Cal Football: How Much Does The Play Impact Ranking of the Big Game?

Lindy's magazine rates Cal vs. Stanford as college football's ninth-best rivalry

In a story titled “20 Rivalries for 2020,” Lindy’s college football preview magazine has ranked the Big Game as the ninth-best rivalry in the sport.

My question:

Should the annual clash between Cal and Stanford — which will (hopefully) renew for the 114th time this fall — be ranked higher on the list?

Or perhaps lower?

Several of the matchups rated higher than the Big Game clearly deserve their status. Few would argue that the Army-Navy game, ranked No. 1 on Lindy’s list. holds a unique place in college football. The Alabama-Auburn game earned a 1B distinction based on the intensity and the high quality of its in-state rivalry.

Nos. 3, 4 and 5 are also annual blockbusters: Michigan-Ohio State, Oklahoma-Texas and Notre Dame-USC.

Nos. 7 and 8 on the list — Florida-Georgia and Florida State-Miami — pit programs that often have competed at the highest level nationally.

In between those groups is the ancient, quaint Ivy League duel pitting Harvard and Yale, schools that have produced 12 U.S. presidents but perhaps not that many NFL players a casual fan could name.

There’s no arguing the Crimson and Bulldogs these days play a different level of college football. Between them, they own one all-time victory against a current member of the Pac-12 — Harvard’s 7-6 victory over Oregon in the 1920 Rose Bowl.

The only time either Ivy squad faced off against one of the Bay Area teams was in 1949, when Stanford beat Harvard 44-0.

But if little more than 136 years of tradition elevates The Game above the Big Game, it’s also worth asking why Cal-Stanford should be placed above the likes of USC-UCLA, Auburn-Georgia or Florida-Florida State.

In my view, the answer was provided in 1982 when the Bears pulled off The Play, the Keystone Cops-style, five-lateral, game-winning kickoff return that ranks as possibly the most amazing play in college football history.

An instant classic moment that will endure forever, The Play is the overwhelming reason the Big Game lands a top-10 spot on the list of the game’s greatest rivalries.

Here's what Lindy's had to saw about the Big Game:

As the oldest rivalry in the West, The Big Game includes a decade of rugby scrums when football was abandoned for being so barbaric in 1906. Even though students who were in Strawberry Canyon for “The Play” in 1982 are becoming senior citizens, it remains one of the iconic for all college football . . . and college marching bands.

Yes, the Big Game -- like all great rivalries -- features plenty of moments fans will long remember.

But only the Big Game has The Play.

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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