The Big Game is the name given to the California–Stanford football rivalry game. It is an American college football rivalry game played by the California Golden Bears football team of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Stanford Cardinal football team of Stanford University. Both institutions are located in the San Francisco Bay Area. First played in 1892, it remains one of the oldest college rivalries in the United States. The game is usually played in late November or early December and its location alternates between the two universities every year. In even-numbered years, the game is played in Berkeley while odd-numbered years are played at Stanford.
Name
The "Big Game" name was adopted in 1902 to highlight its importance to both schools. Then-Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza said in 2024 that it is "called the Big Game because there's a lot at stake."
In March 2007, the National Football League announced that it intended to trademark the phrase "The Big Game" in reference to the Super Bowl. Since "Super Bowl" is trademarked by the league, the NFL wanted to clamp down on companies alluding to the game via the "Big Game" moniker. The plan was eventually dropped after being faced with opposition from Cal and Stanford.
Series history
First years
The Big Game is the oldest college football rivalry in the West. While an undergraduate at Stanford, future U.S. President Herbert Hoover was the student manager of both the baseball and football teams. He helped organize the inaugural Big Game, along with his friend Cal manager Herbert Lang. Only 10,000 tickets were printed for the game but 20,000 people showed up. Hoover and Lang scrambled to find pots, bowls and any other available receptacles to collect the admission fees.
By 1900 the match was already referred to as the "Big Game". In 1898, Berkeley alumnus and San Francisco Mayor James D. Phelan purchased a casting of Douglas Tilden's The Football Players bronze sculpture and offered it as a prize to the school that could win the football game two years in a row. Berkeley responded by shutting Stanford out in 1898 and 1899, and the sculpture was installed on the Berkeley campus atop a stone pedestal engraved with the names of the players and the donor during a dedication ceremony held May 12, 1900.
During the 1900 Big Game, played at the Recreation Park stadium on Thanksgiving Day in San Francisco, a large group of fans were observing from the roof of the nearby S.F. and Pacific Glass Works factory. With somewhere between 600 and 1,000 spectators atop it, the rooftop collapsed, resulting in well over 100 men falling to the factory's floor and more than 60 directly onto the massive, blazing furnace. In total 23 men and boys were killed, and more than 100 severely injured. To this day, the "Thanksgiving Day Disaster" remains the deadliest accident to kill spectators at a U.S. sporting event.
Violence and switch to rugby
In 1906, citing concerns about the violence in football, both schools dropped football in favor of rugby union, which was played for the Big Games of 1906–1918. During that time the matches were played under Union rules of rugby per an agreement between Stanford and Cal coaches along with other West coast teams, including Nevada, St. Mary's, Santa Clara, and USC (in 1911). Specialist rugby union referees were on occasion invited, including from Sydney in Australia.
The first incidence of card stunts was performed by Cal fans at the halftime of the 1910 Big Game.
While Stanford's rugby teams continued until 1917, Cal switched back to American football in 1915. Its official reason for withdrawal from its 1915 rugby match against Stanford was the disagreement over Stanford's play of freshmen on their varsity team, however it was apparent that Cal intended to withdraw from the agreement to play rugby and instead play football against western schools that continued playing football or switched back several years earlier. Cal's Big Game was played in the years 1915–17, against Washington, games which aren't listed in Big Game records. Cal lost its 1915, home Big Game to University of Washington 72–0, while Stanford played rugby against its new Big Game opponent Santa Clara University, which would take Cal's place for three successive seasons.
The 1918 game, in which Cal prevailed 67–0, is not considered an official game because Stanford's football team was composed of volunteers from the Student Army Training Corps stationed at Stanford, some of whom were not Stanford students. In 1919, Stanford officially switched back to playing football.
The game resumed as football in 1919, and has been played as such every year since, except from 1943 to 1945, when Stanford shut down its football program due to World War II. A handful of Stanford starters—including guards Jim Cox, Bill Hachten and Fred Boensch, running back George Quist and halfback Billy Agnew—shifted to Cal in order to continue playing. Quist returned to Stanford, playing against Cal in the 1946 Big Game.
Scenes for the Harold Lloyd silent classic The Freshman were filmed at California Memorial Stadium during halftime of the 1924 Big Game.
Since 1933, the victor of the game has been awarded possession of the Stanford Axe. If a game ended in a tie, the Axe stayed on the side that already possessed it; this rule became obsolete in 1996 when the NCAA instituted overtime. The Axe is a key part of the rivalry's history, having been stolen on several occasions by both sides, starting in 1899, when the Axe was introduced when Stanford yell leader Billy Erb used it at a baseball game between the two schools.
In 2013, the new Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara was proposed as the site of the 2014 Big Game, which according to the traditional rotation should be played at Cal's Memorial Stadium. The 2015 game would then be held in Berkeley, reversing the current rotation of odd-numbered years at Stanford and even-numbered years at Cal. However, several days later Cal declined the offer.
Pregame traditions
In the week before the game, both schools celebrate the occasion with rallies, reunions, and luncheons. Early in the week, Cal celebrates in San Francisco with an annual cable car rally, usually held on the Monday of Big Game Week by the UC Rally Committee. Various other rallies and celebrations take place at Cal throughout the week, including noon rallies, night rallies that go to all the dorms, singing competitions, and alumni reunions. The highlight of the week is when Cal students hold a traditional pep rally and bonfire at the Hearst Greek Theatre on the eve of the game, known as the Big Game Bonfire Rally.
Stanford students stage the Gaieties, a theatrical production that both celebrates and pokes fun at the rivalry. The week also includes various other athletic events including "The Big Splash" (water polo), "The Big Spike" (volleyball), "The Big Sweep" (Quidditch), "The Big Freeze" (ice hockey), "The Big Sail" (sailing), and the Ink Bowl, a touch football game between the members of the two schools' newspapers.
Cal
The Big Game Bonfire Rally is a pep and bonfire rally that takes place at University of California, Berkeley in Hearst Greek Theatre on the eve of Big Game. More than 10,000 students gather to hear the history about The Stanford Axe and Big Game. The University of California Rally Committee is in charge of the planning and setting up the bonfire, as well as refueling it during the rally. Specifically, freshman members of the UC Rally Committee, as well as freshman band members are sent out with pallets to the chanting of "freshmen, more wood." Several alumni show up to perform traditional rituals. A tradition unique to Cal is the performance of the Haka, a traditional Maori war dance/chant. Traditionally performed by an alumni Yell Leader, the Haka performed was written in the 1960s by a Cal rugby player of Maori descent. The traditional Axe Yell is also made and visits from the UC Men's Octet and Golden Overtones are always expected. The University of California Marching Band is also present, playing traditional Cal songs throughout the duration of the Rally. The highlight of the Rally is the lighting of Big Game Bonfire itself, with the fire reaching its zenith at over eight stories.
The Big Game Bonfire Rally always ends with the reciting of a speech known as the "Andy Smith Eulogy" or "The Spirit of California". Written by Garff Wilson in remembrance of the fabled Cal football coach, who led the Bears to five straight undefeated seasons starting in 1919 before tragically dying of pneumonia in 1925, the speech closes the Rally annually since 1949. During the speech, candles are passed out among the attendants and are lit for the singing of the campus alma mater, "All Hail Blue and Gold."
In 2012, the Big Game Bonfire Rally was moved to Edwards Stadium and the bonfire was cancelled due to a scheduling conflict with a Bob Dylan concert. Due to TV contracts, the Pac-12 Conference rescheduled the Big Game from its traditional season-ending slot to October 20, and the Greek Theatre was already booked for the Bob Dylan concert. This was the first time the bonfire had not been held since 1892. The bonfire portion of the rally was cancelled again in 2015 due to the ongoing drought. In 2016, the Fiat Lux torch was added as a symbol of light, with, "For the flames of the past, spirit of the present, and light of the future" engraved on it. In 2018, the big game was rescheduled due to the unhealthy air quality caused by the Camp Fire. All fire/pyrotechnical elements were cut from the rally. The UC Rally Committee immediately began preparations to re-invent the traditional wood burning structure, as they did not want the fire to extinguish like it had almost 30 years earlier at Stanford. In November 2019, a new sheet metal bonfire structure was unveiled. The 2024 edition of the Big Game Bonfire Rally was cancelled due to excessive rain and flooding.
Stanford
For decades, Stanford also has held a bonfire on the dry lakebed of Lake Lagunita, but this was discontinued in the 1990s due to the lake being a habitat for the vulnerable California tiger salamander. Stanford now holds a Big Game Rally on Angell Field organized by the Stanford Axe Committee. With appearances from the senior football players and various performance groups, it serves to kick off Big Game Week. The story of The Stanford Axe is told by Hal Mickelson, and the Axe Yell is performed by the Yell Leaders of The Stanford Axe Committee. The rally ends with a performance by the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band and a fireworks show. A student-produced play called "Gaieties," an annual Big Game week tradition since 1911, pokes fun at Cal and serves to pump students up for the Big Game. Another part of Stanford's tradition was the annual hanging of the substantial "Beat Cal" banner upon the four story Meyer Library building. This tradition came to an end in 2014 before the building was demolished. Since 2015, the banner has been hung over the western entrance to Green Library.
Notable games
1924
Both teams came into the game unbeaten with a berth in the 1925 Rose Bowl on the line. With its star Ernie Nevers sidelined due to injuries, Stanford trailed 20–6 with under 5 minutes to go, but rallied to score twice to force a 20–20 tie and earn the Rose Bowl bid.
1947
In the 50th Big Game, winless Stanford led the 8–1 Bears with less than three minutes left in the game, but Cal scored on an 80-yard touchdown pass to clinch a 21–18 victory.
1959
Stanford quarterback Dick Norman threw for 401 yards (then an NCAA record, and still a Big Game record), but it was not enough to hold off the Bears, who won 20–17.
1972
Cal drove 62 yards in the final 1:13, culminating in a Vince Ferragamo touchdown pass to Steve Sweeney for a last-second 24–22 Cal victory.
1974
Mike Langford nailed a 50-yard field goal on the final play for a 22–20 Stanford triumph over the 19th-ranked Bears.
1982: The Play
The 85th Big Game on November 20, 1982, produced one of the most memorable finishes in college football history. Trailing 19–17 late in the fourth quarter, Stanford—led by quarterback John Elway—drove into field-goal range on a series that included a key 21-yard run by Mike Dotterer and earlier touchdown receptions by Vincent White, who had caught two scoring passes in the second half. With eight seconds left, Mark Harmon converted a 35-yard field goal to give Stanford a 20–19 lead. A Cardinal victory would likely have earned an invitation to the Hall of Fame Classic bowl game.