The Spirit of Stanford finds high school quarterback Frankie Albert, cocky because of his football abilities, heading for Stanford while his teammate, Cliff Bernard, opts for the University of California, which in those days required no city attribute. Frankie hitches a ride with Fay Edwards, also Stanford bound. Frankie rooms with Link Wyman who disagrees with (according to the writers) Frankie's idea that college is just a place in which to gain a reputation for gridiron heroics. After "proving his stuff" on the freshman team, which goes unbeaten for the first time in 37 years Frankie meets June Rogers, who works on the campus paper. Frankie gets even better on the varsity in the next two years, while Fay (his transportation to Stanford) has chosen him as the topic of her psychology thesis. June, in her campus gossip column, reveals Frankie was Fay's guinea pig and he quits the team in disgust.