Big Game week is here, and the Clog’s not going to let you forget it. We’d like to kick off our spirit-infested week with the pride of all Cal pride: The Play. It’s been 25 years this month, and we’re still holding this over the ‘furd’s head.

As for this week, expect to catch:

* a mid-week hike up to the Big C
* Looks into The Stanford Daily
* Explorations of Stanfurd blogs
* Oski beating up their drunk bizarre tree

Seriously, we’re going to post any related videos we can find.

Now, for some more viewing pleasure, The Play reinterpreted for a digital world:

Cal - Stanford 1982 Big Game [YouTube]
3D Re-enactment of “The Play” [YouTube]

Now, how could anything like that RANK NO. 2 on any list concerning college football, unless it’s in a list of the worst plays in college football history?

Well, that’s what ESPN’s Ivan Maisel thinks The Play should be in his list of the best 100 moments in college football history.

Before we get all up in arms about this travesty, let’s get a little bit of context. First, the No. 1 play of all time, according to Maisel, is Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary to give Miami a 47-45 defeat at the hands of Boston College, essentially giving Flutie the Heisman Trophy.

We kind of get that. The Eagles finished that year 10-2 and the Canes finished 8-5, and that is probably the most memorable pass in the history of football.

The Play, on the other hand, was between two schools that were at .500 or barely over .500, not exactly the same pressures when you have a Heisman candidate and a school trying to get into a major bowl for the first time in decades.

But nonetheless, it turns out that Maisel is a Stanfurd alum. So maybe Maisel was looking out for the old alma mater. And as the guys at The Band Is Out on the Field points out, the Indians/Cardinal get a few more mentions in his list than the Bears.

Stanfurd is mentioned five times on his list, which includes The Play, while Cal is only mentioned twice. And as TBIOOTF points out, the Bears have won a few more conference titles than the boys down on the Farm.

Are we saying that Maisel was a little biased? Look to the fact that UCLA was only mentioned twice on his list (while having EPIC battles with ‘SC and having a guy named Aikman lead their team) and Washington once (and remember U-Dub used to be good), and we’ll just let the numbers speak for itself.

What was the other mention of the Bears in Maisel’s list you ask?

It was Wrong Way Riegels’ blunder in the 1929 Rose Bowl against Georgia Tech. Riegels recovered a Tech fumble and ran the wrong way, giving the Yellow Jackets an easy two points. What was the final score of the game? 8-7 Georgia Tech.

Yeah. Infamous.

Stanford is the Bestest Footballers Evar! [TBIOOTF]
Iconic moments for college football’s time capsule [ESPN]