The series between the UCLA and Cal football teams might not have the hostility or the pageantry of the schools’ official “rivalry” games against USC and Stanford, respectively, but the game always has special meaning behind it for players and fans alike.
“This is the state championship,” UCLA junior safety Rahim Moore said going into Saturday’s clash with Cal. “This is a rivalry game. They’re playing the same fight song we’re playing.”
He’s right. UCLA’s “Sons of Westwood” is a variation on Cal’s signature ditty, “Big C.” The original tune was tweaked for a combo group featuring the UCLA, Cal and UC Davis marching bands and was later adopted as the Bruins’ fight song.
The list of similarities between Cal and UCLA doesn’t stop there. A number of traits link the two universities together, such as a California interstate.
For a time, the two UCs had the same color scheme. UCLA wore the same colors as Cal in the early days of its athletic program. But upon the arrival of football coach Red Sanders (thankfully he didn’t pattern the new look after his own name) in 1949, the Bruins adopted the powder-blue look.
As always, prowling the sidelines will be Cal’s Oski and UCLA’s Joe Bruin, each developed after the two schools used live bears as mascots in the early half of the 20th century.
Given their mutual statuses as the state’s elite academic institutions boasting top-notch athletic programs, it should come as no surprise that the ties between the two schools extend all the way down to field level.
Moore, an alumnus of Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, isn’t shy about much of anything, and that includes acknowledging that ““ for four hours or so on an October Saturday ““ his former Dorsey teammates now suiting up for Cal are anything but comrades.
“I know quite a few of them, but there’s no friends on the field for a rivalry game,” Moore said. “You enjoy the people that you grew up with, and you all just get to come together and compete.”
Cal linebackers Robert Mullins and Keith Browner both went to Dorsey. UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince and tight end Joe Fauria attended Crespi High School with Cal linebacker DJ Holt. Bruin linebacker Steve Sloan is an alumnus of San Jose’s Archbishop Mitty High School, as is Bear tight end Anthony Miller.
And then there’s starting Cal linebacker Mychal Kendricks, whose linebacker brother Eric is waiting in the wings to suit up in a lighter shade of blue, redshirting his freshman season for UCLA.
“When these two teams play, it’s like the rival games in high school,” Moore said. “It’s going to be a great experience.”
For all the deep-rooted connections between the two schools, the rivalry is a dynamic one that dates back to 1933, when, believe it or not, the teams tied 0-0.
UCLA hasn’t won in Cal’s Memorial Stadium ““ which Moore calls “kind of like a mini-Rose Bowl” ““ since 1998. The Bears had four straight losses in Pasadena until last season when they won 45-26.
When the teams clash, it won’t be an obscure and meaningless fight. It will be brother v. brother, ursine v. ursine. Two factions of the same kingdom, with the rule of the (Blue-and-) Golden State on the line.
“This is about to be great,” Moore said. “I’ve never beat Cal before. Any win is great, but to get that bear off our back, that would be a great thing as well.”
With reports by Eli Smukler, Bruin Sports senior staff.