THE BIG GAME will be played at Stanford Stadium on Saturday, which is appropriate because the the stadium opened with the Big Game 100 years ago, on November 19, 1921.
The bowl-shaped stadium was built in four months, using horses and wagons, at a cost of $211,000. It was renovated in 2006 from 86,000 capacity to the two-level state-of-the-art 50,000-seat stadium of today.
On the first action of the first contest, Cal fumbled the opening kickoff and Stanford recovered at the Bears' 2-yard-line. Stanford's Jack Patrick scored the first touchdown, on a 1-yard run in front of 62,740, the largest crowd for an athletic event in California history up to that time. However, that was the lone Stanford highlight in a 42-7 loss to Cal, a year removed from its great 1920 "Wonder Team," but still a 9-0-1 Rose Bowl team.
With football gaining popularity and the country flushed with an economic boom after World War I, permanent football stadiums on college campuses were built around the country in the 1920s, replacing those with wooden bleachers, such as the 14,000-seat Stanford Field, situated where the Taube Family Tennis Center and Arrillaga Family Sports Center are now. Cal's Memorial Stadium opened in 1923.
Within a century, Stanford Stadium would host Herbert Hoover's Republican presidential nomination acceptance speech, a Super Bowl, men's and women's World Cup soccer, Olympic soccer, Olympic track and field trials, the famed U.S. vs. USSR track meet, Stanford football's "Vow Boys," "Wow Boys," and "Now Boys." John Elway, Jim Plunkett, Ernie Nevers, and Christian McCaffrey. Jackie Robinson, Walter Payton, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, and Pat Tillman.
This will be the 49th Big Game at Stanford Stadium and Stanford is 28-19-1 against the Bears on that field.
Stanford Stadium, 1921. From Stanford Quad.
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A STANFORD TEAM that has started four different quarterbacks this season should return to Tanner McKee, who is expected to be sufficiently recovered from injury to make the start.
Ari Patu, the first true freshman to start for Stanford since John Paye in 1983, is unavailable because of an injury suffered against Oregon State on Saturday. Isaiah Sanders would serve as the backup to McKee.
Among those also expected back from injury are cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly, tight end/defensive end Tucker Fisk, linebacker Ricky Miezan, and safety Jonathan McGill in his season debut.
David Shaw, Stanford's Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football, said the playbook will not be modified if McKee is not 100 percent.
"Tanner's a great young man, very positive," Shaw said. "But if I didn't give him the full complement, that might be the one dirty look he would ever give me. If he's back and ready to go, he understands this offense extremely well. No trimming the playbook."
Receiver and offensive captain Michael Wilson is in his third game back after missing 11 months with an injury, but McKee was out those same games. This would be their first extensive action together.
During a brief stint against Oregon last season in his collegiate debut, McKee targeted Wilson once. The pass was not completed, but the Ducks were flagged for pass interference. Otherwise, their only game action together is limited to the Polynesian Bowl high school all-star game (Jan. 20, 2018) in Hawaii, though McKee and Wilson were on opposing teams.
"I'm really excited to play with him," Wilson said. "He's a special quarterback, not only in his ability, but also in his leadership qualities and what he's got inside. He's a great leader, puts a lot of good touch on the ball. His passes are very easy to catch."
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STANFORD HASN'T WON the Big Game at home since 2017, which means only the fifth- or sixth-year seniors have been part of a Cardinal team that carried the Axe into the home locker room. The specter of not winning the Axe in their final season haunts seniors on both teams.
"I've been on the side where we won the Axe and I've been on the side where we lost the Axe," Wilson said. "There's no greater feeling than winning the Axe. And, on the flip side, there's no worse feeling than losing the Axe.
"I remember in 2019, we lost and Cal stormed our field. That was worst I've ever felt after a loss. Chasing that victorious feeling of holding the Axe is what's pushing us this week."
Said fifth-year outside linebacker Gabe Reid, "This is for the seniors. We have a picture in our team auditorium of all the seniors holding the Axe. That's something that we always talk about: At the end of the week, we want to have our seniors up there cheering and celebrating holding the Axe."
Gabe Reid, 2019 Big Game. Photo by Bob Drebin.
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BIG GAME HISTORY Lesson No. 1:
The first Big Game was played on March 19, 1892, at San Francisco's Haight Street Grounds, a baseball park that opened in 1887 and was demolished in 1895. The field was across Stanyan Street from the current Kezar Pavilion and was the site of the first four Big Games.
The football played in that first Big Game – a 14-10 Stanford victory -- hardly is recognizable to the game played today. Touchdowns were worth four points, field goals four, and kicked conversions two. The forward pass was illegal, so offenses only could score by running the ball over the goal line and touching the ball down, or by kicking the ball through the goal posts, which were on the goal-line.
The center of the field was the 55-yard line. There were no hashmarks, and end zones had no deep boundaries. Teams had three downs to gain five yards for a first down. The center snap by hand did not become legal until the following season. Instead, "snapperbacks" rolled the ball to the quarterback with their feet.
There were no huddles, so the pace of play was quick, with teams lining up as soon as the previous play ended. On kickoffs, the kicking team could dribble the ball a few feet, recover it, and run with it.
Play was brutal, with masses of players running into each other, and tackles were only made between the knees and shoulders. The same tight formations were used play after play, which were attempts to break a hole through the interior of the line by sending player after player into the same spot followed by the ballcarrier. This resulted in players piling atop one another while the offense gained 1 or 2 yards per play.
Clearly, it was a much different game.
Big Game, 1892.
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CAL IS EXPECTED to have its full squad available. Last week's scheduled game against USC was postponed because the Bears did not have enough players due to COVID-19 protocols. A week earlier, Cal missed 24 for the same reason and lost to winless Arizona.
A full-strength Cal squad means that quarterback Chase Garbers should be back at helm. Garbers scored on a 16-yard scramble with 1:19 left to lift Cal to a 24-20 victory over Stanford in 2019, ending the Cardinal's nine-game winning streak in the series.
Garbers, whose brother Ethan threw passes to Stanford receiver John Humphreys at Corona del Mar High in Southern California, also passed for 285 yards and ran for 72 in that game.
"Chase is an absolute competitor," Shaw said. "Of the guys I respect most in this conference, he's in that small group, because he puts his heart on the line every single play. He plays the game the way it's supposed to be played, with energy and passion. I have the utmost respect for him."
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IN STANFORD'S 35-14 loss at Oregon State last week, the Cardinal used a four-man defensive front, as opposed its usual 3-4 defense, to better stop the run. The Beavers still gained 218 on the ground, but the reviews were largely positive.
"It made things simpler in terms of fits -- everyone has a gap in front of them for the most part," Reid said. "We had some kinks we have to work through, which definitely comes with having one week of practice doing that stuff. But, overall, we were pretty happy with how we played in terms of run defense out of that new front."
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Michael Wilson, 2020 Big Game. Photo by Bob Drebin/ISIphotos.com.
WILSON HAS BEEN at his best in the Big Game. In last year's 24-23 victory in Berkeley – saved by Thomas Booker's block of a PAT with 58 seconds left – Wilson caught seven passes for 88 yards and scored a touchdown on his way to earning the Frank Rehm Award for the second consecutive year as one of Stanford's most outstanding players in the Big Game.
"I said after that game, that this was the most fun I've had in the last two years of my life," Wilson said. "That was one of the best games I've played from a receiver standpoint, in terms of blocking and putting up good numbers. We played that game without fans, but that game carries so much weight that the competitiveness on the field was exactly the same."
Shaw is thankful that Wilson is back, especially for this one.
"Mike is a difference maker," Shaw said. "Mike is violent. Every route is violent, crisp, explosive. His blocks are violent, his runs after catches are violent. In a game like this, they're going to be contested catches, not a lot of guys are going to be wide open. So, we're going to have to fight for the ball. There are very few guys you want fighting for the ball on your side than Mike."
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BIG GAME HISTORY Lesson No. 2:
In 1927, the "Statue of Liberty" play was in vogue. Typically, it was a direct snap to the tailback, who held the ball high as if intending to pass before pulling it down. As he held the ball behind his back with his non-throwing hand, a teammate crossed behind, took the ball and ran around end.
With Stanford leading 7-6 and inside Cal's 10-yard line midway through the fourth quarter at Stanford Stadium, coach Pop Warner tried a variation of the play. Instead of giving the ball to a back sweeping to the left, Stanford's Biff Hoffman kept it, concealed it on his hip and ran around the right end for a touchdown in a 13-6 victory.
Stanford players nicknamed it the "bootlegger," and the "bootleg" play is standard in football today.
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The Axe. Big Game, 2020. Photo by Bob Drebin/ISIphotos.com.
WHAT DOES THE Big Game mean?
Said Wilson, "You're playing for something that's bigger than yourself -- for the alums, past football players, the student body, for all the athletes, the guys in the NFL … So many people are invested in the game and poured so much into the Stanford community and the athletics program that you don't want to disappoint anyone."
Said Reid, "Seeing the fountains change colors and professors wishing us good luck during Power Point slides … It's a really exciting time where we're really embracing Stanford, the Stanford family, and the Stanford community.
"Keeping the Axe is huge, but just the togetherness, emotion and high energy is something that really stands out to me in Big Game week."