By George Devine, Sr.

The 117th Big Game will kick off at 1 p.m. PST on Saturday, November 22 at California Memorial Stadium on the Berkeley campus. The Bears are coming off a loss to USC and the Cardinal a 20-17 overtime defeat at the hands of Utah. Stanford is now third in the Pac-12 North, with a conference record of 5-4 and an overall tally of 5-5. Right behind in the standings are the Bears, at 5-5 in both categories. Each team is a win away from bowl eligibility, so whoever wins this game can look forward to a chance for a postseason invitation, as well as possession of the coveted Axe.

On paper, and based on previous performances of both teams this season, the odds seem to favor Stanford. But as everyone from Joe Starkey to the peanut vendors can tell you, anything can happen in a Big Game.

Cal’s scores have not translated into as many wins as the Old Blues would like to see, but show great improvement over Sonny Dykes’ first season last year. Particular strengths are not limited to the golden arm of QB Jared Goff. Another key element of the Berkeley attack, developed later in the present season, is a more balanced distribution between passing and running plays, to the point where they now approach equilibrium.

Stanford, on the other hand, has yet to really develop a ground game. Fans of the Cardinal will be hoping to see more creativity in this regard, especially from freshman RB Christian McCaffrey, and with the kind of versatile play-calling that QB Kevin Hogan began to show against Utah. The Bears will have to defend against both facets of the Stanford offense, and also to prevent the visitors from gaining good field position, since kicker Jordan Williamson has shown his ability to score from as far as 51 yards out against Utah.

Cal’s next and final regular season game will be on November 29 against Brigham Young, at Strawberry Canyon, with kickoff TBD. Stanford closes the season at UCLA on November 28 at 12:30 p.m.