Cal laid claim to the Axe, notching its fourth straight Big Game victory against Stanford last Saturday. In doing so, the Bears secured bowl eligibility for consecutive seasons for the first time since 2019. From a home victory in front of Aaron Rodgers, Marshawn Lynch and countless Cal legends to a dramatic comeback, the 127th Big Game left plenty to unpack. As such, here are five of the biggest takeaways as we look back on Saturday’s win at California Memorial Stadium.

The last decade of Big Game history, the 2010s, was in a word, forgettable for Cal fans. Stanford got the best of the Bears for nine consecutive Big Games, and it often wasn’t particularly close. The current decade, so far, is a different story. Saturday’s win marks the fourth consecutive, and fifth of the last six, Big Games that ended with Cal fans storming the field after the victory (with the lone exception being in 2020, when there were no fans).

With how much this rivalry means to the program, coupled with the increased stakes of a bowl berth on the line, the latest victory certainly meant a lot. The significance of this is best seen from the eyes of defensive backs Miles Williams and Craig Woodson, who played for five big game-winning Cal teams in their career as Bears.

"To have five Axe wins in my career—it’s surreal," Woodson said. "This game means everything to the Cal community, and to be part of this tradition, to be on this field with my brothers, it’s something I’ll carry with me forever."

It is difficult to also ignore the downward trajectory of the Cardinal in recent years. In their winning streak against Cal, all but two of their teams were ranked, and they never had a losing season. Since 2019, however, they’ve yet to surpass four wins in a season.

Needless to say, the Bears’ 2024 campaign is marked by bizarre games. As every Cal fan can painfully recite, they lost four games by a combined 9 points, which is especially painful in retrospect. That being said, this strangely made for a perfect script for the Big Game against Stanford. A dramatic come-from-behind victory, featuring a 98-yard game-winning drive, in front of a packed California Memorial Stadium and the legendary 2004 team, not to mention a bowl berth practically on the line — as bizarre as it may sound, the heartbreak throughout the season almost seems worth it.

The wild series of events leading up to the Big Game made for a scenario where a Cal team desperate for its sixth win and bowl eligibility had to get through, of all teams, Stanford to do so. This also put a Stanford team, coming off a stunning upset against Louiville, in a perfect position to play spoiler against Cal.