THE 120TH BIG GAME
RECORDS: Stanford 7-3, 5-2 in Pac-12. Cal 5-5, 2-5. KICKOFF: 5 p.m. Saturday at Stanford Stadium. TV: Fox.
RADIO: KTCT 1050 and KGO 810.
SERIES HISTORY: Stanford leads 62-46-11 entering the 120th renewal and has won the past seven meetings. No school has won eight straight in the rivalry that began in 1892. … The Cardinal won 45-31 last year at Berkeley as Christian McCaffrey rushed for a Big Game record 284 yards and three touchdowns. Cal’s Davis Webb passed for 393 yards and two touchdowns. … The Bears’ most recent victory was 34-28 in 2009. … This is the 35th anniversary of Cal’s 25-20 victory after a last-second, five-lateral kickoff return that became known as simply “The Play.”
STORYLINES: No. 20 Stanford (No. 22 in College Football Playoff rankings) can win the Pac-12 North title with a win over the Bears and a loss by Washington State at Washington on Nov. 25. Coach David Shaw’s teams have played in three of the first six Pac-12 championship games. … Cal is seeking a sixth win that would guarantee bowl eligibility in coach Justin Wilcox’s debut season. … Cardinal running back Bryce Love, the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week who leads the nation in rushing yards (1,622) and has scored 15 touchdowns, needs another big performance to remain in the hunt for the Heisman Trophy. Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield (3,559 passing yards, 31 touchdowns) is considered the front-runner. … Two young quarterbacks will get the chance to write their name into Big Game lore. Stanford redshirt freshman K.J. Costello, making his fourth start, is coming off his best game, having passed for 211 yards without a turnover against the Pac-12’s best defense in the Cardinal’s 30-22 upset of Washington. Cal sophomore Ross Bowers won the starting job in fall camp and has passed for 2,615 yards and 17 touchdowns, despite playing virtually the entire season without the team’s best receiver (Demetris Robertson) and running back (Tre Watson), both shelved by injuries.
STATS THAT MATTER: Love has rushed for at least 100 yards in eight of the nine games he played and has a touchdown run of 50 yards or more in his past 10 games, dating to last season. He is averaging 9.0 yards per rush this season. … Love averages more rushing yards per game (180.2) than Cal has totaled in all but two of its games. … Stanford is tied for eighth nationally and leads the Pac-12 with a plus-11 turnover margin. Cal is plus-4 but has created only two takeaways the past three games after forcing seven turnovers in its upset of Washington State. … While the Bears have substantially improved their defense (29.4 points per game allowed after 42.6 a year ago), Stanford ranks second in the Pac-12, allowing only 21.4 per game. … Both defenses have 24 sacks, but sacks allowed is a different matter: Stanford is second-best in the Pac-12 with only 12 surrendered but Cal is tied for ninth with 33. … The Bears have outscored opponents 163 to 109 in the second half. Stanford has given up only four secondhalf touchdowns over the past five games. … Cal senior kicker Matt Anderson, who set the school’s career scoring record last week, needs three points to reach 300. … Stanford redshirt freshman kicker Jet Toner, owner of one of the great names in college football, leads the conference in field-goal accuracy (18 for 21).