We are less than 115 hours away from the Miami Hurricanes football team kicking off their 2026-27 season. Today on CanesInSight, we're preparing you guys for the season-opener against the Stanford Cardinal.
For the first time here, I will begin doing a report on each team the Hurricanes will play this upcoming season. We will be looking at the opponents on our schedule, including who they got from the transfer portal, their stats, program profile, and a lot more. What's interesting about this matchup is that Stanford already has one game under their belt, surpassing the Hawaii Rainbows Warriors, 37-27.
Let's get this party started for a big week.
Notable Transfer Portal Recap
New Stanford Cardinal head coach Tavita Pritchard finished his 2026-27 transfer portal haul inside the top-35 rankings. The Cardinals returned 12 starters from the 2025-26 season (five on offense, and seven on defense).
Stanford was in need of a quarterback after Ben Gulbranson departed. He was the main starter until the month of November when rising sophomore quarterback Elijah Brown took over the position. This is where Pritchard dipped into the Big Ten Conference and added Michigan Wolverines backup quarterback Davis Warren. He missed the entirety of the 2025-26 season due to tearing his ACL during the 2024 season. Before the injury, he started nine games during the 2024 season while throwing just under 1200 passing yards, seven touchdown passes, and nine interceptions.
Stanford added a pair of receivers to the group: UCLA transfer Carter Shaw and Yale transfer Nico Brown. Tavita Pritchard added a stud wide receiver in Nico Brown -- dominating the FCS with a total of 1,085 receiving yards on 71 receptions and 11 receiving touchdowns.
The squad wasn't really busy in the portal, but did make some notable additions. If Warren lives up to the hype the Stanford Cardinal should have a decent offense.
Stanford Cardinal Offense
Yesterday afternoon, Davis Warren made his first start as a Cardinal, throwing for 310 yards (22-34) and one touchdown pass. Warren threw the ball to nine different targets, most notably tight end Benji Blackburn, catching the ball five times for 49 yards.
The Cardinal offense really emphasized the run game against the Rainbow Warriors, rushing 38 times for nearly 200 yards. Starting running back Micah Ford led the team in rushing with 99 yards and three rushing touchdowns.
Last season, the Stanford offense struggled to move the ball downfield all last season. The team had one of the worst rushing attacks in college football and struggled to score, averaging just 18.8 points per game. In addition to the poor performance, Pritchard made the change to fire Nate Byham from offensive coordinator and hire Terry Heffernan -- who previously served as the offensive line coach.
On paper, the wide receivers were hit hard -- losing their top receiver, CJ Williams, to the NFL, and their second-leading receiver, tight end Sam Roush. Returning receiver Caden High, along with the two additions from the transfer portal, will headline the receiver corps. Stanford's offensive line gave up a total of 41 sacks this past season, which ranked 129th in the nation. The squad returns Niki Prongos and Kahlil House, who both started every game in the 2025 season.
Check out some of their stats from this past season:
Scoring: 18.8 (No. 120 overall)
Yards Per Play: 4.5 (No. 127 overall)
Yards Per Rush: 2.6 (No. 133 overall)
Yards Per Pass: 6.8 (No. 83 overall)
Snaps Per Game: 68.7 (No. 65 overall)
Run Play Percentage: 47.57% (No. 101 overall)
Red Zone TD + FG Percentage: 83.33% (No. 75 overall)
Stanford Cardinal Defense
During the win over Hawaii, veteran linebacker Matt Rose led the Cardinal with nine tackles on the day while also tailing one tackle for loss. Last season, Hawaii led the Mountain West Conference in passing yards per outing, the Rainbow Warriors returned quarterback Micah Alejado -- who is arguably one of the best signal callers in his conference. Even though Stanford allowed 250 yards through the air, the Cardinal defense still had a solid day containing him, allowing only 78 passing yards in the first half.
In the off-season, Stanford made a staffing change on defense by hiring former NFL defensive coordinator Kris Richard. Pritchard made his first coaching change since joining the Cardinals in late November. Stanford's defense returns seven starters from this past season, though the team gave up a total of 29.2 points per game, which ranked dead last in the ACC. The team retained junior cornerback Brandon Nicholson, who led the team with two interceptions and 24 tackles. Check out some of their stats from this past season below:
Scoring: 29.2 (No. 87 overall)
Yards Per Play: 5.8 (No. 92 overall)
Yards Per Rush: 3.8 (No. 32 overall)
Yards Per Pass: 7.8 (No. 103 overall)
Tackles For Loss Per Game: 4.9 (No. 100 overall)
Takeaways: 13 (No. 103 overall)
