30 Comments

I actually enjoy the full big game experience in Stanford more so than at Cal...primarily due to the true tailgate experience! And it feels much sweeter when we win at the farm. Although, driving out of the grove is a mess. Not sure if folks are being facetious when they reference the game being played in Palo Alto...but Stanford has it's own zip code, post office and is a city unto itself and not a part of Palo Alto...not that anyone cares lol!

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Agreed. I tailgate every Cal home game from the Dwinelle parking lot 4 hours before kickoff. When we take our whole tailgate to the Farm, it feels twice as fun. Arrived in Lot #4 at 11am. This Big Game, the Golden Bear fans were out in FORCE! It was as many as I’ve ever seen. Much glorious swilling! Go Beers!

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Nov 23, 2021Liked by Avinash Kunnath

That's where we tailgate. Stop by for USC

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Feels great to take over their stadium. But I do fear for the next time Stanford wins in Strawberry Canyon, they will almost certainly rush the field.

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Well it's not like it's never happened (on both sides). We will survive.

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We always seem to outnumber the Stanford fans and tailgate parties as well...so it feels more like a home game!

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I don't think we actually outnumber, but we are a LOT louder.

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If not, we definitely have the better tailgate parties...by far!!!

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From Cal media: "The Bears became the first FBS team this season and the first Pac-12 team since 2014 to record three plays of 75 or more yards in a game with Dancy's run Cal's longest since an 81-yard touchdown run by Brendan Bigelow at Ohio State in 2012."

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Saw that Bigelow run at the Horse Shoe- so electric. OSU fans couldn't believe it. Happy for Dancy!

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Also, Hearns named freshman of the week in the Pac12!! Earned it!!

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Amazing:

Lu-Magia Hearns III, CB, 5-10, 160, Fr., 1st Season At Cal, Pittsburg, CA (De La Salle HS)

— Set the tone with his first career interception on Stanford's second offensive play from scrimmage

— Finished with a career-high and Cal season-high five passes defended as well as a career-high four pass breakups that equaled Cal's season high

— Five passes defended were tied for the third-most in the nation in a single game this season and the most by a Pac-12 player

— Four pass breakups were tied for fifth nationally and tied for first in the Pac-12 in a single game

— Ranks second in the Pac-12 for the season with 0.90 passes defended per game

— Has recorded team highs of nine passes defended and eight pass breakups to go along with one interception and 25 tackles as a 2021 collegiate rookie while playing in nine games with six starts that lead all Cal true freshmen

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Lu-Magia "The Hitman" Hearns is gonna have a long, productive career for us, I can feel it!

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Saturday was my 44th Big Game and because I've seen so many losses every win is precious and to be savored. I'm not sure why this one felt especially good. Maybe because of all that's gone on with the team and also in the world since the last Big Game win. It's also nice to give them a thorough ass whipping which we haven't done much lately and especially to do in their domicile. It seemed to me, also, that Bear fans were particularly loud, boisterous and happy. It was a great night and I'm still tingling. Nice write up as always Nick, I always look forward to your perspective. Oh by the way, Go Bears!

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the other tidbit from the Shaw press conference that I really liked was that furd had had their best week of practice all year

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I mean how many times have we heard that from our coaches (Gilby, Mooch, Holmoe, Tedford, Dykes, Wilcox) - and then we come out and play poorly.

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Agreed. But I’ve never heard them say it AFTER a blowout loss. It comes across as Shaw sounding like he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

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"That’s what I’m focusing on for now. There will be plenty of time over the next few weeks to talk about the consequences of bowl eligibility should Cal pull off the comeback to go 6-6, or the trajectory of the Wilcox tenure as the focus slowly moves towards 2022."

Part of me wants to quibble about the use and distribution of trick plays, but this is the approach I'm taking. It was a fun game that I'll be keeping on my DVR forever and it seemed like a great environment and field-rushing opportunity. And that's what's more important in a season like this.

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As long as we're talking history, the 1975 Big Game had a lot of parallels with this past weekend. It was on the farm. It was also following a previous close Big Game Cal loss on a last second play. It was also a beatdown, with Cal DOMINATING 48-15. And it also featured a halfback pass, from Chuck Muncie, to Wesley Walker (both of whom went on to NFL careers), which scored a TD.

BTW, on the radio Palowski was saying "watch for the double pass". Did he alert the enemy? Maybe we would have scored a TD on that play otherwise. But no matter!

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I was a freshman on that team. Coach White suited up everybody for the game, even though technically it was an away game. Being a CAL guy himself, he understood the meaning of the game. to CAL players and fans. As I recall, at the time, it was the biggest margin of victory in the Big Game. And, that year CAL had the #1 offense in the country and were perfectly balanced in rushing and passing. They gave us all t-shirts with the info printed on it. Mine was stolen out of my laundry at my fraternity within weeks. Great memories though. Joe Roth, Wesley Walker, Chuck Muncie, Steve Rivera...

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What a great team to be a part of! In '80 my dad and I few to NY to see Cal play Army. There was an event in the City the night prior and Walker attended cause he was playing for the Jets at the time. Really nice guy. I was kind of star truck.

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Wow, that was a fantastic team! Thanks for sharing.

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Thanks for the additional personal memories! I suppose I saw you that season. That was also the year Muncie was on the cover of Sport Illustrated, and beat the jinx. ...There was also OL Ted Albrecht.

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Thanks for the link!

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This is one to file away in the memory banks never to be forgotten. It will be on the DVR for a long time.

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"Because winning The Axe, and the subsequent joy it produces, will never be something any of us will take for granted."

My very first Big Game was the 1980 win, which coming on the heels of a 3-8 season, taught me right away how one game could rescue an otherwise agonizing season. Subsequent wins in 1982 and 1983 made me feel like Big Game victories would become regular occurrences. History has disabused me of such silly notions, of course, such that these wins are becoming more and more precious and, wins like Saturday are, as you kids say now, "iconic".

While I'd love to see wins against uclol (especially being surrounded by so many Bruin grads at my school site) and U$c over the next couple of weeks, the truth remains that I'll remember 41-11 forever. Big Game wins are like that, and Nick gets it exactly right.

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If the opponent is not worthy of respect, the victory is not worth crowing about. Sorry for ending on a preposition.

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I was led to believe this was going to start "My name is Nick, and I am a big dummy." False advertising as always!

1. Two turnovers - one was a fumble, not INT. But with regards to the INT, we wouldn't have been in 3rd and Sixteen except for one of the handful of egregious calls on the afternoon - and its gauche to complain about the refereeeing when on the top side of a 30 point stomping, but it felt like we were on the bad side of some calls - including one that indirectly led to the end zone interception.

2. Cal, as a historical perspective is kind of a weird spot. We're no longer a historical, never been sort of school like say Temple or Rutgers. With pros like Marshawn, Keenan, Cam Jordan, Alex Mack, etc .etc and some intermittent success like early Tedford and late Dyke and even early Wilcox - we're a fairly middle of the pack program. So this is why we do this - I think, the middling usual results make games like this so sweet. A bad program will never get here, and a great program doesn't take pleasure in individual wins - but for those in the middle, this was a truly truly sweet afternoon.

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Nov 22, 2021Liked by Christopher Helling

Come now, Nick, there's no need to exaggerate.

"Hundreds of Stanford fans" stretches belief

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I remember the Stanford dude bragging about their attendance, and after Cal rushed the field, I realized those pumped up attendance numbers were all Cal fans.

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