Big Game Week is baaaack! Monday kicks off a week of festivities leading up to the Cardinal’s legendary face-off against Cal during the 129th Big Game at Berkeley on Saturday, Nov. 21.
Every year, Big Game traditions return to campus as the Cardinal prepares to claim the ultimate trophy: the Stanford Axe. The first Big Game was held in 1892, with tickets printed by Herbert Hoover, then-Stanford student manager of the university’s first football team.
Axe lore has captivated Cardinal fans since its debut at an 1899 campus rally where students used it to decapitate a straw man in Cal blue and gold. Two days later, Cal undergrads grabbed it after a baseball game and scurried with it across the Bay. Stanford students tried to steal it back, but the Axe was hidden in a bank vault where it remained for more than 30 years. In 1930, the “Immortal 21” stole the Axe back during Cal’s annual Axe rally, and in 1933, the schools negotiated that the Axe would be given to each year’s Big Game winner (though in 1973, there was another dramatic heist).
The Axe Committee was established by the “Immortal 21” members who recaptured the Axe during an elaborate ploy involving flash powder and decoy cars. Today, you’ll find the student group on the sidelines waving flags, tossing T-shirts, and blowing a train whistle when Stanford scores. Axe Committee Chair Diego Mlakar, ’27, said Big Game Week is his favorite time of year: “It’s really special to see the university come together and the week becomes a celebration of all things Stanford. Campus really comes alive.”
Cardinal fans may remember wild Big Game moments of the past. Five Big Games have been decided on the final play. During the 1924 game, Stanford rallied from a 20-6 deficit to a dramatic 20-20 tie. The controversial end of the 1982 Big Game has become known as one of the most iconic plays in U.S. college sports history. Last year, the Cardinal took home the Stanford Axe in an exciting 31-10 win in front of a record-breaking crowd at Stanford Stadium, ending Cal’s four-year winning streak.
All week, Hoover Tower will be lit up red at night, and fountains across campus will run red in support of the Cardinal. And, of course, the famous “Beat Cal” banner – which fans have taken across the world (and space) – will be hoisted from Old Union.
Locations for the game alternate each year, with odd-numbered years played at Stanford and even-numbered years played at Berkeley. Information on tickets and more can be found at gocardinal.com.
In one of the nation’s oldest college rivalries, Stanford and Cal battle for the coveted Axe during the annual Big Game. Here, students participate in the Axe Stare Down at the 2025 game. | Stanford Athletics / Karen Hickey / ISI Photos
The Stanford Tree and Cal’s Oski the Bear face off on the 2025 Big Game sidelines. | Stanford Athletics / Karen Hickey / ISI Photos
School spirit abounds on the Farm during Big Game Week as the Cardinal prepares to take on Cal during the 129th Big Game on Saturday, Nov. 21.
Every year, the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band leads the “bearial” funeral procession and performs the last rites for Cal’s Oski the Bear. The event is one of the first in a series of Big Game Week activities. | L.A. Cicero
Fountains across campus will turn red in support of the Cardinal. | Andrew Brodhead
Last year, the Cardinal took home the Stanford Axe in an exciting 31-10 win in front of a record-breaking crowd at Stanford Stadium. | Stanford Athletics / Bob Drebin / ISI Photos
Here’s what to know about Big Game Week 2026:
Big Game Countdown
The Axe Committee hosts the countdown in White Plaza beginning at 7:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 16. In recognition of the 129th Big Game, members of the Axe Committee and campus community such as football players, deans, and professors will blow the whistle every hour starting 129 hours before the Big Game. “If you hear a loud noise at 12:30 at night, it’s either us or the Caltrain,” Mlakar said. “We turn it down a little bit, but we are blowing it throughout the night.”
Bearial
The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band will hold a mock funeral procession and burial of a stand-in for Berkeley’s Oski the Bear on Monday, Nov. 16. The procession will begin at the Lane History corner at 11:55 a.m. and end at the Claw fountain around noon. The festivities will be followed by a T-shirt giveaway by the Stanford Alumni Association.
Gaieties
The Ram’s Head Theatrical Society presents the 115th Big Game Gaieties, titled Freaky Farm Day: An Axe-idental Body Swap, Wednesday-Friday, Nov. 18-20, at Stanford Memorial Auditorium. The annual student-written musical production satirizing the Stanford-Cal rivalry dates back to 1911. The show’s theme changes year to year, but as one former participant shared, you can count on a Stanford victory, a love story, and a Cal villain. Get your tickets!
Big Game Rally
On Wednesday, Nov. 18, following the opening night performance of Gaieties, the Axe Committee will host the Big Game Rally in White Plaza with the annual retelling of the story of the Axe, a frosh dorm banner contest, and appearances from members of the football and cheer teams.
Writer
Chelcey Adami