The 1918 Big Game is one that is sometimes referred to as “The Game That Never Was”. If you are a Stanford fan, you probably wish the game was never played; California won the game 67-0. Stanford-Cal games played between 1906 and 1914 were played under Rugby rules. The two teams did not meet between 1915 and 1917 due to the war.

Some people contend the game is not in the record books, but I have seen it listed often in official game programs as a real contest between the teams. Wikipedia states that the 1918 game was an “unofficial” football game played by Student Army Training Corps (SATC) teams and should not be included in series record.

The 32 page program is shaped like a football, which is rare for Big Game Programs (1920 was football shaped also). One thing that is indisputable is that the 1918 program is indeed on the of the rarer Stanford-California programs to find and that very few college football programs from any team were produced in 1918.

We have a nice selection of Stanford v. California Big Game Programs at our website