1982 California Golden Bears football team

The 1982 California Golden Bears football team represented the University of California, Berkeley during the 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season.^[1][2] For the Golden Bears this season is historically known for its last game – the 85th Big Game against Stanford on November 20, 1982. Specifically – The Play. A last-second kickoff return on which Cal was able to score a touchdown to win the game. Because of the context of the rivalry, the timing of the play and the unusual multi-lateral way that it occurred, it is recognized as one of the most memorable plays in college football history and among the most memorable in American sports.

1982 California Golden Bears football
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Record	7–4 (4–4 Pac-10)
Head coach	Joe Kapp (1st season)
Home stadium	California Memorial Stadium (capacity: 75,662)
Seasons ← 1981 1983 →

1982 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 5 UCLA $	5	–	1	–	1			10	–	1	–	1
No. 7 Washington	6	–	2	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 6 Arizona State	5	–	2	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 15 USC	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Arizona	4	–	3	–	1			6	–	4	–	1
California	4	–	4	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Stanford	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Washington State	2	–	4	–	1			3	–	7	–	1
Oregon	2	–	6	–	0			2	–	8	–	1
Oregon State	0	–	7	–	1			1	–	9	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	at Colorado*	Folsom Field Boulder, CO		W 31–17	33,835	^[3]
September 18	San Diego State*	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		W 28–0	35,000	^[4]
September 25	No. 14 Arizona State	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		L 0–15	35,673	^[5]
October 2	San Jose State*	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		W 26–7	37,136	^[6]
October 9	at No. 1 Washington	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	ABC	L 7–50	56,500	^[7]
October 16	Oregon	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		W 10–7	31,736	^[8]
October 23	No. 11 UCLA	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA (rivalry)		L 31–47	51,600	^[9]
October 30	at Oregon State	Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR		W 28–14	25,000	^[10]
November 6	at No. 16 USC	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		L 0–42	54,670	^[11]
November 13	Washington State	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		W 34–14	34,060	^[12]
November 20	Stanford	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA (Big Game)	USA	W 25–20	75,662	^[13]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[14]

Roster

1982 California Golden Bears football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB Dwight Garner QB 14 Gale Gilbert So TE 86 David Lewis Jr OT 73 Harvey Salem Sr QB 11 J Torchio Jr FB 31 John Tuggle Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DT 90 Reggie Camp Sr LB 48 Tim Lucas Sr S 26 Kevin Moen Sr LB 80 Ron Rivera Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 7 Mike Ahr Sr K 9 Joe Cooper Sr	Head coach Joe Kapp Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible   Injured   Redshirt

Not listed: Mariet Ford, Richard Rodgers

Game summaries

Stanford

Stanford at California
85th Big Game

1 2 3 4 Total Cardinal 0 0 14 6 20 • Golden Bears 0 10 0 15 25 Date: November 20 Location: California Memorial Stadium • Berkeley, California Game attendance: 75,662 Referee: Charles Moffett TV announcers (USA Network): Barry Tompkins and John Beasley

Scoring summary 2 9:22 CAL Joe Cooper 31-yard field goal Cal 3–0 2 2:42 CAL Mariet Ford 29-yard pass from Gale Gilbert (Joe Cooper kick) Cal 10–0 3 5:29 STAN Vincent White 2-yard pass from John Elway (Mark Harmon kick) Cal 10–7 3 1:42 STAN Vincent White 43-yard pass from John Elway (Mark Harmon kick) Stanford 14–10 4 13:28 CAL Joe Cooper 31-yard field goal Stanford 14–13 4 11:24 CAL Wes Howell 32 yard pass from Gale Gilbert (pass failed) Cal 19–14 4 5:32 STAN Mark Harmon 22-yard field goal Cal 19–17 4 0:04 STAN Mark Harmon 35-yard field goal Stanford 20–19 4 0:00 CAL Kevin Moen 25-yard kickoff return after numerous laterals (conversion not attempted) Cal 25–20

Main article: The Play (American football)

See also: 1982 Stanford Cardinal football team

^[15][16]

1983 NFL draft

Main article: 1983 NFL draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Harvey Salem	Tackle	2	30	Houston Oilers)
Reggie Camp	Defensive end	3	68	Cleveland Browns
Wes Howell	Tight end	4	105	New York Jets
Tim Lucas	Linebacker	10	269	St. Louis Cardinals
John Tuggle	Running back	12	335	New York Giants

^[17]

References

1. "1982 California Golden Bears Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
2. (PDF). CalBears.com. Cal Golden Bears Athletics. p. 166. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2016. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
3. (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
4. (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
5. (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
6. (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
7. (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
8. (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
9. (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
10. (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
11. (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
12. (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
13. (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
14. (PDF). Cal Athletics. 2015. p. 166. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2016.
15. "Cal defeats Stanford on final play, 25-20". The San Bernardino Sun via newspapers.com. November 21, 1982. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
16. "Weird, last-second TD leads Cal over Stanford". Santa Cruz Sentinel via newspapers.com. November 21, 1982. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
17. . Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007.