by Jerry Feitelberg

Well folks. It’s time for the Big Game. There are lots of Big Games around the country. On the West Coast, the Big games are UCLA vs USC, Oregon vs Oregon State, Washington vs Washington State but the Big Game that the people of Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area , in particular, are interested in is the 116th renewal of the rivalry between Stanford University and the University of California.

The game will be played at Stanford Stadium on Saturday at 1pm and will be televised on Fox Sports 1.

Stanford, coached by David Shaw, enters the game with a record of 8-2,6-2 Pac-12 and is still smarting from the upset loss last week to USC. That loss may have cost the Cardinal a trip to the Rose Bowl this year. The California Golden Bears are now coached by Sonny Dykes. Dykes is in his first year as coach and his team is having a woeful season with a record of 1-10, 0-9 Pac-12. The Bears have lost nine games in a row and are a 31 ½ point underdog to Stanford.

This game, on paper, looks like an easy win for Stanford. However, records just do not count when Big Games are being played. The Bears will go all out as they have nothing to lose. Stanford, on the other hand, does have a lot to lose as they will not get a top Bowl invitation if they fall to California.

The Bears quarterback, Jared Goff said” No one thinks we have a chance. That’s not what we think inside our team.” That’s a lot of confidence for a young man on a 1-10 team. The Bears can put up points but their defense has been dismal as they showed in a 62-28 loss to USC.

Stanford, on the other hand, is highly motivated since they lost last week 20-17 to USC and Coach Shaw said” Our guys can’t wait to get back on the field.” Stanford does have an outside chance of going back to the Rose Bowl. Oregon will need to be upset by either Arizona or Oregon State and the Cardinal will have to beat Cal and Notre Dame.

Stanford leads the series 58-46 with 11 ties. The first game was played in1892 in San Francisco and the Stanford’s team manager was Herbert Hoover. Stanford has won three in a row and four of the last six games. Lots of strange things can happen in the Big Game. The most memorable came in 1982

when Cal scored the winning touchdown running through the Stanford Marching Band to defeat the Cardinal. Joe Starkey, the voice of the Cal Bears on radio, made one of the greatest calls in the history of college football that day and that call is still played every year to remind people of how unpredictable college football can be and especially in the Big Game.

The winner of the game gets possession of the Stanford Axe. The trophy consists of an axe-head mounted on a large wooden plaque ,along with scores of past Big Games.

The Game will be a sellout and even with the huge point spread, it should be a fun game and Stanford cannot afford to be caught napping and lose this game.