How the Bill Walsh Legacy Game returned to Stanford, San Jose State football schedules

The breakup of the Pac-12 Conference halted many of Stanford’s traditional rivalries, including the annual games against Southern Cal and UCLA. But it did allow the Cardinal to restart its rivalry game against San Jose State on Friday (1 p.m., CBS) — one year earlier than initially planned.

“Playing a local game, especially in the world we’re all living in now, feels pretty good,” said Heather Owen, who was the deputy athletic director at Stanford when the game was scheduled and is now the athletic director at Santa Clara. “I’ve moved on, so I didn’t do the football travel, but I can only imagine it must feel great to get on a bus and come down the road a bit instead of flying across the country.”

The teams have played 67 times since 1900 but haven’t faced each other since 2013. The series has been named the Bill Walsh Legacy Game, after the former San Jose State graduate and Stanford coach, ever since his death in 2007.

Two years ago, the schools announced a four-game series starting in 2025. But after Stanford officially joined the ACC last year, the series was extended for another two games, including a game this season at CEFCU Stadium.

The finale is a welcome move for the Cardinal, who have played a program-record four games in the Eastern Time Zone in its first season as an ACC member. It was also an opportunity for San Jose State to host Stanford for only the fifth time.

“This was a series that was important to the San Jose State alumni base,” Spartans athletic director Jeff Konya said. “Non-conference football scheduling is always a process.”

The Spartans’ last victory against the Cardinal was also the last time these two met in San Jose. In 2006, San Jose State won a 35-34 classic as Yonus Davis rushed for 184 yards .

“Working with their administration was great and I think they saw a need to rekindle the regional rivalry,” Konya said.

San Jose State could have another Bay Area series on the horizon as Cal faces the same ACC questions as Stanford.

“We’ve had conversations with a lot of institutions trying to shore up our schedule and that includes our friends in Berkeley,” Konya said. “Hopefully that might lead to a series between the two universities.”

The Bill Walsh Legacy Game will continue on Sept. 13, 2025, at Stanford. After that, the next two games will again be in late November – in 2026 at CEFCU and in 2028 at Stanford.

Those late-season dates in even years are important for Stanford, which hopes to continue hosting Notre Dame to end the regular season in odd-numbered years. The Notre Dame-Stanford series hasn’t been scheduled past this year, though the Cardinal still have an opening for a home game next season.

“The goal is to retain a relationship with Notre Dame,” Owen said.

Owen said that playing a game against San Jose State to end the regular season could also benefit Stanford in future years if the Cardinal makes the ACC Championship Game, which historically has been played in Charlotte in the first week of December. Otherwise, Stanford could be looking at long road trips on back-to-back weeks.

SJSU’s radio play-by-play announcer Kevin Richardson, who played at Stanford from 1984-88 and went 4-1 in his time against SJSU, said the renewed rivalry reminds him of when it was a more regional sport with smaller conferences and local rivalries.

“The bodies were flying around, it was always a good one,” Richardson said. “It took very little to get you fired up, ready to play that game.”

Richardson was coached by Jack Elway, who coached both San Jose State (1979-83) and Stanford (1984-88). This time around, Richardson said he’s all-in on SJSU. Richardson has been covering the Spartans over the airwaves since 2008, and Friday will be his 199th broadcast for SJSU. He’s been to all but one Stanford-SJSU game since 1984, recalling Stanford Stadium having 65,000 fans in 1987 when the Spartans beat the Cardinal 24-17.

SJSU senior linebacker Jordan Cobbs grew up a Stanford fan and will be playing his last home game at CEFCU Stadium against Stanford.

“I’m excited, this is a team that I always dreamt about playing and used to look up to a lot,” Cobbs said. “San Jose and Stanford used to have a rivalry back in the day and that’s history that I’m glad I’m going to be a part of.”

After facing off four times between 2024-28, the teams are also scheduled to play in 2034 and 2035.