Stanford at California

Saturday, November 24, 1956. California took the Axe from Stanford

California beat Stanford 20–⁠18. It was their 58th meeting; after it, California led the series 19–⁠12–⁠5 in the games on file.

AwayStanford4–⁠6 in 1956
18
HomeCalifornia3–⁠7 in 1956
20

FinalHigh 71°F, low 45°FAttendance 81,400

In the newspapers

  • The Evening star's story: Bears Deliver for Poppy, Beating Stanford, 20-18

    Evening star, November 25, 1956, page 77

    Read the text

    Bears Deliver for Poppy, Beating Stanford, 20–⁠18 BERKELEY, Calf, Nov. “a up, I-California’s Bears, dedicating the game to their retiring foot ball coach, Pappy Waldorf, scored the first three times they got the ball today and upset Stanford, 20–⁠18. on Darrell Rob- Ierts’ conversion kicking. The victory gave the Bears a record of only three wins and seven defeats but kept Waldorf from bowling out with the worst season record in California annals. A capacity crowd of $1,000 watched Quarterback Joe Kapp direct ground marches Of 81 and SO yards in the first quarter and another for SO in the second Fullback Herb jackson rammed I3 yards for the first touchdown, Roberts scored the second from IA yard out and Jack Hart piled over from the same distance for the third. Trailing 14–⁠0 near the end of the first period, Stanford staged Ia 69-yard scoring drive, with Halfback Jeri McMillin tallying on a 13-yard run. After the third California touchdown made it 20–⁠6, the In ldians surged back 81 yards in five plays. Fullback Lou Valli, the running star of the after noon. made As yards in two plays

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.

Before kickoff

Our ratings going in

Our ratings (scores only)

Stanford 60% to win. California won as Elo’s underdog.

Officially, Stanford leads 65–⁠51–⁠11; as played, 54–⁠45–⁠6 in the 105 games on file; the official count covers all 127 meetings, counting the 69 since this game.

Recent meetings
2025Stanford 31, California 10
2024California 24, Stanford 21
2023California 27, Stanford 15
2022California 27, Stanford 20
2021California 41, Stanford 11
2020Stanford 24, California 23

Around this game