Background
This was the two teams' 85th Big Game, and was played on Cal's home field, California Memorial Stadium. Although Cal was guaranteed a winning record (with bowl eligibility) for the season, no bowl game was looking to invite them. The implications of this game were far more important to Stanford, led by quarterback John Elway, playing in his last regular season game before heading off to become a future National Football League star enshrined in both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame. The Cardinal football squad was in the midst of an exciting season—they were 5–5 but had victories over highly ranked Ohio State and Washington—and needed a win to be eligible to play in a bowl game. In fact, representatives of the Hall of Fame Classic committee were in attendance, apparently to extend an invitation to Stanford, should the Cardinal win.
Also at stake was possession of The Stanford Axe, an axe-head trophy that is awarded to the winner of this annual matchup. Its origins date back to 1899, but in 1933, after years of increasingly more elaborate thefts of the Axe by students from one or the other school, the two schools agreed that the winner of the Big Game would take possession of the Axe. The plaque upon which the Axe is mounted carries the scores of previous Big Games.
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