Struggle dominated the third quarter of the 1986 end of the season battle for football dominance between the two academic giants of the San Francisco Bay Area: Stanford University situated in the heart of Silicon Valley and the University of California. At Berkeley. Defense penetration thwarted both offenses.

Below where Caydance sat with the Stanford crowd, Jack Elway was in grim constant movement, as with a long time-consuming drive in an unescapable Cal defense environment, Stanford took nominal control of the quarter. The Cardinal moved slowly down the field. But Paye and Muster were consistently stymied in a way that few other of this season’s opponents had done. The drive ended in another failed field goal.

Across the field, holding onto a one touchdown lead, Joe Kapp stood on the sidelines, while his team's surprisingly effective defense kept Stanford plays to small gains of yardage. Meanwhile, Stanford's seasoned defense stalled Cal's initial offensive energy. Kapp's debonair Big Screen presence was, Caydance thought, partially due to the ten or so movies in which he had acted, including The Longest Yard, Semi-tough, and The Frisco Kid.