College football refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of college football in the nation.
Big Game is the name given to the California–Stanford football rivalry. It is an American college football rivalry game played by the California Golden Bears football team of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Stanford Cardinal football team of Stanford University. Both institutions are located in the San Francisco Bay Area. First played in 1892, it is one of the oldest college rivalries in the United States. The game is typically played in late November or early December, and its location alternates between the two universities every year. In even-numbered years, the game is played at Berkeley, while in odd-numbered years it is played at Stanford.
Stanford Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, located on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. It is the home of the Stanford Cardinal and hosts the university's commencement exercises. Opened 102 years ago in 1921 as a football and track and field stadium, it was an earthen horseshoe with wooden bleacher seating and flooring upon a steel frame. Its original seating capacity was 60,000, which grew to 89,000 by 1927 as a nearly enclosed bowl.
John R. Ralston was an American football player, coach, and sports executive. He served as the head football coach at Utah State University (1959–1962), Stanford University (1963–1971), and San Jose State University (1993–1996), compiling a career college football record of 97–81–4. Ralston also coached the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1972 to 1976, amassing a record of 34–33–3, and the Oakland Invaders of the United States Football League (USFL) in 1983 and part of the 1984 season, tallying a mark of 9–12. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1992.
James Joseph Harbaugh is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current and 20th head football coach of the Michigan Wolverines. He played college football at Michigan from 1983 to 1986. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons from 1987 to 2000 with his longest tenure as a player with the Chicago Bears. He served as the head coach of the San Diego Toreros (2004–2006), the Stanford Cardinal (2007–2010), and the NFL's San Francisco 49ers (2011–2014). In 2015, Harbaugh returned to his alma mater, the University of Michigan.
Ogonna Nneka Nnamani is a physician, retired American indoor volleyball player, and former member of the United States National and Olympic team. She was awarded the Honda-Broderick Cup in 2004 as the nation's top female athlete across all NCAA sports and is regarded as one of the best players in Stanford University's history with a career record of 2,450 kills, for which she entered the Stanford Hall of Fame in 2015.
The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of the summer of 2023, Stanford's program has won 134 NCAA team championships, the most of any university. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 47 consecutive years, starting in 1976–77 and continuing through 2022–23. Stanford has won 26 of the 29 NACDA Directors' Cups, awarded annually to the most successful overall college sports program in the nation, including 25 consecutive Cups from 1994–95 through 2018–19. 177 Stanford-affiliated athletes have won a total of 296 Summer Olympic medals, including 26 medals at the 2020 Tokyo games. Stanford's teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conference, along with other schools from the western third of the United States.
The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as California or Cal, the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I primarily as a member of the Pac-12 Conference, and for a limited number of sports as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). Over the course of the school's history, California has won team national titles in 13 men's and 3 women's sports and 113 team titles overall. Cal athletes have also competed in the Olympics for a host of different countries. Notable facilities used by the Bears include California Memorial Stadium (football) and Haas Pavilion. Cal finished the 2010–11 athletic season with 1,219.50 points, earning third place in the Director's Cup standings, the Golden Bears' highest finish ever. Cal did not receive any points for its national championships in rugby and men's crew because those sports are not governed by the NCAA. Cal finished 12th in the 2014-15 standings.
Eugene Francis "Buddy" Teevens III is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Dartmouth College, a position he held from 1987 to 1991 and resumed in 2005. Teevens also served as the head football coach at the University of Maine (1985–1986), Tulane University (1992–1996), and Stanford University (2002–2004).
The Stanford Cardinal football program represents Stanford University in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level and is a member of the Pac-12 Conference's North Division. The team is known as the Cardinal, adopted prior to the 1982 season. Stanford was known as the "Cardinal" for its first two decades of athletic competition, then more commonly as the "Cardinals" until 1930. The name was changed to the "Indians" from 1930 to January 1972, and back to the "Cardinals" from 1972 through 1981. A student vote in December 1975 to change the nickname to "Robber Barons" was not approved by administrators.
Kenneth Margerum is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons during the 1980s. Margerum played college football for Stanford University, and earned consensus All-American honors twice. He played professionally for the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers of the NFL.
The Notre Dame–Stanford football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team of the University of Notre Dame and Stanford Cardinal football team of Stanford University. As of 2022, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Stanford Cardinal have met 36 times, beginning in 1925. The Notre Dame–Stanford game has been played annually since 1997, with the teams meeting at Notre Dame Stadium earlier in the season in even-numbered years, and at Stanford Stadium on the weekend following Thanksgiving in odd-numbered years since 1999. The game typically alternates positions in Notre Dame's schedule with its other Pac-12 opponent, USC.
The 1986 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. In head coach Jack Elway's third season at Stanford, the Cardinal had its first winning season since 1980 and received its first post-season bowl invitation since 1978.
The 2004 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was led by head coach Buddy Teevens.
The 2003 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was led by head coach Buddy Teevens.
The 2001 Stanford Cardinal football team represented Stanford University in the 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was led by head coach Tyrone Willingham who resigned at the end of the season to become the head coach at Notre Dame.
Brian Stewart Polian is an American college football coach and former player. He is the Athletic Director at John Carroll University. He is the former head coach of the Nevada Wolf Pack football team. He is the son of former National Football League (NFL) executive Bill Polian.
The Stanford Cardinal women's soccer team represent Stanford University in the Pac-12 Conference of NCAA Division I soccer. Home games are played at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium, located on the university's campus in Palo Alto. Paul Ratcliffe has coached the Cardinal since 2003, winning Pac-12 Coach of the Year eight times. During his tenure as head coach, the team won the 2011, 2017, and 2019 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament and nine Pac-12 titles, played in nine College Cup tournaments, and reached five NCAA Division I finals.
