Stanford does not need any reminders of how long the Axe has been on the other side of the Bay. When Cal (6-4, 3-3 ACC) runs out of the tunnel at Stanford Stadium on Saturday, they will be chasing a fifth-straight Big Game win — and the Cardinal (3-7, 2-5 ACC) will be trying to end a drought that stretches back to 2020.

Both teams enjoyed a bye week coming into this matchup, but Stanford is coming off a brutal loss to North Carolina while Cal is trending upward after an overtime win at Louisville. The Cardinal returning back home, however, may serve as the ultimate equalizer. The Cardinal’s only three wins this season have come at Stanford Stadium, where the offense doubled its scoring output compared with the road (25 points per game at home versus 12.5 away) and averaged more than 110 additional yards on offense. 

In the aforementioned loss at North Carolina, redshirt freshman quarterback Elijah Brown was sacked nine times, a reminder that protection must improve against a Cal defense that has recorded at least one sack in 22 straight games. In large part to the disappointing outing against the Tar Heels, head coach Frank Reich said the bye week was anything but a vacation.

“It’s a bye week, but it’s Big Game, and we’re in preparation mode,” Reich said. “We reduced the physical work but kept the same focus and intensity, shorter but intense practices, tightening things up schematically and getting guys healthy and fresh so we come in fully ready this week.”

He added that he “felt it Sunday” when the team returned from North Carolina. “In our team meeting, in practice, in the building, you can feel the excitement and the spirit around this game,” Reich said.

With all the hype surrounding Big Game, this will be a tough test for the inexperienced Brown, who will be starting just his second game of the season. Senior tight end Sam Roush will be central to helping Brown settle in. Roush leads all ACC tight ends in receiving yards (458) and is two catches shy of the league lead for tight ends, ranking in the top 10 nationally in both categories. 

“He did a great job last week,” Roush said of Brown. “We were running the ball well, and in the second half our offense started to show some flashes, and we’re going to carry that over this week. Elijah has been doing great, and obviously we’ve got a great offensive system as well.”

Roush believes a year of development behind former quarterback Ashton Daniels and redshirt senior Ben Gulbranson has paid off for the young quarterback. 

“Sometimes quarterbacks are forced to start their freshman year, and that can be hard on them,” Roush said. “Him having a year to develop was great, just being able to learn, and now he’s able to come into his own.”

Around Brown, the Cardinal will lean on their most reliable playmakers. Senior wide receiver CJ Williams ranks among the ACC leaders in catches and yards and has posted four 100-yard games, the first Stanford player to do so since 2018. In the backfield, sophomore Micah Ford and redshirt freshman Cole Tabb give Stanford two backs over 400 yards, something the program has not seen since 2010.

Across the line of scrimmage, Stanford’s defense faces one of the nation’s most productive freshman passers. True freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele has thrown for at least 200 yards in each of his first 10 college games and ranks among the ACC’s leaders in passing yards and completions. He is joined by running back Kendrick Raphael, who has 12 total touchdowns, and wide receiver Jacob De Jesus, whose 73 catches rank near the top of the conference.

“With all due respect, I’m not going to try to pronounce his name,” Reich joked of Sagapolutele. “I’ll tell you what, he’s fun to watch on tape. He can get the ball all over the field… when he finds that rhythm, he’s dangerous. It’s a good test for our defense. We do a good job, I think, in disguise and mixing things up — that’s going to be critically important. We need to be effective on first down, get them behind the sticks as much as we can and play ball from there.”

Redshirt junior cornerback Collin Wright echoed that challenge of facing Sagapolutele.

“He’s very talented, very accurate and makes all the right reads,” Wright said. “We just have to do a good job trying to confuse him. Obviously, he’s a young quarterback and we have to use that to our advantage.” 

De Jesus, Wright added, poses another major threat on Cal’s offense. 

“He’s fast, very shifty. They love to give him the ball,” Wright said. “Communication for us is going to be a huge thing, knowing where he is and trying to limit all those explosive plays.”

Statistically, Stanford’s defense has taken steps forward under coordinator Andy Thompson, allowing 407.7 yards and 29.7 points per game — both on pace to be the program’s best marks in several seasons — and just 123.7 rushing yards per game, its lowest clip since 2013. For Wright, the key is physicality. 

“We have to be physical,” he said. “As much as we can do our job and really try to make those guys super uncomfortable while they’re running routes or trying to block us, that’s truly the key. We just have to be the more physical team.”

Beyond schemes and stats, this Big Game carries an emotional weight for Stanford’s veterans. Cal has won every year since Wright and Roush arrived on campus, and these two season-long team captains are starving for a win over Berkeley.

“We haven’t been able to get it done since I’ve been here, and I think everybody is very clear what this game means to us and to everybody that’s played here before,” Wright said. “What better year to do it than now? Records obviously don’t matter. All the outside noise doesn’t matter. What’s going to matter is what we do in between the white lines.”

Roush called Saturday his “last crack at it.” 

“The last three years, two of them were our game and we kind of let that go, so that sticks with me,” he said. “This is the biggest game of the year for me and for the team.” 

Reich, in his first Big Game as Stanford’s head coach, said players are well aware of the “dry spell” against Cal. 

“Sure, that’s motivation, and it’s big motivation,” he said. “But that motivation has to lead to enhanced preparation. You just can’t turn that emotion on Saturday and expect to get what you want. The increased motivation has to come into play during the week, when we’re in meetings, when we’re on the practice field and that’s what we’re shooting for.”

Oddsmakers have installed Cal as a slight road favorite, but after a week of self-scouting, healing and scheming, Stanford believes that a strong home track record, an emerging young quarterback and a physical defense give it a real chance to flip the script — and to finally bring the Axe back to Palo Alto.