Big Game 1990

With Big Game coming up this weekend, I found myself thinking back over my favorite Big Game memories, and one jumps out immediately.  Big Game 1990 at Berkeley was a game I'll never forget and certainly one of the best games in the rivalry.

A group of us seniors made the trek from Palo Alto to Berkeley and found seats in the Stanford section behind the south end zone.  I don't remember the details of how the game got to its final act, but I do know that the Mighty Card trailed 25-18 when they got the ball back late in the fourth quarter for what looked like their last chance.  Quarterback Jason Palumbis led a drive that resulted in a touchdown with twelve seconds left on the clock, bringing the score to 25-24.

In the pandemonium that ensued, I told all who would listen that they would go for two to win the game.  (Remember, this was long before the overtime rule came to college football.)  Standing in the row behind me was a freshman I knew -- Scott Walker, whom you might know from ESPN and the Golf Channel.  He argued that they had to kick the extra point and settle for the tie.  Even twenty years later, I remember my response word for word: "Denny Green is a fucking man.  He's gonna go for the win!" (Of course, now I know that the Two-Faced Denny Green is not a fucking man, but that's another story for another time.)

Here's where things started getting crazy.  Before the Stanford touchdown, the Cal students had begun spilling out of the stands and preparing for what they knew would be a celebration.  As Stanford lined up for their two-point conversion on our end of the stadium, there somehow seemed to be more Cal fans on the track than in the bleachers.  The conversion failed, and the roar from the stadium was deafening.  The waiting horde of Cal fans rushed the field while those of us in red stood in stunned silence, knowing that the Axe was lost.

But then there was a voice.

"Please clear the field!  The game is not over!"

The field was full of celebrating Cal students and players, but twelve seconds still remained on the clock.  The voice on the public address continued to urge the mass of humanity to disperse, and the officials eventually had to call a penalty on the Cal sideline for delay of game.  Along with those pesky twelve seconds, the penalty was just another piece of bookkeeping.  No matter what the voice said, the game was clearly over.

Once the field was cleared and the penalty stepped off, Stanford lined up to kick off from midfield.  Here's a video of the onside kick:

The video tells you that Stanford recovered at Cal's 37-yard line, but with only ten seconds remaining things still looked bleak.  There was time for one more play, possibly, and then maybe a field goal attempt.  Palumbis dropped back and completed a short pass, but there was another penalty, a disputed personal foul for roughing the passer.  (And by the way, even if it was a questionable call, we'll just call it even for five illegal laterals that were ignored once upon a time.)  Suddenly the ball was inside the twenty yard line and kicker John Hopkins was sprinting out onto the field.  Seconds later he split the uprights and the game finally was over: Stanford 27, Cal 25.

I had never experienced anything like it.  Thousands of Stanford fans poured down onto the field, and every one of us gained extra pleasure from the idea that we were dancing on the same turf our Cal counterparts had claimed only minutes earlier.  I raced the entire length of the field, from one end zone to the other and back until I found my friend Jack and we decided it might be fun to climb the poles used to hoist the nets behind the goal post.  I got about half way up my pole, then decided I could climb faster if I used the rope to pull myself up.  The rope broke and I fell about fifteen or twenty feet, landing flat on my back, cushioned by my backpack but breaking my arm.  

I lay on the ground surrounded by security and my best friends in the world.  My arm ached and I couldn't breathe, but it didn't really matter.  We had won the Axe.

So that's my story.  What's yours?

Comments

[The Al Davis Memorial Golf Tournament to Support Research on Vampire AIDS]

The author forgets one additional fact. He also declared after the onside kick recovery that he would take us all out to dinner if we won. However, when the check came for dinner, our author realized that he had forgotten his wallet. So we ended up flipping the bill for him.

[Yup]

He also forgets the broken? cracked? arm suffered by a certain overzealous field-rusher....

[Hank]

"The rope broke and I fell about fifteen or twenty feet, landing flat on my back, cushioned by my backpack but breaking my arm."

I didn't forget.

[Matthew]

Best football game I ever went to. Big Games when I was that young were a family affair. We sat high behind the south goalposts and got the traditional Memorial Stadium splinters in our rear ends. After the failed two-point conversion, my younger sister asked me why all the Cal fans were on the field and I told her because they had won. We were thrilled after the onside-kick at the mere prospect of a 54-yard field goal attempt. On the next play, we saw the penalty flag in the backfield, and assumed it would be holding. After the roughing call was announced, we couldn't believe it was going to be a plausible field goal attempt. As Hopkins split the uprights and the fans in red ran over the field, my dad and I jumped up and down in each others arms. We were oblivious to the fact that we were practically trampling my five-year-old brother. He was fine.

[wbond]

What a great game.

That was my first Big Game and I was amazed at the level of security pre-game (police in what can only be described as riot gear lining the field). I clearly recall the scene where the band was playing in the Stanford corner of the field, with their slung-frozen-fruit-projectile-protecting hard helmets on tight, when two or three Cal students jumped onto the field, briefly alluded the police and attempted to run through the band, presumably to attack the Tree. The brass section attacked said students who emerged several moments later, shirtless and bloodied only to be arrested by the security force - all before the game began.

What a rivalry. What a game.