(JONATHAN YORK/The Stanford Daily)
Big Game is here.
The Stanford-Cal rivalry commenced with the first Big Game on March 19, 1892 in San Francisco’s Haight Street Grounds. Stanford holds a slight lead in the series, 55-45-11. In recent years, however, the rivalry has been dominated by Cal: the Golden Bears have won six of the past seven Big Games, including a resounding 37-16 win last year.
This year’s Stanford team, however, is not the Stanford team of years past.
No. 14 Stanford (7-3, 6-2 Pac-10) is bowl eligible and ranked in the top 15 for the first time since 2001. Additionally, the team is coming off a trio of huge wins: against Arizona State, following a pair of momentum-halting losses against Oregon State and Arizona; against then-No. 7 Oregon, making Stanford bowl-eligible for the first time since 2001 and keeping the Cardinal in the race for a Rose Bowl appearance; and finally, against then-No. 11 USC, racking up the most points ever scored against the Trojans in a 55-21 massacre at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Stanford, however, is not ready to bask in its past achievements.
“We know who we are,” said Head Coach Jim Harbaugh at Monday’s pre-Big Game press conference. “We’re a blue collar team that’s gotta prepare, gotta study, gotta practice with great intensity . . . [O]ur guys, they have the ability to handle tough times and they have the ability to handle more rewarding times . . . We’re already back to work.”
The Cardinal will need to be on its game, as Cal has been gaining some momentum of its own. Cal (7-3, 4-3 Pac-10) was ranked No. 12 in both the AP and USA Today polls in the preseason, and after starting off the season with a series of decisive wins, jumped to No. 6 in both polls. A pair of losses to Oregon and USC in the following weeks dropped the Golden Bears out of the top 25 in both polls, but they have recovered, winning four of their past five games.
Last week, the Golden Bears defeated then-No. 18 Arizona, 24-16. Shane Vereen, playing in place of star tailback Jahvid Best, who is recovering from a serious concussion he sustained against Oregon State, posted a career-high 159 rushing yards on 30 carries and a touchdown. The Cal defense held the Wildcats to 274 yards of total offense, an average of only four yards per play and intercepted Arizona sophomore quarterback Nick Foles twice.
Overall, Cal is ranked first in the Pac-10 in rush defense, allowing only 3.1 yards per carry. Junior linebacker Mike Mohamed leads the conference in tackles.
“Right now it looks like we’re gonna have our hands full and a great challenge with this Cal team,” Harbaugh said. “They have an identity on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, special teams, they’re very impressive to watch. It will be a big challenge for our offense.”
“I think Cal has got the best defensive front that we’ve faced all year,” he added. “Tyson Alualu is the best defensive lineman in the Pac-10, they’ve got great linebackers, [Devin] Bishop, [Mike] Mohamed, [Mychal] Kendrix — all those guys, they’ve got an identity defensively.”
The Cal defense will have a tough test when it faces Stanford’s prolific offense, which leads the Pac-10 with almost 450 total yards per game. Much of that success is due to senior tailback Toby Gerhart, who is currently third in the nation in rushing yards with 1,395 yards in 10 games. He averages 5.3 yards per carry and leads all running backs with 19 rushing touchdowns.
“I personally think that not only should he be in the [Heisman] discussion,” Harbaugh said, “but based on what he’s accomplishing and what he’s accomplished up until this point, he should win it.”
Luck is ranked 13th in the nation in passing efficiency with a rating of 151.84 and fourth in the nation in yards per attempt with 9.3. On top of that, he’s Stanford’s second-leading rusher with 288 rushing yards, 5.6 yards per carry and 2 rushing touchdowns.
“There have been some really good quarterbacks at Stanford since John Elway,” ESPN broadcaster David Norrie told the San Jose Mercury News. “But this is the first Stanford quarterback since Elway where you go, ‘Wow.’”
A win would keep the Cardinal alive in the race for the Pac-10 title and a Rose Bowl berth, not to mention bringing the Axe back to Stanford. The Cardinal knows the Golden Bears will provide a steep challenge, though.
“In a rivalry game,” Gerhart warns, “teams bring their A-game. Everything’s above and beyond records, or what’s happened in the past. For that one weekend, anything goes.”
“This week, this game, is huge.”