The pomp, circumstance, and pregame fight were the only indications that the 113th Big Game was, in fact, a big game. Once the actual football started, Stanford dominated Cal both offensively and defensively. Even though the 48-14 final score doesn’t sound like the mark of a close game, Cal wasn’t even 34 points worse than the Card on Saturday in Berkeley. Quick Reads: Commence!

• Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck led the way with 235 yards passing and 2 touchdowns, while completing 80% of his passing attempts. Luck also led all rushers with 72 yards on the ground. Luck’s 58-yard scramble early in the game constituted the bulk of his rushing yards, but Luck easily deserves the MVP of the game honors.
• Cal got just 63 yards from star running back Shane Vereen. For a team forced to start its back-up quarterback, that kind of production from the run game simply won’t do.
• Senior wideout Doug Baldwin played a magnificent game, and did an excellent job filling in for junior big-play threat Chris Owusu, who appears to still be hurt with an undisclosed injury. Baldwin picked up nearly 100 yards and a touchdown on 5 catches and also made some NFL-caliber, highlight reel catches.
• Cal quarterback Brock Mansion will most likely improve over the off-season, but the junior from Dallas looked completely confused for most of the game. He completed just over 50% of his passing attempts, and threw 2 costly interceptions. Mansion fumbled the first snap of the game, and never managed to right the Cal offensive ship.
• Stanford beat the Golden Bears in virtually every important statistical category, including first downs, total yards, time of possession, 3rd down conversions, turnovers, rushing yards, and passing yards.
• Neither Stanford nor Cal has ever scored more than 48 points in a Big Game. In 1975, Cal put up 48 to beat Stanford 48-15 on the Farm.
• Saturday was California Memorial Stadium’s second-to-last game before being renovated during the 2011 season. During the renovation, the Bears will play in San Francisco’s AT&T Park. And boy, does Memorial Stadium need a face lift.
• Stanford leads the all-time Big Game series, 56-46-11
• Cal security (Landmark Security, for those of you keeping score at home) bullied a number of Stanford students as they attempted to rush the field following the Card’s victory. We’ll probably have a post about this is the coming days, but here are some links to tide you over.

Related Posts:

• Predicting Stanford-Cal: Big Game Edition (2010)
• Predicting Stanford-Oregon State (2010)
• Predicting Stanford-Cal