Hawaii vs. Stanford Prediction, Spread, CFB Week 0 Picks – Saturday, August 29

The 2026 college football season is officially underway, and Week 0 contains multiple intriguing matchups for true sickos to follow along with. One of them in the late slate on ACC Network sees the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Stanford Cardinal kick off their respective campaigns. 

Ahead of the 7 p.m. ET clash in California, the Cardinal are slight favorites at home and return a 1.49x payout on PrizePicks Team Picks with a season-opening triumph over the Rainbow Warriors. Which side will get off on the right foot to begin the race for a College Football Playoff berth? 

Below, we'll break down our Hawaii vs. Stanford prediction and picks for Saturday’s CFB game, including the spread, over/under, and key player picks for PrizePicks.

Make your Hawaii vs. Stanford prediction on PrizePicks now.

{{cfb_offer_banner="/style-system/ui-components-playbook"}}

Hawaii vs. Stanford Prediction, Spread, Over/Under for Week 0 – Saturday, August 29

Last year was a huge one for a Hawaii program that was clearly on the up and up. In head coach Timmy Chang’s fourth year on the job, the Rainbow Warriors had their best season in over half a decade by ripping off a 9-4 record that included a Hawaii Bowl victory over Cal.

Leading the way for a top-60 scoring offense was QB Micah Alejado, who tore through the Mountain West and has since been picked to be the MWC Preseason Player of the Year. After having an abbreviated offseason due to injury, Alejado is back in the saddle looking to maximize newcomers like RB Cam Barfield and WRs Tré Griffiths and Audric Harris. 

Defensively, it’s almost a whole new crew for Hawaii. Several noteworthy starters are gone, being replaced by fourth- and fifth-year transfers like DL Luther McCoy and Geoffrey Speight Jr. up front and CBs Elijah Gipson and Caleb Brown in the secondary. 

For Stanford, it’s been an uphill battle for nearly 10 years. Since going 9-4 in 2018, the best the program has done is win four games (3x), owning a combined 24-54 record in that span. The hope for the Cardinal is that the continuation of the GM Andrew Luck era will see new results with HC Tavita Pritchard taking over for the 2026 campaign.

What will Stanford’s ACC outlook come down to? It could be the production of Michigan transfer QB Davis Warren. He’s joined by other portal pickups in WRs Carter Shaw (UCLA) and Nico Brown (Yale), making offense a priority under the California sun. 

Defensively, the Cardinal return plenty of starters, including LB Matt Rose, who led the team in tackles last year. The issue could be schedule, as No. 7 Miami, No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 24 Louisville await before November even begins. 

Hawaii vs. Stanford Spread, Over/Under – Saturday, August 29

Stanford enters Saturday’s game as a 3.5-point home favorite against Hawaii, returning a 1.49x payout on PrizePicks Team Picks if they win outright.

Here are the full payouts for the Hawaii vs. Stanford game on PrizePicks.

Make your Hawaii vs. Stanford prediction on spread or over/under on PrizePicks Team Picks — available in 36 states!

Payouts show potential returns on correct Team Picks predictions. A 2x payout returns $200 on a $100 entry. Lower multipliers reflect outcomes users are picking as more likely. Payouts are live as of writing and subject to change.

Hawaii vs. Stanford Prediction on Over/Under for Week 0 – 8/29/26

Here are the key game stats and trends behind our Hawaii vs. Stanford prediction on the over/under for Saturday, August 29’s game. 

• Both of these squads were around average when it came to hitting the over a season ago, with Stanford going 6-6 and Hawaii being 5-7. 
• Hawaii and Stanford each went 2-2 to the over in non-conference play in 2025.
• Should Alejado experience any improvement with another year, things could get scary for the other team. Per Game on Paper, the Hawaii passing attack ranked 35th in success rate last year, putting it in the 74th percentile. 
• The Cardinal were absolutely dreadful in situational football last campaign, sitting 120th in average starting field position allowed (own 31-yard line) and being 108th in late-down success rate (19th percentile). 
• Warren doesn’t have to be anything close to perfect to revitalize a passing game that produced negative EPA/pass (-0.06). Even average play could make a world of difference. 
• The sheer volume of transfers for Hawaii could cause them to take some time to jell on the defensive side of the ball. On the opposite sideline, Stanford sat in just the 29th percentile in scoring average allowed (29.2 PPG) last season and didn’t make many impactful additions to a troublesome defense. 

Lock in your Hawaii vs. Stanford prediction on PrizePicks before today’s college football game.

Hawaii vs. Stanford Picks, Player Stats for PrizePicks: 8/29/26

Here are the top Hawaii vs. Stanford picks to target on Saturday, August 29. Today’s college football picks for PrizePicks include QB Micah Alejado, QB Davis Warren, and RB Micah Ford.

Hawaii QB Micah Alejado vs. Stanford: 259.5 Pass Yards

• Alejado dazzled in his freshman campaign, leading the Mountain West in passes attempted (430), completed (285), and thrown for TDs (24) while also topping the conference in average yards per game with 282.4. 
• The 21-year-old was remarkably efficient in 2025, ranking 16th among qualified passers in EPA/dropback, via Game on Paper. 
• The Rainbow Warriors are no strangers to putting the ball in the air, evidenced by their 60.4% pass-play rate that slotted in fifth nationally.
• Stanford surrendered 288.9 passing YPG a season ago, a bottom-five mark in the country.

Add Micah Alejado to your PrizePicks lineup now.

{{cfb_offer_banner="/style-system/ui-components-playbook"}}

Stanford QB Davis Warren vs. Hawaii: 192.5 Pass Yards

• The last time we saw Warren was in 2024, as he missed last year with a torn ACL. In his senior effort for the Wolverines, he threw for 1,199 yards, 7 TDs, and 9 INTs across nine games.
• Among 130 passers in his last healthy season, Warren ranked 113th with a yard-per-dropback average of just 5.73. 
• Hawaii’s defense, while penetrable, was generally respectable against the pass in 2025, placing in the 62nd percentile in passing EPA/play ceded. 
• Keep an eye on how pressure affects this contest. Hawaii got to the QB for a sack on just under 6.99% of its plays last year; meanwhile, Stanford surrendered a sack 9.49% of the time (bottom 20). 

Add Davis Warren to your PrizePicks lineup now.

Stanford RB Micah Ford vs. Hawaii: 84.5 Rush Yards

• Ford was productive in his 145-carry sample as a sophomore, averaging 4.4 yards per attempt and finding the end zone on four occasions.
• According to Pro Football Focus, among RBs with 100+ carries in 2025, Ford’s 3.92 average yards after contact was a top-25 achievement. 
• The Rainbow Warriors’ run defense was nothing to write home about last season, slotting into the respective 31st and 22nd percentiles in rush EPA/play and rush explosiveness allowed. 
• Hawaii got pushed around in the trenches, sitting in the ninth percentile in line yards (share of rushes credited to the offensive line) on defense a year ago.

Add Micah Ford to your PrizePicks lineup now.

Make Hawaii vs. Stanford Picks for Week 0 on PrizePicks

College football is back, and with it comes a nice slate of Week 0 clashes throughout Saturday. As one of the later games on the docket, the Rainbow Warriors’ bout against the Cardinal could set the tone for both sides’ seasons ahead of September. Which program will come out on top?

Don’t wait until kickoff — make your Hawaii vs. Stanford picks on PrizePicks now and earn real money if you’re right.

Pick college football players, predict More or Less on their stats, and cash in if you’re right. With Team Picks, you can make predictions on CFB game winners, spreads, and over/unders, now available in 36 states.

Stay locked in on Playbook for daily college football predictions, picks, and news every day all the way through the 2026 College Football Playoff.