High school quarterback Frankie Albert, confident in his football skills, heads to Stanford University, while his teammate Cliff Bernard chooses the University of California. Frankie meets Fay Edwards, who is also bound for Stanford, and rooms with Link Wyman, who disagrees with Frankie's view of college as a platform for athletic glory. Frankie proves himself on the freshman team, which achieves an unbeaten season for the first time in 37 years, and meets June Rogers, a campus newspaper writer. He becomes a star on the varsity team, but Fay's psychology thesis reveals that Frankie was her research subject, and June's gossip column exposes this, causing Frankie to quit the team in disgust.
The Spirit of Stanford
A high school quarterback, Frankie Albert, aims to attend Stanford University, whereas his teammate Cliff Bernard chooses the University of California, which had a less competitive admissions process during that time.