Bleacher Report - Cal Bears Football

More to the Cal and Stanford Rivalry Than Just 'The Play'

Grant Marek — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:11:58 -0500

It's the ninth most played rivalry in college football history and yet Cal-Stanford amounts to little more than five laterals and a trampled trombone player. The Big Game has rarely lived up to its moniker, this year possibly being the exception to the rule: today's 112th Big Game marks the first time since 1991 that both teams enter the rivalry game with at least seven wins.

But for what it has lacked in national consequence, the rivalry has replaced with a rich history of traditions, pranks, pre-game festivities, and a host of other strange occurrences since the early 1900s.

Here is a look back at the Big Game through the years through the eyes of The Daily Californian's archives:

1900: The rooters, a collective group of mainstay Cal fans who's job was to cheer for Cal, brought blue and gold umbrellas to the stands to show support for the team, even though it wasn't raining. In addition, "an actual genuine California Bear" was brought onto the field at halftime.

1905: For the first time in Cal's history, students were excused from schoolwork in order to allow time to travel to the Big Game which was held in Palo Alto that year and the day was declared a holiday.

The annual axe rally was held in which the crowd of Cal students would march down to the Berkeley National Bank and remove the axe from its vault.

The story of the first Axe theft was retold by its captors. In 1899, Cal students mobbed Stanford fans at a Cal-Stanford baseball game in San Francisco, taking the Axe as booty in the ensuing riot. It was smuggled across the Bay in the skirt of a female student and brought home to Berkeley.

At the end of the retelling of the story, the axe was marched back to the vault and locked up once again. A group of Stanford men also attended the rally, hoping for an opportunity to recover their property.

1910: Players on the team were selected by Cal football coach James G. Schaeffer to live in the Delta Upsilon house to become a better acquainted unit before the Big Game.

1920: The annual Smoker Rally was accompanied by donations of 8,000 free cigarettes from American and California tobacco companies.

Card stunts were begun by the rooters, except cards weren't used, but rather colored hats.

1930: The headline "Two Indians Get Scalped at Smoker" ran on the the front page of the student-run school paper—The Daily Californian . The story said two Stanford students were caught sneaking around the Smoker Rally and were in turn brought before the entire crowd, humiliated, and painted blue. Stanford's rally was highlighted by the burning of a mock Campanile.

Twenty-one Stanford students used a fake camera and tear gas to reclaim the Axe from a Berkeley bank and were dubbed the Immortal 21.

1940: Pre-Big Game prank raids were outlawed by Stanford and Cal. Stanford painted the Big C red anyway. Cal then devised a system to prevent any future pranks. A Bowles Hall resident was posted as lookout over the Big C and the moment any suspicious activity could be seen, he would call a key man at every fraternity on campus to come to the aid of the attempted painting.

In retaliation to the earlier violation of the pact between the schools to abandon pranks, a six-foot C was painted on Stanford's main quad. While this later was revealed as being a Palo Alto High School prank, Cal did accept responsibility for a 20-foot C burned into the Stanford lawn directly outside the business school.

Post-game activities included mini-bonfires throughout the college and the jailing of 30 Cal students.

1949: Stanford and Cal took turns flying planes over the opposing campuses and dropping thousands of leaflets describing how convincingly their team was going to win.

1950: "Hate Stanford Week" is declared along with Blue Monday. All students who wore the color red on Blue Monday were forced to spend time in the Bear Bastille or be recruited as an Axe-travaganza ticket salesman. The Axe-travaganza was Cal's Big Game theater performance.

The Stanford band took a trip to San Francisco dressed in blue and gold and played the Bears' fight song off key for hours.

A rented helicopter was used to dry the cite of the Big Game because of the excessively muddy field.

1951: Prince Lightfoot, a Yurok Indian of the Klamath Fall tribe becomes Stanford's mascot for the Big Game.

1960: Blue Monday is ended, and punishments for wearing red on campus were discontinued. Instead, students are rewarded for wearing the color blue.

A fraternity decoration competition is held for the Big Game in which the fraternities signed up for the event had to make a display which included Cal's mascot, Oski, and Stanford's Indian in a television or movie setting. One of the fraternity entries was called "Malice in Wonderland" and depicted Oski scalping the Indian staged at a tea party.

Stanford once again bombed the Cal campus, with over 10,000 leaflets claiming Stanford's predicted dominance in the Big Game.

Stanford's Big Game banner was stolen from their stadium the same week the Axe trophy was stolen from Cal's safe. The banner was returned to Stanford after the Big Game and the Axe turned up weeks after.

1970: Giant water balloon launchers were smuggled into the Big Game and used by students in the Cal cheering section to fire water balloons at the Stanford rooting section.

The People's Athletic Committee was formed. The committee was a group of athletes and a variety of other Cal students demanding to be admitted into the Big Game for free.

The tickets weren't granted along with several other demands and, in retaliation, a member of the PAC stormed the field during the Stanford band's halftime show with a National Liberation Front flag. Stanford band members along with police officers restrained the man and he was applauded by Cal students as he was escorted out of the stadium.

1981: A large banner was strung across the Bay Bridge with the words "GO BEARS-BEAT STANFORD."

1982: "The Play ."

1990: The counterpart to "The Play," "The Finish," took place when Cal fans stormed the field along with players after Stanford missed a two-point conversion to let the Bears retain the lead with less than 20 seconds remaining.

After a five-minute delay to remove fans from the field, Stanford was able to recover an onside kick and after a host of penalties by Cal, including the rush onto the field, kick a field goal to win the game.

A Cal fan managed to override a referee's microphone and told the thousands in the stands and thousands of television viewers: "Penalty, excessive arrogance. Stanford sucks."

1998: Five anonymous Cal students known as the "Phoenix Five" walked into the Stanford Band Shack and stole the school's tree mascot.

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Cal-Stanford 2009: Big Game Preview, Countdown Style

Ed Yevelev — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:12:51 -0500

Five Lesser-Known Golden Bears Who May Make a Difference

Alex Lagemann— The redshirt sophomore receiver may only have eight catches for 108 yards this season, but seven of them have been for first downs—including two crucial ones during the comeback drive against Arizona State. He should be a key target for Kevin Riley if the Bears hope to convert some third downs and sustain long drives, which they have struggled with lately.

Anthony Miller— At 6'3" and 258 pounds, Cal's tight end will be hard to miss over the middle. The team's fourth leading receiver has displayed soft hands, while being a load to bring down this season. Though he is returning from an injury this week, look for Miller to be a consistent option over the middle, as well as play a role in run blocking.

Bryant Nnabuife— Nnabuife, along with Josh Hill, have both gotten valuable playing time at cornerback this season following the benching and injuries to Darian Hagan. On Saturday, the junior will have to cover either Ryan Whalen or Chris Owusu; both Cardinal wideouts rank among the conference's top 10 in receiving yards.

Eddie Young— One of two linebackers playing in his final big game (Devin Bishop is the other), Young will be partially responsible for helping keep the 6'1", 235-pound Toby Gerhart from rumbling up and down Stanford Stadium.

Giorgio Tavecchio— Of course, the Bears' place kicker, whose four field goals accounted for half of the team's points against Arizona, would rather be booting extra points. But his leg will be needed once again on Saturday—not only for Cal to get some points on the board in what may be a close rivalry game, but also to keep the ball away from Stanford's dynamic kick returner Chris Owusu.

Four Statistics That Will Determine The Game For Cal

1. Third Down Conversions— Cal's conversion percentage is about 41 percent in wins, and an anemic 27 percent in losses. However, the Bears will also have to get their defense off the field, as well; Stanford has moved the chains over half of the time on third down during victories.

2. Kevin Riley's Third Quarter— The Bears have been known for third quarter droughts this season, and their junior signal caller has been a big part them. He has not looked pretty coming out of the half, throwing twice as many picks (four) as touchdowns (three) and posting a completion rate under 50 percent in the third period.

3. Rushing Yards—" Establishing the run" may be a cliche, but it is integral to the Cal offense, which has floundered without the ground game. The Bears have had averaged 230 rushing yards during wins, but have yet to crack the century mark in their three losses.

4. The first team to score— Cal is all about hot starts, but the converse is also true; since a win in the rain over Oregon last year, the Bears have yet to win when failing to get on the board first.

Three Top Storylines To Watch (Other than the Axe)

1. A changing of the guard in the Bay Area?— With a win, the Cardinal can take a step to unseating Cal as the NorCal's hottest program. Here's the long story.

2. Trips to Pasadena and New York on the line— With more than 400 yards and six touchdowns in wins over USC and Oregon, Toby Gerhart may have already done his part to earn a trip to the Heisman ceremony—but a big game against rival Cal would put some icing on the cake. And while the Cardinal will need some extra help to earn a Pac-10 crown, they can at least do their part with a win on Saturday. Meanwhile, how great would it be for the Bears to personally ruin their rivals' magical season?

3. Kevin Riley's performance— The signal caller's highs and lows this season (and throughout his career) have been well-documented. Believe it or not, the junior still has another year left in Strawberry Canyon; an upset win Saturday would unquestionably be his biggest win as Bear—and perhaps give him (and fans) a major confidence boost going forward.

Two Reasons Each Team Will Win

Stanford Will Win Because:

1. They're rolling— The Card put up 106 combined against USC and Oregon. Cal didn't score a single touchdown. Doesn't take a Cal or Stanford grad to figure this out...

2. The kick return game— It took a fluke tackle by Cal's kicker to keep Arizona's returner for scoring and taking back the lead last Saturday. That won't fly against Chris Owusu, who can do damage by scoring himself or by giving Stanford a short field.

Cal Will Win Because:

1. Stranger things have happened— Cal has proved this year that they aren't quite ready for their national close-up shot. Maybe an underdog role is all they need.

2. The defense comes in confident— The Bears come in having tamed one of the conference's most potent offenses in Arizona - playing particularly stout against the run during the home finale. Gerhart is a different animal, but the run defense has been the stronger of Cal's units.

One Final Score Prediction

35-24, Stanford

Against a potent ground and aerial attack, the Bears may be scrambling to keep this one close, and I may be waiting to drink away my sorrows in Palo Alto. Yes, this is blasphemy for someone who bleeds Blue and Gold, but I'm just trying to maintain some sense of realism as a journalism.

But as fan, however, Cal has fallen short of my expectations many times this year—and doing it once more on Saturday would make my day.

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The Biggest Game: Cal-Stanford 2009 and the Bay Area Football Hierarchy

Ed Yevelev — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:30:30 -0500

Something tumultuous can happen this weekend in northern California.

No, it has nothing to do with UC Berkeley's protests against the Regents' 32 percent tuition fee hike; nor does it have anything to do with the fact that Cal's Memorial Stadium is located on a fault line.

However, one foundation does have a chance to undergo a seismic shock on Saturday—and it is that of the Bay Area's college football hierarchy, which has so far been largely set in stone since 2002.

It used to be nice and easy to tell which was dominant football program, as former Stanford coaches Buddy Teevens and Walt Harris combined to go 16-40 (and needless to say, bowl-less) on the Farm between 2002 and 2006—accumulating just one more win between them than the number Jeff Tedford amassed during his first two years in Berkeley.

Meanwhile, the battle for the Axe had become such a joke in recent years that the boys from Berkeley beat the Cardinal 27-3 on the road while using a third string quarterback in 2005.

Enter fiery, no-nonsense coach Jim Harbaugh.

In his first year on the Farm, he led the Cardinal to an upset over a loaded (albeit floundering) Bears team.

But he has done more than give his team a fluke win; he has returned the program to relevance and bowl contention (potentially for one in Pasadena) in 2009, which has more than earned him his private $50,000 bathroom.

In a year where Cal was once again smelling Roses during the preseason, he debunked the notion that the Bears shall be the Bay Area's team to shake up the Pac-10.

His squad has already triumphed over Pete Carrol & Co. at the Coliseum not once, but twice—and it's difficult to decide which victory was more shocking.

After vanquishing the Trojans (and college football gamblers everywhere) as a 41-point underdog in 2007, Stanford dropped 55 points, 27 in the first quarter, on USC this past Saturday.

The victory, which is starting to make Cal's 2003 upset a more and more distant memory, came just one week after pouring 51 on an Oregon squad that had embarrassed the Bears in Eugene.

Thus, over the course of two games against the leaders of the nation's toughest conference, the Cardinal left the college world speechless. In consecutive weeks against the Ducks and Trojans, the Bears were left touchdown-less.

And the talent gap that was so cavernous between the two schools is starting to shrink, as well—and can continue to do so assuming Harbaugh doesn't bolt.

After all, it has been the running back from Palo Alto who has shredded the conference, while recording his best performances against top opponents to become a Heisman contender.

It has been young gunslinger Andrew Luck who has played like a seasoned veteran, while veteran Kevin Riley from Berkeley has resembled a freshman at times.

Indeed, Stanford's step (nay, leap) forward this year has helped make the 112th edition of the Big Game a competitive rivalry again. The Cardinal's impressive 7-3 record marks the first time since 1993 that both rivals entered the contest above .500.

This Saturday, however, will be more than just the battle for the Axe, as the title of the Bay Area's hottest college football program is potentially at stake.

Cal is currently in possession of both, but its grasp may be on shaky ground.

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