Meetings total 67 | Longest win streak Stanford, 11 (1900–53) | |
First meeting October 11, 1900
Stanford 35, San Jose State 0 Latest meeting September 7, 2013
Stanford 34, San Jose State 13 All-time series Stanford leads, 52–14–1 (.784) Largest victory Stanford, 54–0 (1953) and 57–3 (2011) | ||
The Bill Walsh Legacy Game was an American college football rivalry game between the San Jose State Spartans football team of San José State University and Stanford Cardinal football team of Stanford University. The series between the two schools officially became known as the Bill Walsh Legacy Game in 2007 after the death of Walsh, who played college football at San Jose State and was a head coach at Stanford and has been on hiatus since 2013.
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Series history
The series between San Jose State and Stanford began in 1900 with a home-and-home series between the two schools in the same season. Stanford won both games, 35–0 on October 11, 1900 in San Jose and 24–0 on October 24, 1900 at Stanford.
On November 13, 1954, San Jose State defeated Stanford for the first time, with a 19–14 score.
Throughout the over-100-year history of the series, most games in this series have been played at Stanford. Since Spartan Stadium at San Jose State opened in 1933, only the 1995, 2001, and 2006 games have been played there.
Stanford's longest winning streak in this series is 11, beginning in 1900 and ending in 1953. This win streak covered the first 11 games in the series. San Jose State's longest winning streak is three, achieved from 1981 to 1983 and again from 1998 to 2000.
The games from 1979 to 1982 pitted Stanford star quarterback John Elway against his father, Jack Elway, who served as the SJSU head football coach from 1979 to 1983. The two teams split the series 2–2, with the younger Elway defeating his father's team in 1979 and 1980, and the elder Jack Elway defeating his son's team in 1981 and 1982.
In 2007, following the death of San Jose State alum and former Stanford coach Bill Walsh, the near-annual game played between the two schools was renamed the Bill Walsh Legacy Game.
The 2013 game, a 34–13 win for Stanford, is the final scheduled game between the two schools, reportedly due to the schools being unable to agree on a home-and-home setup for future games.
On July 23, 2014, at the Mountain West Conference football media days event, San Jose State coach Ron Caragher revealed that the two schools are having "initial conversations about resuming their football series by moving to a neutral site at the new Levi's Stadium." San Jose State athletic director Gene Bleymaier later stated: "Even if we have to look out to 2020 and beyond, I'd like to get a long-term agreement in place with Stanford." San Jose State is booked for 2015, and Stanford is booked for 2016.
Stanford designated its August 30, 2014 season opener against UC Davis as the "Bill Walsh Legacy Game".
Game results
San Jose State victories shaded in ██ blue. Stanford victories are shaded ██ cardinal. Ties are white. Numbers in parenthesis after school name indicate AP Poll ranking at the time of the game.