Stanford, Cal are eager to begin a turnaround
After inauspicious starts to their seasons for a variety of reasons, the Stanford and Cal football players are desperate for a first victory.
If that wasn’t motivation enough, here comes the Big Game — a regional rivalry drenched in tradition and lastminute highlights.
Fiftyfive of the teams’ 122 meetings have been decided by seven or fewer points, including last year, when Chase Garbers’ 16yard run with 79 seconds remaining gave Cal a 2420 victory. The
Bears’ players and fans paraded around Stanford Stadium with the Axe, having claimed the rivalry’s trophy for the first time since 2009.
“The hardest loss I have ever personally taken was last year, losing to Cal,” Stanford tackle Foster Sarell said. “The standard that we’ve set here is: We just beat Cal. That’s what we do. Losing to them, it hurt me pretty good. I felt bad for the legacy of that year.
“I think this year holds a lot of weight, because we’ve kind’ve got to reverse this deal. We can’t let them get away with two in a row, so we’ve got to do everything we can. That means scratching and clawing to get this win and get that Axe back. I think it’s a really big deal, and it’s really important to this program.”
The Cardinal hold a 644711 alltime edge in the sixthmostplayed rivalry in college football, but Stanford hasn’t found that type of success this year in a season rife with valid excuses for the 02 start.
Stanford didn’t have quarterback Davis Mills or receiver/returner Connor Wedington in its seasonopening loss at Oregon because of a thirdparty coronavirustesting protocol error. The gaffe wasn’t fixed for nearly a week, giving
Mills and Wedington just one practice to prepare for a 3532 loss to Colorado.
Last Saturday’s scheduled home game against Washington State was canceled after a coronavirus outbreak left the Cougars with fewer than the required 53 scholarship players.
Cal (02) has had an unfortunate start to its season as well, with its season opener against Washington canceled after a positive test and the ensuing contact tracing and quarantining left the Bears with only one defensive lineman available.
The position group missed the entirety of the next week’s practices, too. So the Bears had to do shorthanded prep and travel to Pasadena to play UCLA with about 40 hours of advance notice about the matchup that replaced a scheduled game against Arizona State.
UCLA trounced Cal 3410, but the Bears looked much better Saturday in a 3127 loss at Oregon State. Cal had a 1standgoal with a chance to take the lead in the final two minutes, but Garbers’ pass was batted into the air and intercepted.
Of course, a victory in the Big Game would go a long way toward erasing the frustrating start to the season.
“I’d say the Axe is not only a culmination of all of our hard work, because it’s not every game that you get to go and win something and bring back to school and hold above your head and be proud about, but it’s also a win for the community,” Cal kicker Dario Longhetto said. “You know how much it means to everybody else..”