Today at 4:00 p.m. ET, California (1-10, 0-8 Pac-12) and No.9 Stanford (8-2, 6-2 Pac-12) go head-to-head live from Stanford Stadium. The game can be live streamed here. California fans can hear all of the action on KGO 810 while Stanford fans can do the same on KNBR 1050 AM .
Stanford hosts California this afternoon in the 116th edition of The Big Game after a shocking 20-17 loss at USC that ended a three game winning streak through tough contests and allowed Stanford to control their fate in the Pac-12. Now, the team will have to keep winning and need some outside help as well.
"November in this conference, there's no comparison to any other conference in the country," coach David Shaw said per ESPN. "People can say whatever they want to say, it's not even close. You have to come to play in November. Everywhere you play, everybody you play, you're going to get a heck of a game."
Tyler Gaffney rushed for 158 yards and two scores last week, but Stanford was damned by three turnovers. Gaffney has rushed for 1,196 yards with 235 carries and 15 touchdowns thus far this season.
"We didn't make enough plays offensively," Shaw said via ESPN. "When we did make plays, they didn't result in points. That's not going to win in this conference."
Stanford's hopes of appearing in a fourth straight BCS bowl seem to be dashed, but Shaw isn't about to let his team wallow in the losses.
"They don't have a choice in their mood," Shaw said, according to ESPN. "It's The Big Game, and it's at home. There's going to be energy, there's going to be fire. If it's not there during the week, it's our job as coaches to manufacture it."
The Golden Bears enter as the underdog as their mediocre season draws closer to the end, but the team is okay with coming in seen as the underdog.
"You can go into the game with the 'we have nothing to lose' mentality," coach Sonny Dykes said via ESPN.
Cal has dropped nine straight since Sept. 7 and is coming off of a 41-24 defeat at Colorado last week.
"It's just kinda been one of those years, the perfect storm where we haven't caught any breaks," Dykes told ESPN. "That's football. We have to make our breaks."
Freshman signal caller Jared Goff has been a bright spot for Cal, having thrown for 3,314 yards while being just 186 yards shy of the school's all-time record set in 1996. Goff is 308-for-509 (60.5%) with 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
"We have to play a tough, physical 60 minutes of incredible football. Purely toughness on every single play," Goff said via ESPN. "The struggles are really bringing us together as a team. Coming from the underdog scenario we are in gives us a little extra energy. We have nothing to lose. We are going to go in and fight."
The 116th version of The Big Game blasts off this afternoon when California and Stanford take the field against each other.
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