The Play (November 20, 1982)
Stanford University and UC Berkeley are four-year Bay Area universities known for their academic excellence.
In the 2018 U.S. News and
World Report rankings, they were ranked in the top four in the entire world.
The Big Game is a football game played between the two universities every single year. In the latest Big Game
(2023), Cal defeated
Stanford 27-15 in Stanford. Cal started with the scoring with a touchdown pass from Fernando Mendoza to Trond Grizzell nine minutes and fifty-seven seconds into the game and never relinquished the lead. For the game, Mendoza threw for 294 yards (136 of them were to Grizzell) and three touchdowns (the first two were to Grizzell). Overall, there have been 126 (!!) Big Games. Stanford has won 65 of those games, Cal has won 50, and there have been 11 ties.
One of the most memorable plays in college football history occurred at the end of the 85th Big Game, which took place exactly two years before I was born.
Cal won the game 25-20 on a five-lateral (!!), kickoff return touchdown with no time remaining. This
kickoff return touchdown is known as The Play.
I have a connection to both UC Berkeley and Stanford University. I spent four years as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley and received my bachelor's degree in pure
mathematics (with highest honors) and statistics in 2006. Since The Play, Cal has won the Big Game only fifteen times (out of forty-one games). Yet, they won
the Big Game all four years I was there! After graduating from UC Berkeley, I received my master's degree in statistics from Stanford University in 2008.
Additionally, I visited Stanford frequently when I was a very young child in Santa Cruz. (Stanford and Santa Cruz are located approximately 43 miles away from each
other.)
When I was a high school senior, I applied to just three four-year universities and all three are located in Northern California: Stanford, UC Berkeley, and
UC Davis. I was selected by UC Berkeley and UC Davis, but I was rejected by Stanford. When I was a senior at UC Berkeley, I applied to the same three universities for graduate school and was selected by all three!
Given my connection to both universities, which team do I support in the Big Game each year? I root for the alma mater of
Aaron Rodgers and Marshawn Lynch. Go Bears!! (My time at UC Berkeley (2002-2006) overlapped with
Lynch's time (2004-2007) and Rodgers' time (2003-2005) at Cal.)