Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza and Stanford linebacker Gaethan Bernadel each grew up in Miami, though they didn’t know each other. What each quickly has learned is how much the Big Game means to the students, alumni and fans of both schools
“I was a little bit astounded when I realized, like, ‘Wow. This is actually a huge deal,’ ” said Mendoza, a freshman who was redshirting last season when the Bears prevailed 27-20 at Memorial Stadium in the 125th Big Game.
Bernadel, a junior, is in his first season with the Cardinal after transferring from Florida International.
“Nothing else matters. This is the one that matters,” Bernadel said. “We have to bring the Axe back to Palo Alto.”
The Axe has resided in Berkeley for the past two years. The 126th Big Game is set for Saturday afternoon in Stanford Stadium. Not including the pandemic-altered 2020 season when each team entered the matchup 0-2, this still marks the third straight year in which both the Bears (4-6, 2-5 Pac-12) and Cardinal (3-7, 2-6) will bring losing records into the rivalry game.
There hasn’t been a similar three-season stretch since 1983-85.
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Something has to give in terms of streaks. Stanford is 0-5 at home this season and has lost seven straight home games dating to last year. Meanwhile, Cal has dropped its past eight Pac-12 road games. Its last conference win on the road came — you guessed it — at Stanford in a 41-11 romp in the 2021 Big Game.
Or, consider this: Beginning with the Bears’ 24-20 thriller in the 2019 Big Game — when Chase Garbers’ 16-yard TD run with 1:19 left provided the deciding score — Cal has almost as many wins at Stanford Stadium in two games as Stanford has had (three) in 20.
Who Stanford’s starting quarterback will be against the Bears was uncertain during the week. Ashton Daniels suffered a hand injury early in the fourth quarter of the Cardinal’s 62-17 loss at Oregon State last Saturday.
On Tuesday, head coach Troy Taylor termed Daniels “day to day.” If Daniels can’t go, backup Justin Lamson will start. Lamson, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound transfer from Syracuse, leads the Cardinal with 246 rushing yards and four rushing TDs. He has not had much success as a passer: 36-for-82 (43.9%) for 485 yards, with two interceptions and no TDs.
Mendoza has been something of a revelation for the Bears. His only action in the first five games came in mop-up time of Cal’s 58-21 rout at North Texas in the season opener. His one pass was incomplete.
Then after watching Sam Jackson V and Ben Finley alternate as the starter in the first five games, Mendoza got the call for the Oregon State game Oct. 7. He has kept firm control of the job since then, going 88-for-143 (61.5%) as a passer with eight touchdowns and four interceptions.
Mendoza earned his first victory as a starter when the Bears held off Washington State 42-39 last Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
“He’s pretty special,” Taylor said of Mendoza. “I’ve been impressed the times that I’ve seen him play. He just seems very composed. He’s got a great toughness and the team has really rallied behind him.”
Like Mendoza, Taylor sat behind two QBs (Brian Bedford and Kevin Brown, in 1986) as a freshman before getting his first start in a game against the Beavers in Berkeley. Taylor wound up starting for four seasons and threw for 8,126 yards in his Cal career. Jared Goff, now with the Detroit Lions, is the only Cal QB to have thrown for more yards (12,200).
A reporter asked Taylor if he saw any of himself in Mendoza.
“I think I was the eighth quarterback,” Taylor cracked. “I thought I was redshirting until Tuesday of the Oregon State game. I’m sure he’s much more prepared, both mentally and emotionally.”
Emotions surely play a part in any Big Game. Taylor can’t help but have mixed emotions. He referenced his “love for (Cal) and what it’s given me,” adding he’ll “always have a lot of gratitude for the university, the program there.”
Soon thereafter, he said, “Now being on the other side of it, obviously, this is my family, the Stanford Cardinal.”
And Taylor, who also has been a part of the Big Game as a Cal assistant coach and radio broadcaster, can amplify what two players from across the country quickly have absorbed about a series that dates to 1892.
“Everybody in the Bay Area really comes alive and pays attention to” the Big Game, Taylor said, “and there’s history that’s made, names that are remembered forever because of it.”
Reach Steve Kroner: [email protected]; Twitter: @SteveKronerSF
Nov 17, 2023|Updated Nov 17, 2023 2:21 p.m.
Steve Kroner’s main coverage beats for The San Francisco Chronicle’s Sporting Green are WCC basketball, the Giants and the A’s. He occasionally covers the NFL and college football, the NBA and golf. Steve, who joined The Chronicle in November 1998, also works as a copy editor. Before working at The Chronicle, he spent 16 years as a sports producer/reporter for KPIX TV. Born in San Francisco and raised in Millbrae, Steve went to Capuchino High and then to Cal, from which he graduated in 1981 with degrees in journalism and political science.
He can be reached at [email protected].
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