Is The Big Game Only the 29th-Best Rivalry in College Football?

Fans of Cal football — and those from Stanford — celebrate the annual Big Game meeting between the two Bay Area schools as a rivalry unlike any other.

The Bears and Cardinal have squared off 127 times since their first meeting in 1892 at San Francisco. That game might not have come off except that future U.S. president Herbert Hoover, the Stanford team manager, fetched a football when everyone else forgot to bring one.

Cal’s 24-21 triumph last season marked the 56th time the Big Game was settled by a touchdown or less. The game has been decided on the final play five times, most notably in 1982 when the Bears used five laterals on a kickoff return that became known as The Play.

If that is not the most famous, or infamous, play in college football history it’s certainly on a short list of candidates.

But, as celebrated as the Big Game is here, it is not held in the same regard across the country. The Athletic published its rankings of the top 100 rivalries in college football -- a pretty good list.

And Cal vs. Stanford checks in at . . . No. 29.

Yes, the game is the sixth-longest active running series between two FBS teams, the second-longest on the West Coast. But writer Scott Dotcherman’s criteria for ranking rivalries factors in the quality of the teams and the importance of the matchups, and those two considerations don't favor the Big Game.

“I peeled back the layers of reputation and examined each one’s attributes, then compared them with objective measurements and the help of input from my colleagues at The Athletic,” Dotcherman wrote. “A few choices are perhaps controversial, but this list is a snapshot taken with a wide lens, not a selfie-stick at a tailgate.”

Here is how Dotcherman evaluates the Cal-Stanford rivalry: 

What to know: Known as “The Big Game,” Stanford-Cal in some ways feels like the FBS version of Harvard-Yale. It rarely strays into national relevance with only one ranked matchup over the past 73 years, but "The Play" elevates it in the public consciousness.

The teams compete for the Stanford Axe, which debuted during a baseball game between the schools in 1899. After winning, Cal supporters transported the Axe across the bay in a ferry. It became the rivalry’s symbol of victory in 1933.

They've met four times as ranked foes (1937, 1949, 1951, 1991) and Cal holds a 3-1 edge.
From 2021-24, the home team averages 51,639 fans for The Big Game. The average attendance for both schools combined outside of this rivalry is 34,464 over the same span. That includes Pac-12 and ACC games.

Biggest game: Behind John Elway’s final drive heroics, Stanford took a one-point lead with 4 seconds left that seemingly was going to send the Cardinal to the 1982 Hall of Fame Bowl. But on the ensuing kickoff, Cal lateraled the ball five times, with Kevin Moen collecting it first and receiving it last. Moen burst through the Stanford band gathered near the end zone and crossed the goal line for perhaps college football’s most incredible ending in a 25-20 Cal victory.

The Bears appears twice more in The Athletic’s rankings, with Cal vs. UCLA at No. 66 and Cal vs. USC at No. 8.

The Big Game ranks ahead of Oregon State vs. Washington State (No. 73), Stanford vs. UCLA (No. 72), USC vs. Stanford (No. 62), Notre Dame vs. Miami (No. 56), Arizona vs. Arizona State (No. 54) and Washington vs. Washington State (No. 30).

But Cal vs. Stanford is below the likes of Utah vs. BYU (No. 28), Oregon vs. Oregon State (No. 27), Washington vs. Oregon (No. 21) and USC vs. UCLA (No. 14).

The Athletic’s top-5 are tough to dispute: 
5: USC vs. Notre Dame 
4: Army vs. Navy 
3: Texas vs Oklahoma 
2: Auburn vs. Alabama 
1: Michigan vs. Ohio State. The Wolverines and Buckeyes, who have clashed 120 times since 1897, have met 49 times when both were ranked in the top 25 and 26 times when both were top-10 teams.

These kinds of lists, including those we’ve published on Cal Bears on SI, are meant to provoke debate. So if you disagree with any of their rankings, I promise they’re just happy you’re taking the time to read.

But three rankings in particular got my attention: 

No. 90: Mt. Union vs. UW Whitewater. I’ll admit I had to go to Google to find out what in which states these schools reside. Mt. Union is in Ohio and the UW in Whitehead stands for Wisconsin. Two things convince me this entry was little more than an attempt to create controversy: 1) These teams are not FBS or even FCS, but compete at the Division III level. Apples and oranges compared with Cal-Stanford? More like crabapples and mandarins. 2) This rivalry consists of just 12 meetings all-time since their first matchup in 2002, but got the nod based on the fact that nine times in an 11-year span they faced off for the DIII national title. No. 91 Colorado vs. Colorado State may be planning an appeal.

No. 50: Alabama vs. Georgia. Seriously, there are 49 rivalries in college football better than this one? Hard to believe. They were penalized based on the fact that they don’t square off every year, even through they have met 74 times since the first one in 1895. Since 2008, the Tide and Bulldogs have played nine times when both were ranked in the top 10, including twice for the national title. And they are one spot behind Indiana vs. Purdue?

No. 20: Harvard vs. Yale. These two Ivy League schools have played 140 times since 1875, and the two schools have produced 13 U.S. presidents. All very Saturday Evening Post. But I challenge you to name 13 NFL players spawned by the two schools. They play FCS level football and the one time Cal or Stanford faced either one was in 1949 when the Cardinal squeaked out a 44-0 victory over the Crimson.