Football Returns to The Farm: Mike and JM’s Stanford Game-Day Playbook

Before Mike and I leave a Stanford tailgate, we have one rule.

Count every person.

Then look underneath the car.

We didn’t start doing that because we’re unusually cautious. We started because of Our Guy.

He is a longtime member of the crew who values his privacy, so that is what we’ll call him here.

One year, Our Guy disappeared. We looked for him inside the stadium and couldn’t find him. When we got back to the tailgate, he’d beaten us there and fallen asleep underneath the car.

We found him before anyone started the engine.

The story still comes up whenever someone suggests another Stanford game. It also proves something Mike and I have learned over the years: the score isn’t always the part of a football day you remember.

Sometimes it’s the tailgate.

Sometimes it’s the people.

And sometimes it’s the place you find one of those people sleeping.

Football season is almost here, and Stanford opens with two home games in six days.

The Cardinal hosts Hawaii on Saturday, August 29, at 4:00 p.m. Six days later, Stanford welcomes Miami—the No. 7 team in the preseason AP Top 25—for a Friday-night game at 6:00 p.m.

This is the first in a series of football stories Mike and I will be bringing to SF Bay Weekend this season. We’re starting with college football and one of our favorite Bay Area game-day experiences.

Mike is a Washington Huskies fan.

Most of the time, he is one of the most rational people you’ll ever meet. Put the Huskies on the field, and that can change with one penalty.

We saw it in 2017, when No. 9 Washington came to Stanford with an 8-1 record and championship expectations.

We spent the afternoon tailgating, laughing and cooking before walking into Stanford Stadium to watch Mike’s team.

Early in the game, as I remember it, Washington jumped offsides.

“That’s it,” Mike said. “Game over.”

It was one penalty. Early in the game.

“Unacceptable. No way they can win now. Championship teams don’t make those kinds of stupid mistakes.”

I told him to relax. Washington was the better team. There was plenty of football left.

Mike spent the rest of the game predicting a loss.

I spent the rest of it telling him he was wrong.

Washington lost 30-22.

I still don’t know whether Mike was simply right, whether he is some kind of football savant or whether he willed the Huskies into losing through sheer pessimism.

I enjoy knowing exactly how to needle him and then sitting back to watch the show. Mike gets me back in the most aggravating way possible.

He’s right most of the time.

That’s how it works between us. I wind him up. He predicts disaster. I tell him he’s being ridiculous.

Then, more often than I care to admit, the disaster arrives.

Saturday and Friday require two different tailgating playbooks.

When Mike and I tailgate at Stanford on Saturdays, we bring a television.

There is usually a full slate of college football to follow before Stanford kicks off. While the Blackstone heats up and the cornhole boards come out, the television keeps us connected to games around the country.

Somebody is following a favorite team. Somebody else has a bet or another reason to care. Before long, the whole group is paying attention to a score that didn’t seem important an hour earlier.

That’s the beauty of a Saturday tailgate. It isn’t only about the game you’re attending. It becomes a full day of college football.

With Stanford and Hawaii kicking off at 4:00 p.m., there should be plenty to watch before it’s time to pack up and walk to the stadium.

Friday against Miami will be different. With a 6:00 p.m. kickoff and Bay Area traffic to contend with, the priority becomes reaching Stanford, setting up and enjoying whatever tailgating time remains.

The television can probably stay home Friday.

The food still comes with us.

Everybody talks about tailgating in Stanford’s Grove—and for good reason. The trees, shade and crowds create a classic college-football setting.

But on our previous trips, Mike and I found a spot we liked even better: Ueland Field, the broad lawn near Stanford Stadium and El Camino Real.

The Grove has wood chips, uneven ground and a busy, almost camping-style atmosphere. Ueland Field is flat, grassy and open. It feels like setting up on a golf fairway.

It gave us room for the tent, tables, chairs, television and cornhole. We could fire up the Blackstone and make tacos, sausages or bacon-wrapped jalapeños without feeling crowded.

Add fresh avocado crushed in a stone bowl with lime and a little secret sauce, and people who stopped by to say hello tended to stay awhile.

There is an important change for 2026: Stanford now promotes Ueland Field as the location of reserved, full-service tailgate packages operated by RevelXP. Packages can include tents, tables, chairs, coolers, televisions and food coordination.

That means readers should not assume an ordinary parking pass will allow them to pull onto Ueland Field and claim a patch of grass. If you want that location this season, check Stanford’s current Ueland Field options and reserve through its official booking partner. If you plan to bring your own setup, confirm exactly which parking and tailgating areas permit it before arriving.

Our experience explains why the lawn is such a good tailgate location.

Stanford’s current rules determine how you can use it now.

Cal’s Memorial Stadium is one of the Bay Area’s great sports settings. It has history, views and the unmistakable feeling of college football in Berkeley.

But if Mike and I are choosing the best complete college-football day in the Bay Area, we choose Stanford.

The biggest difference is everything that happens before kickoff.

Space around Memorial Stadium is tight. On our Cal trips, we have usually found somewhere to park—sometimes near a fraternity house—and walked to the stadium. It can still be a great day, but it is harder to make the tailgate the main event.

Stanford gives you room.

The surrounding fields and groves allow the football day to begin hours before kickoff. The stadium is comfortable, easy to navigate and intimate enough that even corner seats provide a good view. The walk from the tailgate is straightforward, and leaving the area can be easier than working your way out of Berkeley after a Cal game.

Cal may offer the more dramatic stadium setting.

For us, Stanford offers the better complete day.

My Stanford history goes back to around 1990 and 1991, when I attended Stanislaus State.

We didn’t have the college-football experience we wanted, so my friends and I adopted Stanford and bought season tickets.

I remember that fans were allowed to bring a six-pack into the old Stanford Stadium.

Sounded great until the first game.

By halftime, we were out of beer.

We couldn’t leave and reuse the same ticket to get back inside, so we studied the problem and found a solution.

We bought another season ticket.

Tickets were inexpensive enough that we could enter with one, leave at halftime and use the second ticket to return.

It may not have been the plan Stanford intended.

But it was the beginning of JM’s Playbook: understand the rules, identify the problem and find a way to make the day your own.

Saturday’s game against Hawaii begins the Tavita Pritchard era at Stanford.

The Cardinal will also hold a Pacific Islander heritage celebration, wearing a special helmet stripe and red facemasks for the first time since 2017. Those are the kinds of details fans will notice immediately when Stanford takes the field.

Six days later, the stakes and atmosphere change.

Miami comes to Stanford after finishing as the runner-up in last season’s College Football Playoff. The Hurricanes are ranked No. 7 in the preseason AP poll, giving Bay Area fans an opportunity to see one of the country’s leading programs without paying NFL prices.

But the strongest reason for a casual Bay Area fan to consider the Miami game may happen at halftime.

Vallejo legend E-40 will celebrate the 20th anniversary of My Ghetto Report Card, the album that helped carry the Bay Area’s hyphy movement to a national audience.

The connection to Stanford is personal. General manager Andrew Luck said E-40’s music helped define his own Stanford experience. E-40 thanked “my brother Andrew Luck” for making the performance happen.

That makes this more than a standard halftime booking. It is a major Bay Area artist celebrating a landmark Bay Area album because Stanford’s general manager remembers listening to it during his own years on The Farm.

A top-10 opponent, Friday-night football and E-40 turning halftime into a Bay Area anniversary celebration—that is a night capable of attracting people who ordinarily wouldn’t consider a Stanford game.

Stanford vs. Hawaii Saturday, August 29, 2026 4:00 p.m. at Stanford Stadium ACC Network

Stanford vs. No. 7 Miami Friday, September 4, 2026 6:00 p.m. at Stanford Stadium E-40 performs at halftime

Before you go:

* Purchase your game ticket and parking in advance.

* Confirm the lot and entrance listed on your parking pass.

* Don’t assume your parking pass includes space on Ueland Field—reserve an official package if that is the experience you want.

* Check Stanford’s current tailgating and clear-bag policies.

* Bring layers for the evening.

* For Saturday, consider a television for the full college-football schedule.

* For Friday, leave early and expect heavy traffic.

* Designate a sober driver.

* Before leaving, account for everyone—and check underneath the car.

Football begins with two home games at Stanford. Soon after, our Sundays move indoors.

Beginning with the NFL’s opening Sunday on September 13, join Mike and me at Ed’s Mudville Grill for a pint, a full day of football and a new weekly cast of characters. The first games kick off at 10:00 a.m. Pacific, and most Sundays, we’ll be there.

Mike is a Seattle Seahawks fan, so you should especially join us when they play their biggest rival, the San Francisco 49ers.

If you’re a 49ers fan, even better.

A Seahawks-49ers game with Mike at Ed’s is like a Fourth of July fireworks show with no safety inspector. You know there will be explosions. You just don’t know when they’re coming or who will get caught in the blast.

The football game is only half the entertainment.

The Sunday drives are giving way to NFL Sundays.

Pull up a chair.

Everybody’s got Google. I got a guy… or a place.