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Stanford Cardinal @ California Golden Bears Football Preview

In the latest edition of The Big Game, pure logic suggests that the San Francisco Bay Area social event of the fall (at least in years when the baseball Giants don’t win the World Series) should be claimed by the Stanford Cardinal.

Then again, that’s exactly what everyone thought last year, and look how that game turned out.

College football rivalries form one of the central foundations of the sport’s enduring appeal. In rivalry games, ancient hatreds fuel longstanding backyard feuds in which anything can, and does, unfold. It just so happens to be that in recent years, the California Golden Bears have regularly spoiled Stanford’s party plans, especially in the case of the 2009 tussle between these two academic powerhouses.

Go back 12 months, and you’ll recall that Stanford was a clear favorite to take back the Axe at home in Palo Alto. The Cardinal had just eviscerated USC by a 55-21 score in Los Angeles and were riding high in the Pac-10, just behind eventual champion Oregon. Freshman sensation Andrew Luck was ready to carve up the Bears’ offense and win his first Big Game. Cal, for its part, had lost star running back Jahvid Best due to that horrible injury he suffered when he landed on his head following a spectacular flip in the end zone in a game against Oregon State. The Bears had been favorites on a regular basis against Stanford throughout much of the past decade, but in 2009, they were definite underdogs, and when the Cardinal zoomed to a quick 14-0 lead with just over four minutes remaining in the opening quarter, it seemed that the outcome was going to be a foregone conclusion.

Then the Big Game turned into a good old-fashioned college football rivalry: Everything that transpired over the final 49 minutes of play confounded the pigskin cognoscenti.

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Cal’s backup running back, Shane Vereen, became Jahvid Best incarnate, obliterating Stanford’s defense for 193 rushing yards on 42 carries in a man-sized performance of jawdropping proportions. Luck lost his edge against Cal’s resolute defense, flinching in the pocket and making generally poor decisions. The stud quarterback who had led his team to 106 points in its previous two games completed only 10 of 30 passes by the time the day was done. When he threw an interception at the 1:36 mark of regulation time, Cal was able to celebrate a shocking 34-28 triumph which left Stanford dazed, devastated and disbelieving. The Axe remained in Berkeley, and Stanford’s presence as a newfound contender in the Pac-10 did nothing to change the end result of the Big Game.

Therefore, as the scene shifts to 2010, Cal’s place as the decided underdog does nothing to reduce the Golden Bears’ level of belief… not on this upcoming Saturday at Memorial Stadium, tucked inside Cal’s Strawberry Canyon abode. Not in this game against a team the Bears have mastered in seven of the past eight meetings.

Forget the fact that Team Berkeley is playing with a backup quarterback, Brock Mansion, who is completing only 47 percent of his throws and has thrown exactly one touchdown pass in 11 quarters. Forget the fact that Cal has been a terrible team on the road in 2010; the Bears become big boys at home and nearly bumped off Stanford-slaying Oregon on Nov. 13.

Mansion’s ability to score points (or not) will be the biggest key to this collision. That almost goes without saying. However, when Stanford has the ball, this game’s five-star throwdown will emerge in full relief: The Bears lead the Pac-10 in total defense and are first in sacks as well, with 30 of them. Stanford is 14th in the Football Bowl Subdivision in total offense and has allowed only four sacks, tied for fewest in the country. Whoever reigns supreme in the trenches will shape the trajectory of this tussle. We’ll see if Stanford can finally play up to its billing in Berkeley and carry its regular-season excellence into the unique realm of a rivalry game.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer