Monday, Nov. 18

Big Game Countdown - 12 PM - White Plaza
Join the Axe Committee all week in White Plaza as they blow the train whistle every hour on the hour for the 127 hours leading up to the game to celebrate this storied rivalry.

The Bearial - 12 PM - White Plaza
Join the Axe Committee and the Stanford Band as they "lay to rest" the enemy on the claw fountain at White Plaza

Wednesday, Nov. 20

Men’s Basketball vs. Norfolk State - 7 PM - Maples Pavilion
Cheer on the Cardinal with the raucous 6th Man as the team hosts the Spartans. Click here to secure tickets in advance.

Gaieties - 7 PM - Memorial Auditorium
Gaieties, an annual student-written musical extravaganza dating back to 1911. Gaieties is the ultimate celebration of just how clever Stanford students are. This year, join us at Camp Stanford! The ultimate musical summer experience FULL of forbidden love, a bear in the woods, and campers who get very... very... ginkgy...Tickets are $10 for students, $15 for faculty and staff, and $20 for the general public. Wednesday is Frosh Night! For tickets and more information, visit the Gaieties 24 Eventbrite!

Big Game Rally - 9 PM - White Plaza
Following Gaieties, get in the Big Game spirit with the traditional rally sponsored by the Stanford Axe Committee. The rally will feature a retelling of the history of the Axe and recognizing Stanford senior football players before their last Big Game. This event is open to the public.

Thursday, Nov. 21

Gaieties - 7 PM - Memorial Auditorium
Gaieties, an annual student-written musical extravaganza dating back to 1911. Gaieties is the ultimate celebration of just how clever Stanford students are. This year, join us at Camp Stanford! The ultimate musical summer experience FULL of forbidden love, a bear in the woods, and campers who get very... very... ginkgy...Tickets are $10 for students, $15 for faculty and staff, and $20 for the general public. For tickets and more information, visit the Gaieties 24 Eventbrite!

Friday, Nov. 22

Women’s Basketball vs. Morgan State - 7 PM - Maples Pavilion
Meet us at Maples and cheer on the Cardinal as it hosts the Bears. Click here to secure tickets in advance.

Gaieties - 7 PM - Memorial Auditorium
Gaieties, an annual student-written musical extravaganza dating back to 1911. Gaieties is the ultimate celebration of just how clever Stanford students are. This year, join us at Camp Stanford! The ultimate musical summer experience FULL of forbidden love, a bear in the woods, and campers who get very... very... ginkgy...Tickets are $10 for students, $15 for faculty and staff, and $20 for the general public. Friday is Row Night! For tickets and more information, visit the Gaieties 24 Eventbrite!

Saturday, Nov. 23

127th Big Game - 12:30 PM - California Memorial Stadium
The 127th Big Game will be in Berkeley as the Cardinal aims to reclaim the AXE in this storied rivalry.

Big Game Shuttles

• The Office of Student Engagement is happy to provide shuttle services from Tresidder to Cal's Stadium for the 127th Big Game on Saturday, November 23, 2024!  THIS TICKET IS FOR SHUTTLES ONLY. You will need to buy a separate ticket to the game. 
• Learn more & purchase a bus ticket starting 11/13 at 5pm on Eventbrite!

For Stanford and Cal, intercollegiate athletics can be traced to one contest -- the first of the football rivalry has become known as the Big Game. Stanford and Cal teams were created in the early days for the purpose of beating each other, and so it was at San Francisco’s Haight Street Grounds on March 19, 1892.

Except for the war years, Stanford and Cal have met every year since, building a rivalry that few outside of the Bay Area truly know or understand. How to explain the Stanford Axe, the trophy given annually to the Big Game winner? The Axe has a history beyond the game, having endured years of theft, conspiracy, and the constant threat thereof. Ask Stanford old-timers about The Immortal 21 -- heroes all on The Farm -- but don’t dare mention them to Old Blues.

The games themselves have featured some of the great coaches in football history -- Pop Warner, Andy Smith, Pappy Waldorf, Bill Walsh. The programs have combined to place 36 players in the College Football Hall of Fame and featured greats such as Stanford’s Ernie Nevers, Jim Plunkett, John Elway, Toby Gerhart, and Andrew Luck, while Cal has countered with the likes of Jackie Jensen, Joe Kapp, Chuck Muncie, Tony Gonzalez, and Aaron Rodgers.

Though Stanford prefers to have little to do with Cal’s 25-20 victory after the controversial multi-lateral finish to the 1982 Big Game, Joe Starkey’s radio call may never be forgotten: “They’re down to the 20 ... Oh, the band is out on the field! … He's gonna go into the end zone!”

Still, it is only one in more than a century of dramatic finishes. Among them, the 20-20 tie in 1924 that inspired this San Francisco Examiner headline: “Crowd Held Spellbound by Contest Tense With Fighting and Emotions.” Closer to the modern age, Stanford scored twice in the final 12 seconds to pull off a 27-25 upset in 1990.

Drama, emotions, and bragging rights continue to keep fans spellbound by the Big Game -- where chants of "Give 'em the Axe, the Axe, the Axe!" -- make up the soundtrack of one of the greatest rivalries in college football.

The annual "Rivals For Life" Blood Drive is happening on Wednesday, November 20th and we need your help to ensure we BEAT CAL!  Stanford lost the blood drive competition last year for the first time in 14 years.

Let’s bring home the trophy for Stanford again this year by donating at the Rivals for Life blood drive.  Where else can you SAVE LIVES, BEAT CAL, and get a commemorative Rivals scarf.

We have many appointments available and walk-in donors will be welcome as well.  Learn More and make an Appointment

WHERE and WHEN: ACSR (Galvez and Campus Dr.) from 9am to 3pm & AOERC (285 Santa Teresa) 12pm to 6pm on Wednesday, November 20th

GO CARDINAL!