UCLA Bruins Football: A Legacy of Gridiron Glory
The UCLA Bruins football program, representing the University of California, Los Angeles, stands as a storied participant in college football. As members of the Big Ten Conference at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level, the Bruins carry a rich history marked by periods of significant success, legendary coaches, and memorable moments.
Early Years and the Rise to Prominence
The genesis of UCLA football dates back to 1919, when the university fielded its inaugural team. Coached by Fred Cozens, the Bruins navigated a schedule primarily consisting of local high schools and assorted teams, culminating in a 2-6 record. The program joined the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) in 1920, competing against institutions such as Occidental College, California Institute of Technology, and Pomona College.
The Red Sanders Era: A Golden Age
The 1950s marked the Bruins' first major period of sustained success, largely attributed to the leadership of head coach Red Sanders. Sanders, who led the Bruins to the Coaches' Poll national championship in 1954, three conference championships, and an impressive 66-19-1 record in nine years, cemented his place in UCLA football lore. The 1954 Bruins achieved a perfect 9-0 record and ascended to the top of the Coaches' Poll, sharing the national championship with Ohio State. The Bruins were unable to compete in the Rose Bowl that season due to the PCC's early "no repeat" rule, despite being the PCC champion. Second-place USC, who the Bruins beat 34-0, played in the 1955 Rose Bowl instead and lost to Big Ten Conference champion and eventual co-national champion Ohio State, 20-7. Sanders was also known for intensifying the Bruins' rivalry with USC. His teams were always given a speech before the game against their cross-town rivals that always ended with "Beat SC!" A famous quote was attributed to Sanders regarding the rivalry, "Beating 'SC isn't a matter of life and death.
The Donahue Dynasty: Sustained Excellence
The Bruins experienced another golden era in the 1980s and 1990s under the guidance of Terry Donahue. During his tenure, Donahue amassed a remarkable 151-74-8 record, leading the Bruins to 13 bowl games and an NCAA record eight straight bowl wins. The 1997 team finished as co-champions of the Pacific-10 Conference with Washington State. However, with Washington State defeating the Bruins in the season opener, the Cougars earned the right to play in the Rose Bowl. The highlights of that season were a 66-3 win over the Texas and a victory at the Cotton Bowl Classic over Texas A&M, and a victory over USC. The 1998 season started out as one of the best in the history of UCLA football. The team was high enough in the BCS standings to merit entry to the national championship game, and all UCLA needed to do was beat unranked University of Miami, who were major underdogs after a 66-13 loss to Syracuse the week before. UCLA was also coming off of their eighth consecutive victory over USC and 20th straight win overall.
Coaching Transitions and Defining Moments
Following Sanders' passing, assistant coach George W. Dickerson briefly took the reins on an interim basis. William F. Barnes then assumed the head coaching role, guiding the Bruins for seven seasons and achieving a 31-34-3 record. Barnes led the Bruins to the 1962 Rose Bowl and a No. 16 ranking in the final AP poll.
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Tommy Prothro's arrival in 1965 marked another pivotal moment in UCLA football history. In the 1965 football season, the Bruins lost their season opening game 13-3 at Michigan State, who then rose to become the top-ranked team in the country. The unheralded Bruins would go on a seven-game undefeated streak, surprising national powers the likes of Syracuse and Penn State. Going into the 1965 UCLA-USC rivalry football game ranked No. 7, the conference championship and 1966 Rose Bowl were on the line. No. Prothro and the Bruins went on to completed the season with a dramatic pay-back upset victory over the No. 1 ranked Michigan State Spartans in the 1966 Rose Bowl, 14-12. Heading into the final game of the 1966 season vs. USC, UCLA was 2-1 in conference games, 8-1 overall and ranked No. 5 in the country. The Bruins, featuring a "dream backfield" of All-Americans Gary Beban and Mel Farr, lost only one game, at rainy Washington, 16-3, where Huskies' head coach Jim Owens had devoted his entire season to beating Prothro. UCLA had beaten UW the season before, 28-24, with Prothro's trick play, the Z-streak in which a receiver trots towards the sideline like he's going out of the game and then runs a streak pattern unguarded by the inattentive defender. USC was 4-0 in conference and 7-1 overall, having lost to unranked Miami. The Bruins and Trojans played a different number of conference due to uneven scheduling caused by new AAWU members Oregon and Oregon State and schedules made years in advance. It was widely assumed that only losses would be considered and the winner of the 1966 UCLA-USC game would go to the 1967 Rose Bowl. UCLA star quarterback Gary Beban broke his ankle the week before in a win over Stanford, but backup Norman Dow, making his first and only start at quarterback, led UCLA to a 14-7 win. That left USC with a 4-1 conference record (7-2 overall) and No. Due to their win over USC, it was widely assumed UCLA would get the Rose Bowl berth. However, a vote the next Monday among the AAWU conference athletic directors awarded USC the Rose Bowl berth. It was speculated that the directors believed Beban could not play for UCLA in the Rose Bowl due to the broken ankle, thereby giving the Big Ten Conference representative, Purdue, a better chance to win. As it turned out, Beban could have played. But a bigger reason was that this was to make up for 1964 when Oregon State was voted in ahead of USC. The coach of Oregon State in 1964 was Prothro. Another speculation was the vote was against UCLA out of pure jealousy by the rest of the conference, which voted 7-1 for the clearly inferior team. This vote deprived Prothro of being the first coach to earn three consecutive Rose Bowl berths and UCLA athletic director J.D. Morgan called it a "gross injustice" and the "a dark day in UCLA and AAWU Athletic history." Inflamed UCLA students who had gathered for the Rose Bowl celebration rally, took to the streets of Westwood in protest and actually blocked the 405 Freeway for a short time. Ironically, Morgan was the force behind establishing a tie-breaking method adopted by the conference one year later in which only loss column counted; the first tiebreaker was head-to-head results, followed by overall record. If there was still a tie, the Rose Bowl berth would go to the team that had not played in the Rose Bowl the longest. But it was too late for UCLA. In their final game, USC made the AAWU decision look bad by losing to No. 1 Notre Dame, 51-0. In 1967, Prothro helped a second quarterback capture the Heisman Trophy when Gary Beban was awarded the trophy after the regular season. He would bring his No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruin team to face No. 2 USC in one of the "Games of the Century". Despite playing with cracked ribs, Beban threw for 301 yards, but UCLA lost, 21-20, on a spectacular 64-yard run by O. J. Simpson in the 1967 USC vs. UCLA football game. Another big factor was UCLA's acclaimed sophomore kicker Zenon Andusyshyn missing a chip shot field goal, and having two field goals and an extra point attempt blocked. In what was acknowledged to be a rebuilding year, the Bruins opened the 1968 season with a 63-7 defeat of Pittsburgh and a win over Washington State. The season ground to a halt at Syracuse and with the season-ending injury of quarterback Billy Bolden, and UCLA would win only one more game, over Stanford 20-17. The Bruins gave No. 1 USC and Heisman Trophy winner O. J. 1969 was the year Prothro had geared his recruiting efforts towards as he believed this was his best team and was capable of contending for the national championship. The Bruins, quarterbacked by a sensational Junior College transfer Dennis Dummit discovered by Prothro, were undefeated until they faced No. 10 Stanford in Palo Alto. Once again, Prothro was let down by now senior kicker Zenon Andrusyshyn as he missed a short field goal late in the game with the score tied 20-20. Suddenly, two long Jim Plunkett passes had Stanford in field goal range in the final seconds, but UCLA blocked Steve Horowitz's attempt to preserve the tie. Once again, the UCLA-USC game would decide the Pac-8 title and the 1970 Rose Bowl berth. UCLA was ranked 6th with a 5-0-1 record in conference and 8-0-1 overall USC was No. 5 and was 6-0 in conference and 8-0-1 overall (tied Notre Dame in South Bend, 14-14); UCLA and USC were both unbeaten coming into their rivalry game for the first time since 1952. UCLA scored midway through the fourth quarter to take a 12-7 lead (knowing he need a win and not a tie to advance to the Rose Bowl, Prothro had the Bruins go for two after each touchdown and each attempt failed). USC then drove to the winning touchdown with 1:38 to play to win 14-12. The Trojans were aided by two controversial calls; the first was a dubious pass interference call on UCLA's Danny Graham on a 4th-and-10 incompletion. Secondly, on the winning touchdown pass reception, USC receiver Sam Dickerson appeared to be either out of bounds, out of the back of the end zone, or both. In what turned out to be his final season at UCLA, Prothro's team suffered a rash of key injuries and finished 6-5, yet they were three close games from a 9-2 season and Rose Bowl berth. Before those injuries set in, UCLA took a 3-0 record into Austin to play defending national champ and top ranked Texas. Trailing 13-3 at the half, UCLA rallied and had a 17-13 lead in the final minute. But with 12 seconds left, Texas completed a long pass when their receiver caught the ball between two UCLA defenders, who then collided, allowing the receiver to score. UCLA also blew a 20-point fourth quarter lead against Oregon, when Ducks sophomore quarterback Dan Fouts rallied his team to three touchdowns and a 41-40 win. Finally, there came the showdown with Stanford; the game was expected to be a shootout between UCLA quarterback Dennis Dummit and Heisman winner Jim Plunkett. But the defenses ruled as UCLA took a 7-6 lead into the 4th quarter. Stanford took a 9-7 lead on a field goal, but UCLA was driving to a potential game-winning field goal or touchdown themselves when they completed a pass inside the Stanford 10-yard-line, only to have the receiver get sandwiched by two defenders on the tackle and fumble. This game ultimately decided the Pac-8 championship and 1971 Rose Bowl representative. The season ended on a high note however, when UCLA beat rival USC, 45-20, in a game that was not that close. This would end up being Prothro's final game at UCLA.
Pepper Rodgers succeeded Prothro, and in Rodgers' three seasons at the helm of the Bruins, UCLA finished 2-7-1, 8-3 and 9-2. In 1972, the Bruins began the season with a 20-17 victory over two-time defending national champion Nebraska, and finished the season ranked No. 17 and No. 15 in the final Coaches' and AP polls, respectively. In 1973, the Bruins finished ranked No. 9 and No. As head coach at UCLA, Dick Vermeil compiled a 15-5-3 record in two seasons (1974-1975), including a 9-2-1 record in 1975 when he led the Bruins to their first conference championship in 10 years, and a win in the Rose Bowl over undefeated and No.
Recent Seasons and Looking Ahead
Recent success has evaded them, though, landing them with a 16-19 overall bowl game record. The program has produced 28 first round picks in the NFL draft, 30 consensus All-Americans, and multiple major award winners, including Heisman Trophy winner Gary Beban. The Bruins were twice the Pac-12 Conference South Division champions, earning the right to play in Pac-12 Football Championship Games in both 2011 and 2012.
UCLA BRUINS 3-9 · 13TH IN BIG TEN 3-9 · 13TH IN BIG TEN COLLEGE FOOTBALL > NEWSSCHEDULESTANDINGSROSTERVIDEOSSTATSODDSPLAYER NEWS PAST GAMESRESULTPASS YDSRUSH YDSREC YDS8/30 vs 1414 Utah 1-0L43-10 N. Iamaleava 136N. Iamaleava 47A. Iamaleava 255N. Iamaleava 59K. Gilmer 879/12 vs New Mexico 2-1L35-10 N. Iamaleava 217A. Woods 64M. Iamaleava 180N. Iamaleava 65K. Gilmer 5110/4 vs Penn State 3-2W42-37 N. Iamaleava 166N. Iamaleava 128K. Iamaleava 180J. Berger 89M. Matthews 4610/18 vs Maryland 4-3W20-17 N. Iamaleava 221A. Frias II 97T. Iamaleava 113A. Frias II 31R. Flores Jr. 5011/8 vs Nebraska 7-3L28-21 N. Iamaleava 191N. Iamaleava 86R. Flores Jr. Duncan 154T. Leigber 21R. Flores Jr. 5911/22 vs Washington 8-3L48-14 L. Duncan 81J. Berger 26M. Iamaleava 200J. Berger 57K.
In 2005, his third season as head football coach, Dorrell was able get his first win against a ranked opponent, No. 21 Oklahoma, featuring Adrian Peterson. On October 1, 2005, head coach Tyrone Willingham and his Washington Huskies came to the Rose Bowl for a Pacific-10 Conference game to play UCLA. This was the first time two black head coaches faced each other in a Pac-10 conference game. At the time, Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State was the only other black coach heading an NCAA Division I football program. Dorrell achieved his first win against a top-ten opponent with a 47-40 upset win over No. 10-ranked rival California. Three Bruin wins in the 2005 season set new school records for biggest comebacks earning the nickname "The Cardiac Kids." They came thanks largely to the heroics of quarterback Drew Olson and tailback Maurice Jones-Drew. In the regular season the Bruins came from down 21 points to win in overtime against both Washington State and Stanford. In the Stanford comeback, the Bruins scored 21 points in the final 7:04 of the fourth quarter. In the Sun Bowl, the Bruins set the record again by coming back from 22 points down. The Bruins were ranked No. 7 in the nation until a 52-14 blowout loss to a 3-8 Arizona team. The Bruins came into the UCLA-USC rivalry last regular season game ranked No. 11. They suffered a 66-19 defeat to the No. 1 2005 USC Trojans football team. This was the largest margin of defeat since the series began in 1929 with a 76-0 defeat. The Bruins finished third in the Pac-10 standings. On December 30, 2005, his Bruins defeated the Northwestern Wildcats in the Sun Bowl, 50-38, finishing the season with a 10-2 record. At the end of the 2005 season, Dorrell received pay bonuses for coaching successful seasons. In 2006, Dorrell's fourth season, the Bruins finished the season 7-6 (5-4 in conference) and finished fourth-place in the Pac-10. UCLA played its first…
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