in the second quarter. He also carried the ball 11 times, adding 42 yards on the ground.
• Stanford’s defense has not had a game like its season opener against Hawai’i in some time. Beginning the season with a bang, the Stanford defense piled up six sacks, while the Cardinal offensive line prevented starting quarterback Ashton Daniels from getting sacked. The six sacks recorded by the Stanford defense are its most in a single game since a Nov. 24, 2018 tilt against UCLA, when the unit also recorded six. It is the most sacks the defense has had in a non-conference road game since Sept. 16, 2017 at San Diego State, a game in which the Cardinal also piled up six sacks. The main man behind the pass rush was edge rusher David Bailey, who led the team with three sacks. It was the first multi-sack game in the young career of David Bailey, and it was also the first three-sack game by a Cardinal player since Henry Anderson on Nov. 15, 2014 against Utah. Two additional Cardinal defenders had their first career sacks in the season-opening win over Hawai’i: defensive lineman Anthony Franklin and safety Scotty Edwards. For Edwards, the sack in the fourth quarter came at the conclusion of his first career start.