Along with Chase Garbers, Nikko Remigio planted himself firmly in Big Game lore. With the most receptions and yards in a Big Game since Geoff McArthur in 2003 (9 receptions for 155 yards and a score), Remigio came up big for a receiving core that had dealt with drops, inconsistency, and injury in the leadup to the Big Game.

Remigio had a handful of plays that made the grade, including a couple first down catches on the final drive, a touchdown to tie the game at 17, and even a 39 yarder on a busted play, but his 40 yard reception to set up the tying touchdown may have been the most important.

1st and 10, Cal on their Own 37, 9:28 remaining in the corner

Cal brings out 11 personnel for this, but with trips to the left side of the formation (the field side). The tight end, Gavin Reinwald, is split out on the line, while the two wideouts on that side, Remigio and Duncan, are off the line. RB Chris Brown motions out, bringing a Stanford LB out with him. That shows Garbers that he has man coverage on the outside.

The concept here is one that is in vogue throughout college football, the inside fade. The problem with the fade route at the goal line is that there often isn't much space to work with. The inside fade gives the quarterback more space to work with, though it has to come in a situation where a slot guy has a one on one matchup. Remigio did.

"It's always in the plan," offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin said, "every week you have some different big-box fades and inside fades involved, you've got to find the right time when the matchup is there. We've thrown that ball to different receivers with the same call, but that one just presented itself. We felt like we had a good matchup with their nickel, that the free (safety) was cheated into the boundary, Chase did a good job alerting it, and Nikko did a great job winning it."

One key of this play was keeping the single high safety to the right side, which Garbers does with a look toward Trevon Clark off the snap. Stanford DB Jonathan McGill is playing 7-8 yards off Remigio, and he turns around to run with the Cal wideout too late. Remigio runs right by, makes a diving catch, and sets the Bears up to tie the game.

"I saw we had post safety (one safety high)," Garbers said, "number 18 was favoring the boundary, saw them move into coverage with the nickel on Nikko. I thought in the back of my head that Nikko's a better athlete than their nickel, so just had to keep their safety where he is, and Nikko's going to win, so I put it where Nikko could get it. He did the rest."

Saturday's contest was a culmination for the duo, as Remigio, a star of fall camp, had everything come together after a USC game that saw him drop a couple of key passes in the early going. It's the type of game that the sophomore wideout hadn't had before.

"Never in my life," Remigio said about if he'd had this kind of performance, post-game, "I was very emotional after today, because of the performance, in the Big Game itself."

He'll look to build on that, as he'll be playing with plenty of family in attendance against UCLA (Remigio noted that he'll have to wrangle somewhere in the range of 50 tickets).

Of course, it wouldn't be a Cal win under Justin Wilcox without a stop in the final minute. The Bears held Stanford to a fourth and 1 on their final drive, thanks to Osiris St. Brown trying to make something more on 2nd and 4 and stepping back behind the line to gain, and David Mills not taking off early on 3rd and 1 (trying to find Simi Fehoko on a back shoulder play. That brings us to 4th and 1.

Cal lines up with six in the box. Stanford brings 11 personnel. Cal has their backup defensive linemen in in Aaron Maldonado and Lone Toailoa. Both safeties are playing deep, which signals to the Stanford offense that they've got a man on man matchup up front to gain a yard.

"They made a few checks that they made the whole game, that they were going to run there," Evan Weaver noted.

Stanford runs, a zone read to Cameron Scarlett. It's straight zone blocking, but both Maldonado and Toailoa get penetration. Cam Goode is not concerned with Mills running and slides down the line. Goode makes the stop with the penetration halting Scarlett's momentum. Weaver finishes the play. Pandemonium ensues.

"I yelled at Cam Goode right there, and he ended up playing it perfectly," Weaver said, "I slid right off of it, a nice little mesh right there to perfectly stop them."

Cal held Stanford, the team long known for running the ball down everybody's throats, to 63 yards on the ground. This isn't the same Stanford team as even four or five years ago, but for those who believe in symbols, this may be another inflection point in the rivalry, as the Bears took back the Axe in stopping the Cardinal's former strength.