105 of their 127 meetings are on file: they first met in 1892, and the earliest on file is 1918; officially, Stanford leads 65–51–11; as played, 54–45–6 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s even at 5–5. The winner takes home the Axe, played for since 1933. Stanford has held it since the 2025 game. The official count covers every meeting. Share
Who holds it comes from the games on file: the winner of the latest regular-season meeting since 1933 (bowl rematches aren’t played for it); a tie leaves it with the holder, as the rivalry’s article says. From Wikipedia’s list of rivalry games and the rivalry’s article (CC BY-SA). More on the Axe.
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from California’s side (Price 0–4–1 against Warner). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.
Both programs through the years
California StanfordTicks under the axis: each meeting, in the winner’s color
Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.
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 earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.
Photos
Rally Committee flags at the 2002 Berkeley-Stanford Big Game. Photographed by gku on November 23, 2002, at 3:35 PM.Photo: The original uploader was Gku at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The 1926 Big Game at California Memorial Stadium. Stanford won 41–6.Photo: Morton & Co., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The 1925 Big Game at Stanford Stadium. Stanford won 26–14.Photo: Morton & Co., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
California Golden Bear football team winning the 1967 Big Game. The title is incorrect.Photo: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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