College football rivalries are some of the best in the sports world, pushing two schools, two histories, two bitter enemies, into the same building annually for another year of dominance or misery awarded to one fanbase.
Some of the best moments of the college football realm are gifted to us with the help of rivalry games:
4th and inches - Ohio State vs. Michigan
Kick Six - Alabama vs. Auburn
Bush Push - USC vs. Notre Dame
The punt fail - Michigan vs. Michigan State
The Play - Cal vs Stanford
These and so many more make up the framework of the college rivalries that inspire so much love, devotion and hatred. The older the rivalry, the richer the deep-seated disdain, the sweeter the prospect of rubbing victory in the nose of the defeated.
When there is an established culture of spite spanning generations, it is almost impossible to kill the animosity between two fanbases. But the way wins are accomplished hold nearly as much clout as the triumph itself.
The potential death of a rivalry is a sad thing. The slow suffocation of one team’s hope, every year getting worked over, pushing any contention for the crown to a seemingly unreachable distance. Like the Wisconsin Badgers working the Minnesota Gophers over 14 seasons, some rivalries enter a new relationship of abuse, lacking competition or excitement, the outcome seemingly pre-written.
Such is the fate of the Big Game, a once storied rivalry between the Stanford Cardinal and California Golden Bears. A game whose history stretches back to 1892, containing 111 meetings. A rivalry Stanford head coach David Shaw has killed.
A bold claim, no? How can 125 years of football suddenly become redefined by the most recent seven?
How Shaw Killed A Rivalry
Can we be honest about something, the idea of this being a rivalry was already a bit romanticized. Before Shaw came along, the Cardinal led Cal all-time 51-43-10, beating the Golden Bears by margins of 41, 35, 28 and 21 points in their 51 knockouts. The past 100 years have contained win streaks of five, six and seven games, with a very recent five-game winning streak from Cal (2002-2006) disguising this clash as even. True, Cal has gotten in wins over the 125-year duel, but it has been far more of Stanford trouncing Cal than anything else.
Then Shaw came along. Shaw took the reins from Jim Harbaugh, winning each of his seven meetings with Cal, helping them get to the rivalry best eight-game streak. To make matters worse, the majority of these have not been nail biters.
Shaw has been smoking Cal for seven years. Under him, Stanford has posted 298 points, averaging 37.3 points per game to the Golden Bears’ 17.8.
Not only have the Cardinal averaged a comfortable 20-point margin, but they have also had some disgusting single game outings. In 2013, the Cardinal won 63-13. That is a decimating 50-point win! The largest margin of victory for either side and one that highlights a dominant streak including conquests of 21 and 18 points.
In this, the Big Game, the outlier has been Cal keeping things competitive, the norm Stanford working this “rivalry” like a speed bag. Home or away, Stanford has made themselves quite comfortable decimating this squad, making this little more than a warm-up for UCLA.
But there is hope for a revival (of course I’m rooting for the rivalry to live again, college football is better for it!).
Cal boasts the best squad it has had in years, allowing just 21.1 points and 319 yards per game. Cal has managed to hold USC, Washington State and Washington to under 20 points this season, all teams that average over 25. Behind their new defense, Cal has gone 6-4, the first winning season since 2015.
The Golden Bears’ substantial growth on defense, a unit that surrendered 28.4 in 2017 and 42.6 in 2016, paired with a Stanford offense that has been bipolar all season, could give Cal opportunity.
Make no mistake; Shaw has owned this Cal team for seven years, effectively finishing off whatever remnants of a rivalry to which the Golden Bears’ faithful clung.
There is a chance for this upper-class laden defense to try and revive this smoldering wreck of a rivalry, bringing it back from the dead by finding success this season and instilling a culture of victory for the next class and their Big Game. Anything is possible...
But not likely. Stanford is very comfortable rolling over Cal yet again because this is not a rivalry. It does not require a unique name or award. It is not a Big Game, just a game. A game Stanford very often wins.
Comments
Take the long view
Streaks come and go. We had an eight game streak against Wazzu through the 2015 season. Now the Cougs have taken three in a row from us and would love to prolong the streak next year in Pullman (a nasty place to play).
Or on the other end of the scale, UCLA used to belittle the idea that they had a rivalry with Stanford in football; after all, they had dominated the series over the years. After ten straight Stanford victories, we might be the ones questioning the rivalry; and we are getting very close to evening the all-time series against the Bruins.
We are still on the right end of an eight-game winning streak vs. Cal. I take nothing for granted in this series. A player at Michigan once committed the irreverence of calling Michigan State "little brother" and saw his alma mater get thrashed both in football and basketball for many years after his slight. Obviously, his arrogance had nothing to do with how MSU flipped the relationship and began dominating Michigan; but it’s still best just to savor the victories and resist the temptation of fan hubris. Nine victories in a row? That would be great. But as the USC-Cal game last week showed, nothing goes on forever.
By Jeff Tarnungus on 11.15.18 2:04pm
This is the most nervous I've been about a Big Game in a LONG time...
I’m loving Colton’s optimism, and wishing that I shared it! But I think this Big Game is going to be a lot closer than others in recent history. We all know this year’s Stanford team isn’t the same as the ones that thrashed Cal in the past. But also, this year’s Cal team is not one of the pushover Cal teams that we’ve seen in the past. This year’s Cal beat USC in the Coliseum. And this year’s Cal ruined any hopes UW had of returning to the College Football Playoffs!
I really do believe that this year’s Big Game is a lot closer than we’re giving it credit for. And I’m not alone; Vegas has Stanford as only a 2-point favorite.
By Matt Vassar on 11.15.18 2:34pm
UW's CFP hopes
were already toast after the loss to Oregon in Eugene.
If I hold out any hope for a comfortable victory, it’s because UW was without Myles Gaskin in the game they lost to Cal; and we painfully found out what that player is worth in Washington’s first-half demolition of our defense.
The truly impressive performance was Cal’s game against Wazzu: they held Minshew and Co. to 19 points in Martin Stadium. That was quite a feat.
The victory over USC in the Coliseum is not so stellar, as USC partially did itself in with major gaffes in the second half. Plus, even ASU knocked off the Trojans at home. I think the Big Game this year comes down to how well our O-line protects Costello and whether we can get a bit of a run game going to take the pressure off our QB. This could put the Cal defense on its heels and open up some space. In addition, Stanford needs to play a clean game and not put Cal in the position to score. Their offense is not a big threat, but they will score if we gift them excellent field position (as happened in the USC game).
This game could be a low-scoring nail biter with the victor hitting a last second FG. Or I could also see a comfortable Stanford victory if our offense clicks from the start and we don’t turn the ball over with abandon (like we did against Utah and UW). The same Cal team that has been a defensive stalwart in the last three games also gave up a ton of points to Oregon and UCLA, so the Bears have shown two faces this season.
By Jeff Tarnungus on 11.15.18 2:49pm
I agree with others that this isn't a game to take lightly
Stanford’s defense is my biggest worry. If they get gashed in the run game the offense might not get enough possessions to put up the points they’ll need.
By worldblee on 11.15.18 5:24pm
Cal will beat us
They have one of the best defenses in the conference, we don’t do well offensively on the road, our defense is nothing special, and they are sick and tired of losing to us.
If you’re Kal, there isn’t a better year to pick us off, at home, in Stawberry Canyon.
We’re going to lose this game.
By Brendan Ross on 11.15.18 6:28pm
I am not so pessimistic
Cal’s team has weaknesses, particularly on offense. They struggle to put up points if the opponent does not make mistakes. They did not score a single offensive TD vs. Washington: it was a pick-six off UW’s back-up QB that put the Bears in the lead. Moreover, most of their points vs. USC came courtesy of Trojan mistakes. Laird can be dangerous; and my biggest worry is our run defense trying to contain him. But if our own defense shows up tomorrow, I believe we have a good chance of limiting Cal to very few points.
Yes, Cal’s defense has been stout, so we will have to earn our points. But if Costello has a good day (and gets the protection he needs), our receivers are tough match-ups for the Cal defensive backfield (as they are for most defensive backfields). Plus, Bryce Love is looking better than he has the whole season, so the threat of explosive plays by Love will keep the Cal defense honest. We could get some quick strikes early and put Cal in catch-up mode.
I really don’t think a loss is a foregone conclusion. I would not be surprised if we lost, because no streak lasts forever; and Cal has a team this year that is built for upsets (i.e., tough D, limited scoring, etc.). But I also think we could go into Memorial Stadium and dash the hopes of Cal players and fans alike with a strong and dominant performance. Stanford teams have always tended to peak toward the end of the year; and I feel this could be the case again. Of course, history is not always a reliable guide; but the form curve for Cardinal football has tended to go up at the end of the season. A 9-4 final season record is not outside the realm of possibility.
The larger question that looms right now is whether the game will even take place. Cal had to cancel its basketball game yesterday due to poor air quality. Unless there is a major change in prevailing wind patterns, I think there is a greater than 50% chance that the game does not take place and is either postponed or canceled.
By Jeff Tarnungus on 11.16.18 1:58am
football is about exploiting the mistakes of the other team, so citing "Trojan mistakes" as a reason for the Bears winning is just a canard.
By ginfizzbear on 11.17.18 9:38am
Not entirely true
When a center hikes the ball over the head of the QB and through the end zone, that has little to do with the defense on the opposite side. That is a pure execution error by the center; and, in essence, it cost the Trojans the game. If passively standing there while that happens counts as "exploiting" the mistakes of the other team, then that is a broad definition of "exploit". Teams can make mistakes that end up costing them the game without their opponents doing anything brilliant to exploit them.
By Jeff Tarnungus on 11.18.18 1:04am
Doesn't add up
I don’t think you are being honest in your evaluation of the numbers. The part about recent success, yes, good point there. However, you also said that in the whole span of the history it is mostly Stanford winning… "True, Cal has gotten in wins over the 125-year duel, but it has been far more of Stanford trouncing Cal than anything else" Really? Cal has 46 wins. That is 42% of games not ending in a tie. The premise that Shaw killed it wouldn’t even make sense if your analysis were true, because what would there be to kill?
By NowBoy on 11.16.18 7:54am
Yes, I don't buy the arguments in this article
It’s been a competitive rivalry with intermittent streaks of dominance by one side, then the other. Stanford currently leads; but when Cal was in their most recent phase of dominance in the first decade of this millennium, they were threatening to even the series, then Stanford flipped the script and ran off eight straight to reverse the trend. That’s how the world works in college athletics.
By Jeff Tarnungus on 11.16.18 9:04am
I think some of you are being a little too analytical here
I thought the author was just having a little fun poking the Bear before the Big Game. Enjoy the sunny season; as many of you have pointed out, it doesn’t last forever.
I had no idea that the game could possibly be postponed or cancelled — hazards of being too far away. But if the game goes on, I hope the Cardinal storm into Memorial Stadium and rip the heart out of this Cal season. I’d prefer a Rose Bowl, but you take what you can get. Go Cardinal!
By g8tgod on 11.16.18 9:07am
Yes, I sensed some intentional hyperbole in C. Molesky's words
so there is that perspective, as well. Some years ago, Nick Dempsey on the RoT staff authored a true Big Game trash-talking piece that lured many Cal fans over to talk some smack. Nothing wrong with a bit of rivalry rabble-rousing. But history has never proven kind to teams that dismiss their rivals, so I prefer to forget the 8 game-streak this week and assume the record is 0-0, which it is from a forward-looking perspective, and just give all focus to this single game.
By Jeff Tarnungus on 11.16.18 12:16pm
hello
I think these are sensible interpretations. At this point, this thing of ours ("la cosa nostra", fun mafia fact) is not a function of overall win-loss percentages, or winning streaks.
Quite a win streak the Cardinal have. This too shall pass.
Glad to see sanity prevail with a postponement till December. It’s inconvenient to constantly take the N95 air filter mask on and off to swig the cocktail.
Go Bears.
By ginfizzbear on 11.17.18 9:35am
In June of 1992,
… President Don Kennedy of Stanford stated in his commencement address something to the effect that Stanford should just build a permanent home for the Axe on campus. Cal won in 1993.
By ginfizzbear on 11.17.18 9:42am
I hope Shaw kills the conference title game.
*
By Blackjoy on 11.16.18 9:20am
Shaw should kill the CFP
By NowBoy on 11.16.18 11:46am