Big Game set Oct. 20 as Cal, Stanford lose vote PAC-12 FOOTBALL

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While many local football fans would consider playing the Big Game in October to be an affront to tradition, the fact is Cal and Stanford will get together for the 115th time on Oct. 20 at a renovated Memorial Stadium instead of on the third Saturday of November.

It marks the first time the Big Game will have been played in October and only the fifth time it has not been staged in November.

When the Pac-12 Conference on Wednesday released its football schedule for 2012, the Oct. 20 date of Stanford at Cal stood out. It came to be from a majority vote among the conference's athletic directors, with Cal's Sandy Barbour and Stanford's Bob Bowlsby voting nay.

"I am very disappointed that these challenges have resulted in the moving of our rivalry with Stanford," Barbour said. "... Cal and Stanford were opposed to the schedule that was ultimately adopted. We do not expect this 2012 scenario to be the norm, but an exception."

Bowlsby said Oct. 20 was "certainly" not Stanford's first choice, but "the conference is governed by the will of the majority, and we have a duty to respect the outcome of the vote."

Barbour said she and Bowlsby expressed their preference for the Big Game being played on Nov. 17, but the majority of the conference's athletic directors voted for Oct. 20.

"Cal and Stanford were clear that they did not want to play the Big Game Thanksgiving week, so we presented additional options," Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said. "The Pac- 12 Conference values the importance of our historic rivalry games and the importance of scheduling them on traditional end-of-season dates."

Scott explained that the Pac-12 Championship game scheduled for Nov. 30 and priorities related to the conference's new television agreement starting in 2012 "mean occasional date adjustments to rivalry games."

For the first time in the history of the Big Game, both Cal and Stanford will play multiple games after meeting Oct. 20. The Bears will have four games remaining while the Cardinal will play nearly half a season, five games, following the Big Game.

Being in the Pac-12 North with Oregon and assured of playing South member USC every season, Cal and Stanford have challenges built into their schedules. By contrast, Pac-12 South members UCLA and Utah do not play Oregon in 2012, and Washington State and Oregon State of the Pac-12 North do not face USC.

Cal opens its season at renovated Memorial Stadium on Sept. 1 against Nevada, meaning the 21-month, $321 million construction project must be finished by then.

"As far as I know, everything is on schedule to be ready for Sept. 1," Cal spokesman Herb Benenson said.

Stanford opens with three home games, against San Jose State on Sept. 1, Duke on Sept. 8 and USC on Sept. 15.