I’m 40, but I’ve been a Cal fan a long time and am familiar with classic games that preceded me and I feel obligated to contribute to your list for games pre-2007 for our new Australian bandwagoner. Every game mentioned here is available on YouTube. I’m going to focus mostly on the 80s and 90s but I’ll start with a really unique earlier one.
1975 v USC
Cal football had been a big joke for decades and the days of Pappy’s Boys were a distant memory. One of his former players, Mike White became head coach and actually made Cal respectable. The 1975 team was loaded with talent and featured an almost perfectly balanced passing and running attack led by Cal legend Joe Roth, RB Chuck Muncie (the dude was so hardcore he wore glasses under his football helmet, and receivers Wesley Walker and Steve Rivera. USC was ranked in the top 10, and the game was broadcast nationally on ABC which pretty much never happened for Cal. The 75 team went on to win a piece of the Pac-8 championship, but due to head to head rules and the fact post season play was so exclusive, UCLA went to the Rose Bowl instead and the 1975 team was one of the most talented teams Cal ever had that never got to play in a bowl game.
1982 Big Game. The only game with “The Play”. The problem with being the game with “The Play” is that it overshadowed what an amazing Big Game this was. The game was back and forth between two decent, evenly matched teams culminating with what John “Horseface” Elway thought was this herculean impossible to pull off drive for a game-winning field goal. The ending is of course cemented in football history, but it means even more when you see the game in its entirety and buildup to the drama. Also worth noting was John Elway was reportedly seen and heard chasing the officials and yelling, “You’ve ruined my career!” which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
1986 Big Game.
Joe Kapp was as passionate as you can be as a Golden Bear. That passion did not translate into coaching ability. The Bears entered the Big Game having only won one game all season, their starting freshman yet super talented QB, Troy Taylor was injured, and Joe Kapp had already been fired and was coaching his last game. Stanfurd on the other hand had a winning season and a team of talent led by future NFL quarterback John Paye. In classic Big Game tradition, none of that shit mattered and Cal shocked the Furd pulling off the upset and Joe Kapp went out a winner with his players carrying him off the field on their shoulders.
1990 Copper Bowl
Bruce Snyder took over coaching duties for Kapp and was in year 4 of the program rebuild resulting in a winning season and their first bowl game since 1979 which had been their only bowl since Pappy Waldorf was the coach. It was a bad drought. The game itself was against Wyoming and honestly wasn’t super memorable but it was a big deal due to just how much Cal didn’t play in bowl games and the team was loaded with talent including two 1000 yard rushers in Anthony Wallace and freshman sensation Russell White which was a springboard into the 1991 season.
1991 has several games on here because I have to emphasize how special this team was. Bruce Snyder finally had all his recruits in place and he had brought some absolute studs to Berkeley including WRs Shawn Dawkins, Brian Treggs, RB Russell White and an absolute monster of an O-Line loaded with future NFL hall of famers, Troy Auzene, Eric Mahlum, Todd Steussie, and Steve Gordon. The team was led by none other than Cal media personality QB Mike “The Polish Rifle” Pawlawski.
1991 at UCLA
Cal hadn’t beaten UCLA in Los Angeles in like 20 years and had only beaten them in general for the first time in like 19 years the year before. This game was cathartic for long-suffering Old Blues.
1991 Washington
The only loss on the list. U-Dub was an absolute juggernaut at this time loaded with talent. Both teams entered the game unbeaten and nationally ranked. I’m 90% sure I was at this game but would have been in first grade and had no grid for what the implications were. It was an incredible game to watch other than some illegal tripping by Washington that went uncalled by the refs. Cal was driving down the field to try to score the go ahead touchdown at the end of the 4th quarter and came up short. U-Dub went on to win the national championship that year in the Rose Bowl and Cal had given them the only scare they really faced all year.
1991 U$C
The LA Times headline pretty much sums up why I enjoy watching this game so much to this day.
“Cal Runs It Up, Rubs It In, 52-30 : USC: Bears score the most points and White rushes for the most yards ever against Trojans, who fall to 3-5. Cal starters play until the fourth quarter.”
The University of Spoiled Children was having an uncharacteristic down year and Cal had one of their most talented teams ever and administered one of the most savage beat downs ever on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Strawberry Canyon. Over 600 yards of offense including Russel White rushing for 229 and QB Mike Pawlawski passing for 212. Cal was absolutely running up the score because those douche canoes had it coming and it was hilarious. Fuck the Trojans.
1992 Citrus Bowl
After a humiliating loss in the 1991 Big Game as a result of complete lack of discipline and stupid penalties (an unfortunate characteristic of Bruce Snyder’s teams), Cal was playing on New Year’s Day for the first time in almost four decades. Now, you youngin’s don’t remember the pre-BCS era, but once upon a time, there weren’t that many bowl games at all, so going to one was a big deal by itself with the most coveted spots being the bowl games on New Year’s Day which was the culmination of football season with the best matchups, including the Granddaddy of Them All. Most bowls had a traditional conference tie-in, the Rose Bowl famously being the Pac-10 Champ vs Big 10 Champ. Everyone would play their respective bowl games, and only after all the games were played did the AP and Coaches polls determine who the overall national champ was. There were no computers or weird formulas, and they didn’t always agree. There were years when there was a split national title which lead to all kinds of off season controversy. I honestly kind of miss how much more simple it was. The bottom line is, a New Years Day bowl was a coveted position because everyone would watch them since they were all on the three major networks because ESPN wasn’t what it is today and nobody had cable unless you were Ritchie Rich. Instead of dragging out well into January like it does now, New Years Day was this glorious final all at once college football orgasm that only the select few got to participate in. Cal traveled to Orlando to face the Clemson Tigers. Clemson who was largely unfamiliar with Cal thought their southern good old boys were going to have an easy time with those west coast nancy boys from California. Cal had other thoughts and proceeded to take Clemson behind the woodshed and won the game 37-13 finishing in the top ten for the first time in basically ever. The sky was the limit. The cupboards were stocked with blue chip talent and all Cal had to do was extend Bruce Snyder who loved the school and was committed to the longterm success of the football program, however he demanded facility upgrades because it was making it difficult to recruit. Yes, even back in 1991, Memorial was decrepit and falling apart and was used as a tool by other coaches to dissuade players from playing for the Bears. Alas, our idiot AD Bob Bockrath was a giant piece of shit and refused to re-sign him and commit to the program upgrades needed, and Bruce left the program he rebuilt from scratch to go coach at Arizona State who he would lead to the Rose Bowl instead. The program would never fully recover from this travesty, and only Jeff Tedford would ever bring the program anywhere close to the 1991/92 high water mark 12-15 years later, and even then, I would argue none of Tedford’s teams finished in as good of a place as the 1991 team did. The stadium facility renovations Bruce Snyder begged for would never be realized until almost 20 years after the fact.
1993 v Oregon
After shitting the bed with Bruce Snyder, the athletic department also made the mind-boggling decision to not hire existing offensive coordinator Steve Mariucci and opted to bring in outsider Washington D Coordinator Keith Gilbertson as head coach. Some people are brilliant coordinators and that’s the role they are best at and who have no business being a head coach. Gilby was one of those people. He never quite clicked because I don’t think he ever stopped being a Washington guy. Of the four Gilby teams between 1992-1995 only the 1993 team had a winning season(9-3), largely as a result of players Snyder recruited. The most noteworthy, in my opinion, being the game against Oregon in which Cal overcame the largest deficit in program history (30 points) and came back to win the game. QB Dave Barr played out of his mind. I still can’t believe that game was real and that it happened.
There were other notable games in the 90s. The 1996 game against Arizona was actually the game that prompted the rule change requiring you to go for 2 on the third OT. 1994 would be the last time Cal had the Axe until Jeff Tedford arrived in 2002. It’s kind of hard to imagine now, but extended Big Game winning/losing streaks were rare and didn’t happen until the mid to late 90s through 2001. It was a dark time.
I’m 40, but I’ve been a Cal fan a long time and am familiar with classic games that preceded me and I feel obligated to contribute to your list for games pre-2007 for our new Australian bandwagoner. Every game mentioned here is available on YouTube. I’m going to focus mostly on the 80s and 90s but I’ll start with a really unique earlier one.
1975 v USC
Cal football had been a big joke for decades and the days of Pappy’s Boys were a distant memory. One of his former players, Mike White became head coach and actually made Cal respectable. The 1975 team was loaded with talent and featured an almost perfectly balanced passing and running attack led by Cal legend Joe Roth, RB Chuck Muncie (the dude was so hardcore he wore glasses under his football helmet, and receivers Wesley Walker and Steve Rivera. USC was ranked in the top 10, and the game was broadcast nationally on ABC which pretty much never happened for Cal. The 75 team went on to win a piece of the Pac-8 championship, but due to head to head rules and the fact post season play was so exclusive, UCLA went to the Rose Bowl instead and the 1975 team was one of the most talented teams Cal ever had that never got to play in a bowl game.
1982 Big Game. The only game with “The Play”. The problem with being the game with “The Play” is that it overshadowed what an amazing Big Game this was. The game was back and forth between two decent, evenly matched teams culminating with what John “Horseface” Elway thought was this herculean impossible to pull off drive for a game-winning field goal. The ending is of course cemented in football history, but it means even more when you see the game in its entirety and buildup to the drama. Also worth noting was John Elway was reportedly seen and heard chasing the officials and yelling, “You’ve ruined my career!” which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
1986 Big Game.
Joe Kapp was as passionate as you can be as a Golden Bear. That passion did not translate into coaching ability. The Bears entered the Big Game having only won one game all season, their starting freshman yet super talented QB, Troy Taylor was injured, and Joe Kapp had already been fired and was coaching his last game. Stanfurd on the other hand had a winning season and a team of talent led by future NFL quarterback John Paye. In classic Big Game tradition, none of that shit mattered and Cal shocked the Furd pulling off the upset and Joe Kapp went out a winner with his players carrying him off the field on their shoulders.
1990 Copper Bowl
Bruce Snyder took over coaching duties for Kapp and was in year 4 of the program rebuild resulting in a winning season and their first bowl game since 1979 which had been their only bowl since Pappy Waldorf was the coach. It was a bad drought. The game itself was against Wyoming and honestly wasn’t super memorable but it was a big deal due to just how much Cal didn’t play in bowl games and the team was loaded with talent including two 1000 yard rushers in Anthony Wallace and freshman sensation Russell White which was a springboard into the 1991 season.
1991 has several games on here because I have to emphasize how special this team was. Bruce Snyder finally had all his recruits in place and he had brought some absolute studs to Berkeley including WRs Shawn Dawkins, Brian Treggs, RB Russell White and an absolute monster of an O-Line loaded with future NFL hall of famers, Troy Auzene, Eric Mahlum, Todd Steussie, and Steve Gordon. The team was led by none other than Cal media personality QB Mike “The Polish Rifle” Pawlawski.
1991 at UCLA
Cal hadn’t beaten UCLA in Los Angeles in like 20 years and had only beaten them in general for the first time in like 19 years the year before. This game was cathartic for long-suffering Old Blues.
1991 Washington
The only loss on the list. U-Dub was an absolute juggernaut at this time loaded with talent. Both teams entered the game unbeaten and nationally ranked. I’m 90% sure I was at this game but would have been in first grade and had no grid for what the implications were. It was an incredible game to watch other than some illegal tripping by Washington that went uncalled by the refs. Cal was driving down the field to try to score the go ahead touchdown at the end of the 4th quarter and came up short. U-Dub went on to win the national championship that year in the Rose Bowl and Cal had given them the only scare they really faced all year.
1991 U$C
The LA Times headline pretty much sums up why I enjoy watching this game so much to this day.
“Cal Runs It Up, Rubs It In, 52-30 : USC: Bears score the most points and White rushes for the most yards ever against Trojans, who fall to 3-5. Cal starters play until the fourth quarter.”
The University of Spoiled Children was having an uncharacteristic down year and Cal had one of their most talented teams ever and administered one of the most savage beat downs ever on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Strawberry Canyon. Over 600 yards of offense including Russel White rushing for 229 and QB Mike Pawlawski passing for 212. Cal was absolutely running up the score because those douche canoes had it coming and it was hilarious. Fuck the Trojans.
1992 Citrus Bowl
After a humiliating loss in the 1991 Big Game as a result of complete lack of discipline and stupid penalties (an unfortunate characteristic of Bruce Snyder’s teams), Cal was playing on New Year’s Day for the first time in almost four decades. Now, you youngin’s don’t remember the pre-BCS era, but once upon a time, there weren’t that many bowl games at all, so going to one was a big deal by itself with the most coveted spots being the bowl games on New Year’s Day which was the culmination of football season with the best matchups, including the Granddaddy of Them All. Most bowls had a traditional conference tie-in, the Rose Bowl famously being the Pac-10 Champ vs Big 10 Champ. Everyone would play their respective bowl games, and only after all the games were played did the AP and Coaches polls determine who the overall national champ was. There were no computers or weird formulas, and they didn’t always agree. There were years when there was a split national title which lead to all kinds of off season controversy. I honestly kind of miss how much more simple it was. The bottom line is, a New Years Day bowl was a coveted position because everyone would watch them since they were all on the three major networks because ESPN wasn’t what it is today and nobody had cable unless you were Ritchie Rich. Instead of dragging out well into January like it does now, New Years Day was this glorious final all at once college football orgasm that only the select few got to participate in. Cal traveled to Orlando to face the Clemson Tigers. Clemson who was largely unfamiliar with Cal thought their southern good old boys were going to have an easy time with those west coast nancy boys from California. Cal had other thoughts and proceeded to take Clemson behind the woodshed and won the game 37-13 finishing in the top ten for the first time in basically ever. The sky was the limit. The cupboards were stocked with blue chip talent and all Cal had to do was extend Bruce Snyder who loved the school and was committed to the longterm success of the football program, however he demanded facility upgrades because it was making it difficult to recruit. Yes, even back in 1991, Memorial was decrepit and falling apart and was used as a tool by other coaches to dissuade players from playing for the Bears. Alas, our idiot AD Bob Bockrath was a giant piece of shit and refused to re-sign him and commit to the program upgrades needed, and Bruce left the program he rebuilt from scratch to go coach at Arizona State who he would lead to the Rose Bowl instead. The program would never fully recover from this travesty, and only Jeff Tedford would ever bring the program anywhere close to the 1991/92 high water mark 12-15 years later, and even then, I would argue none of Tedford’s teams finished in as good of a place as the 1991 team did. The stadium facility renovations Bruce Snyder begged for would never be realized until almost 20 years after the fact.
1993 v Oregon
After shitting the bed with Bruce Snyder, the athletic department also made the mind-boggling decision to not hire existing offensive coordinator Steve Mariucci and opted to bring in outsider Washington D Coordinator Keith Gilbertson as head coach. Some people are brilliant coordinators and that’s the role they are best at and who have no business being a head coach. Gilby was one of those people. He never quite clicked because I don’t think he ever stopped being a Washington guy. Of the four Gilby teams between 1992-1995 only the 1993 team had a winning season(9-3), largely as a result of players Snyder recruited. The most noteworthy, in my opinion, being the game against Oregon in which Cal overcame the largest deficit in program history (30 points) and came back to win the game. QB Dave Barr played out of his mind. I still can’t believe that game was real and that it happened.
There were other notable games in the 90s. The 1996 game against Arizona was actually the game that prompted the rule change requiring you to go for 2 on the third OT. 1994 would be the last time Cal had the Axe until Jeff Tedford arrived in 2002. It’s kind of hard to imagine now, but extended Big Game winning/losing streaks were rare and didn’t happen until the mid to late 90s through 2001. It was a dark time.
Where is the write for california tailgate? Is it open invite?
I’m a Republican member of the Cal community, but I love the Calgorithm. I’m totally fine leaning into the stereotypes if it makes Cal sports better.