One of college football’s most storied rivalries is renewed for the 117th time Saturday, as Stanford travels 40 miles north to face Cal. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET, with television coverage on Fox Sports 1.
How to watch Stanford vs. Cal: Game guide, TV/streaming, odds
Have you ever seen that play where the band was out on the field? Watch it again Saturday.
After four consecutive seasons with eleven or more wins, the Stanford Cardinal have slumped to a 5-5 overall record and 3-4 Pac-12 mark with two regular season games left to play. The Stanford offense, based so heavily on the run during that four-year run, has sputtered in 2014:
The Cardinal are last in the Pac-12 in scoring offense, ninth in rushing, tenth in passing and tenth in total yards. While Stanford’s defense is its typically stout self, topping the conference in points allowed, it has not been enough to keep the Cardinal among the conference’s elite teams.
Where Stanford has fallen, Cal is in ascendancy. The Golden Bears, who lost all eleven games against FBS opponents last season, needs just one win to achieve bowl eligibility for the first time since 2011. Head coach Sonny Dykes has moved far closer to fully installing his pass-happy offense: Cal is throwing for 352 yards per game, good for fourth nationally and second in the Pac-12.
While Cal’s defense has been atrocious -- the Golden Bears’ 39.7 points and 518 yards allowed per game are last in the conference by a mile -- Cal has largely been able to simply outscore lesser opponents.
How to watch, listen, and stream
Game time: 4 p.m. ET
TV: Fox Sports 1 or Fox Sports 2
Radio: Cal IMG Radio Network information available here; Cardinal Sports Network affiliates here.
Online streaming: Fox Sports Go
The numbers
Rankings and records: Both Cal and Stanford enter Saturday’s game at 5-5 with three Pac-12 wins. Neither team is ranked.
Vegas: Stanford is a 5.5-point favorite, with an over/under of 56.5, per OddsShark.
Weather forecast: Early rain should end near gametime, with temperatures at kickoff near 60 degrees.
Two things at stake
There is one of college football’s biggest things at stake Saturday: The Stanford Axe, which is awarded to the victorious team after an epic staredown. In 1899, Stanford used an axe to decapitate a straw man dressed in Cal’s colors. Cal students stole the axe during a baseball game two days later and smuggled it back to Berkeley in a student’s coat despite local police searching students leaving Palo Alto.
By 1933, it had become The Big Game’s traveling trophy. Stanford, which annihilated Cal 63-13 last season, has held it for the last four years.
As if that was not enough, both Stanford and Cal are one win from bowl eligibility. With Stanford closing its season against UCLA and Cal hosting BYU, a sixth win in the finale is hardly a given. Saturday’s game could be the best chance of a sixth win for both teams.
One big matchup
Kevin Hogan vs. Cal's defense: The Golden Bears do nothing particularly well on defense, but they have been somewhat capable at stopping the run. Opponents are averaging just 140 yards on the ground against Cal, good for fourth in the Pac-12.
If Stanford’s anemic offense has a chance of keeping up with the Golden Bears, it will need its senior quarterback to come through. Hogan has yet to break 300 yards this season and threw for just 104 yards on 27 attempts in last week’s loss to Utah. That won’t cut it Saturday.
Further reading
Rule of Tree is your home for Stanford information, while California Golden Blogs covers the Golden Bears.
See More:
