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- Goff-Hogan a big Big Game QB matchup
Smack in the middle of preparations for the latest installment of their ancient rivalry -- precisely when vitriol should rule the day -- Cal and Stanford are showing each other a little love, particularly at quarterback.
Cal's Jared Goff praised Stanford's Kevin Hogan to the top of Tightwad Hill and back before the 118th Big Game, while Hogan talked in glowing terms about Goff's talent and humility.
The coaches went one better. Stanford's David Shaw called Goff "the kind of guy you root for," while Cal's Sonny Dykes suggested Hogan, not Oregon's former Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota, has been the best player in the conference over the past three years.
"He gives them a chance to win every Saturday,'' Dykes said, "and that's about the best thing you can say about a quarterback."
There's plenty to say about Hogan and Goff entering Saturday's showdown at Stanford, including this: They form the Big Game's best quarterback matchup this century and one of the greatest in series history.
The list, it turns out, is shorter than you might think.
The schools have produced a long line of stellar passers. But many of the greatest (Frankie Albert, Bobby Garrett, Craig Morton, Jim Plunkett, John Elway, Aaron Rodgers and Andrew Luck) didn't face an elite quarterback on the other team.
Injuries have stripped the rivalry of several premium duels: Rich Campbell, an eventual top-10 draft pick, didn't face Elway at the end of the 1980 season; Kyle Boller missed a showdown with Todd Husak in 1999; and Trent Edwards was unavailable to square off against Rodgers in 2004.
Examine the history, scan the resumes, and we're left with a clear-cut No. 1 and a handful of others for the pantheon of Big Game quarterback matchup. Goff vs. Hogan, it turns out, is more than worthy of inclusion.
"They have different styles,'' Shaw said, "but they're both really good at the style they play."
Just missed the cut: The 1953 game matching Stanford's Bob Garrett against Cal's Paul Larson, in which each player intercepted the other (twice) while playing defense. The teams played to a 21-21 tie.
Here's a closer look at the top matchups.
1. Cal's Joe Kapp vs. Stanford's John Brodie
Date: Nov. 24, 1956
Score: Cal 20, Stanford 18
An easy choice: Both players would go on to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Kapp, a sophomore, had thrown just one touchdown pass all season. Brodie was a consensus All-American and the nation's top passer.
"I've always said he throws a beautiful spiral," Kapp said this week. "Their whole system was based on exploiting the T formation in those days. In my time, I think he was the best passer."
Cal coach Pappy Waldorf's announcement during game week that he was retiring provided the Bears, who were 14-point underdogs, with an emotional edge. Waldorf tweaked his blocking schemes, and Kapp took advantage by rushing for 106 yards.
"We found out if the guard pulled to one side, just for one step they'd be going the wrong way," Kapp recalled. "All the center had to do was block one of them and the other was going the wrong way. That's why you see 100 yards."
The 49ers used the third pick of the first round to draft Brodie, who went on to throw 214 touchdown passes in 17 NFL seasons.
Two years after winning the Big Game as a sophomore, Kapp quarterbacked Cal to its most recent appearance in the Rose Bowl. He couldn't throw a spiral but once tossed seven touchdown passes in a game for the Minnesota Vikings.
2. Cal's Joe Roth vs. Stanford's Guy Benjamin
Date: Nov. 20, 1976
Score: Stanford 27, Cal 24
Four decades later, Benjamin's memories of the game are hazy. His recollections of Roth are not.
"He had beautiful technique, a great arm,'' said Benjamin, the director of Hawaii Medical College. "A lot of people who didn't go to Cal had no idea how good he was. With (Steve) Bartkowski, everybody knew. But Joe was more unassuming.''
Heisman Trophy voters were aware enough of Roth for him to finish ninth in the voting that year. (Pittsburgh's Tony Dorsett won it.) But when the teams collided in Berkeley at the end of the season, Roth was overwhelmed by the melanoma that would take his life a few months later.
He completed just 11 of 27 passes and was pulled from the game. Benjamin, who would finish sixth in the Heisman voting the following season -- hence this matchup's place in the pantheon -- also split time. He and senior Mike Cordova led the Cardinal to a come-from-behind victory, with Ron Inge's late touchdown run the difference.
"What's so shocking is that you didn't know anything,'' Benjamin said of Roth's illness. "Here was this great quarterback, and the next thing you knew, he was dying. His story is so inspiring.''
3. Cal's Steve Bartkowski vs. Stanford's Mike Boryla
Date: Nov. 24, 1973
Score: Stanford 26, Cal 17
Bartkowski, arguably the greatest quarterback in Cal history, was a No. 1 overall pick the NFL Draft.
Boryla had a much lower profile than the likes of Plunkett, Elway and Luck, but he put together an All-American season in 1973 with 17 touchdown passes.
Neither quarterback was at his best in the finale. Bartkowski rotated with Vince Ferragamo, who ultimately transferred to Nebraska, and Boryla was injured.
Stanford rallied for victory behind running back Scott Laidlaw.
4. Goff vs. Hogan
Date: Nov. 21, 2015
Score: ???
They have different backgrounds, different styles of play and have spent only a brief period of time together. And the offenses they direct -- Cal's Bear Raid and Stanford's ground-and-pound -- stand in stark contrast.
But Hogan and Goff share two things in common: mutual respect, and skill.
Hogan, a fifth-year senior, is the front-runner for all-conference honors and projected to be a middle-round selection in the NFL Draft next year. Goff, a junior, could be a top-10 pick if he turns pro.
"This game is going to have the two best quarterbacks in the conference -- and it's a conference with a lot of good quarterbacks,'' Shaw said. "If you've got one game to win, I'd probably pick between these two."
5. Cal's Mike Pawlawski vs. Stanford's Steve Stenstrom
Date: Nov. 23, 1991
Score: Stanford 38, Cal 21
Pawlawski would be named the conference's co-offensive player of the year in '91, while Stenstrom, a freshman, was ramping up a career that included five years in the NFL.
This was one of the few Big Games in which both teams were enjoying standout seasons: The Bears, ranked No. 6 at the time, were on their way to the Citrus Bowl; Stanford was No. 21 and headed to the Aloha Bowl.
The game might be best known for Cal receiver Brian Treggs' vow to live in Palo Alto if the Bears lost -- they did, he didn't -- but Stanford running back Tommy Vardell was the star.
"I remember a lot of personal fouls, and we couldn't stop their running game,'' Pawlawski said. "Vardell must have run for two-and-a-half miles.''
It seemed like that: 182 yards and three touchdowns, to be exact.
"Stanford had a ton of talent, and so did we,'' Pawlawski added. "We knew going in that we'd punch each other in the mouth and see who was left standing.''
For more on college sports, see Jon Wilner's College Hotline at blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports. Follow Jeff Faraudo on Twitter at twitter.com/Jeff Faraudo.
