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UCLA football history

1976 UCLA Football: The Donahue Era Begins

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The 1976 UCLA football team was embarking on a new era. In 1975, after winning the Rose Bowl and finishing in the national top 5, head coach Dick Vermeil left for the NFL. The Bruins tapped Terry Donahue to take over. It began a 20-year tenure for Donahue in Westwood. In his first year, he contended for the national championship deep into the regular season before a hard ending left a bit of sour taste in Bruin mouths.

UCLA had the fourth-best scoring offense in the country and it was fueled almost entirely by a potent running game. Quarterback Jeff Dankworth didn’t pass a lot and was particularly effective when he did. But he ran for 755 yards. The running back tandem of Theotis Brown and Wendell Tyler each cleared the 900-yard threshold. All of them averaged better than five yards a pop, running behind a line anchored by center Mitch Kahn.

The defense was anchored by sophomore linebacker Jerry Robinson, and the future NFL starter was an All-American. Oscar Edwards was reliable in the secondary. UCLA’s D ranked a respectable 16th in the nation for points allowed.

The Bruins were ranked #17 to start the country and they had a high-profile opener. Arizona State was ranked #3, coming off an undefeated 1975 where they finished #2 in the final polls. The game in Tempe was nationally televised on a Thursday night, something that was rare in this era of TV sports.

And what a statement UCLA made. Dankworth ran for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Brown rushed for 127 yards and two scores of his own. As a team, the Bruins nearly reached the 500-yard mark for rush yardage. They won 28-0. In retrospect, we know that this Arizona State team would collapse and only finish 4-7. But in the moment, UCLA went skyrocketing to #5 in the rankings.

Arizona was next, and the Bruins dispensed with the mediocre Wildcats 37-9 in the home opener. A home game against shaky Air Force produced a 40-7 rout. That set up a trip to Ohio State to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule (Arizona State and Arizona didn’t join the Pac-8 until 1978).

The Buckeyes were ranked #8. They had an impressive win at Penn State, and an aggravating home loss to Missouri. UCLA played Ohio State to a 10-10 tie on the road and held at #5 in the polls with Pac-8 play beginning.

Stanford had a respectable team in 1976, but when the Cardinal came to Westwood, they left with a 38-20 loss. UCLA then hosted Washington State, who had future NFL quarterback Jack Thompson. The Bruins crushed a bad Cougars team 62-3. A 35-19 win over Cal, and their big-play receiver Wesley Walker, moved UCLA to #3 in the rankings.

The Bruins went to Washington, who had a mediocre team this year, but was just one year away from winning the Rose Bowl behind an up-and-coming quarterback named Warren Moon. UCLA won 30-21.

As November arrived, UCLA was in good position for the national title. Michigan was ranked #1, but the Bruins could play the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl if both teams got there. Pitt was sitting at #2, but if UCLA had a bowl win over the top-ranked team, vaulting past the Panthers was well within the realm of possibility.

On November 6, Michigan was upset at Purdue and Pitt moved to the top of the polls. UCLA, who hammered a subpar Oregon squad 46-zip, was sitting at #2. But they could no longer get the cache of beating the #1 team in a bowl game to get past Pitt.

In the meantime, UCLA went north to Corvallis and crushed Oregon State 45-14. It set up the big showdown with USC. The Trojans were ranked #3. It was winner-take-all for the conference title, Rose Bowl bid, and possible shot at a national championship.

It was at this point that the Bruins’ one-dimensional offense came home to roost. USC completely shut them down for 3 ½ quarters. By the time UCLA launched any kind of scoring threat, they trailed 24-0 and the party had begun on the Trojan sidelines. The 24-14 loss was deceptively close.

Bowl controversy was next. There were only four major bowl games (Rose, Sugar, Cotton, Orange) and only three spots available for non-conference champs. Pitt, as an independent, was obviously one of them. The Panthers went to the Sugar Bowl, where they would beat Georgia for the national title. Maryland, also undefeated, got the Cotton Bowl spot. That left the Orange Bowl with a decision to make.

Would the Orange take UCLA or Ohio State? The Bruins had a better overall record (9-1-1, to 8-2-1). The head-to-head tie had taken place in Columbus, so you can reasonably argue that it was more impressive for the Bruins. UCLA, even after the USC loss, was ranked #7, while Ohio State was #11.

But these are all football considerations. What the Orange Bowl saw was that Buckeye fans would travel better than Bruins fans. And, from a television perspective, having a team from the Rustbelt balance off Big Eight tri-champ Colorado was seen as preferable to two teams from the west. We know what matters most when it comes to bowl selection, so Ohio State got the bid.

Having said that…UCLA didn’t exactly acquit themselves well in the bowl opportunity they did get. With Bear Bryant’s Alabama having a bit off an off-year, the Liberty Bowl was able to pair up the Bruins and the Crimson Tide. It was the juiciest matchup on the undercard. And UCLA again did nothing offensively, losing 36-6. They fell to #17 in the final polls.

It would take a few years to ultimately get over the hump that was USC. It was 1982 when Donahue made his first Rose Bowl. But that started an impressive postseason run. UCLA won that Rose Bowl in ’82. They went back to Pasadena in 1983 and won again. They got a Fiesta Bowl bid in 1984 and won. And in 1985, they won the Rose Bowl for the third time in four years. The Donahue era was marked by bowl victories. It was an era that started in 1976.  

1973 UCLA Football: More Success & More Shadows

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Pepper Rodgers was in his third year as the head coach in Westwood. By this point, the football program was clearly working in the shadows of John Wooden’s legendary basketball program, who were merely fresh off their seventh straight NCAA title the previous March. The football Bruins were no slouch, but were after their first Rose Bowl bid since 1965. After a terrible first year for Rodgers in 1971, the program had leapt to eight wins in 1972. The 1973 UCLA football team made a noble run at getting to Pasadena, but in the end, another long shadow—that of their crosstown rival—was too much to overcome.

Rodgers used the wishbone offense and the ‘73 Bruins ran it exceptionally well. Kermit Johnson was the top running back, and he rolled up over 1,110 yards, narrowly edging USC’s great Anthony Davis for the Pac-8 rushing title. What’s more, Johnson averaged a dazzling 7.5 yards per carry.

The wishbone’s complementary runners included James McAlister, who racked up over 700 yards at nearly six a pop. Charles Schuhmann chipped in nearly 500 more, and averaged over five yards per carry.

Sophomore quarterback John Sciarra only thew thirty passes, but he ran the wishbone to the tune of 496 rushing yards and generated nearly seven yards per attempt. With an all-conference guard, Steve Klosterman leading the way up front, this potent running game led the way for the UCLA offense to rank second in the nation for points scored.

The defense had some notable performers, starting with All-American safety Jimmy Allen. All-Pac-8 players included defensive back Jim Bright and linebacker Fulton Kuykendall. But as a unit, the Bruin D didn’t mesh the way the offense did. UCLA ranked 50th nationally for points allowed.

Expectations were reasonably high, and the Bruins came into the season ranked #10. But a season-opening trip to fourth-ranked Nebraska went poorly. While the loss wasn’t unexpected, taking it on the chin in a 40-13 rout was a big setback. Pollsters knocked UCLA down to #18 in the rankings.

A couple of Big Ten teams were up next. The Bruins got healthy by rolling a terrible Iowa team, destined for a winless season, 55-18. That was followed by a 34-21 victory at mediocre Michigan State. UCLA closed out non-conference play on a strong note, hammering a pretty good Utah team 66-16.

The Pac-8 (the league would not become the Pac-10 until Arizona and Arizona State joined in 1978, and it’s only recently that Utah and Colorado joined to complete the current Pac-12) schedule opened up with a tough game at Stanford. The Cardinal had the league’s top passing quarterback in Mike Boryla, and they would be a contender. But the Bruins, in their best performance of the season, delivered a 59-13 beatdown to start what they hoped would be a march to the Rose Bowl.

Washington State was mediocre, but they had a 1,000-yard rusher in Andrew Jones. UCLA went north and chiseled out a 24-13 win. That was followed up by a home date with Cal. The Golden Bears were a subpar team, but had future NFL starters at the skill spots, with Vince Ferragamo at quarterback and Chuck Muncie in the backfield. It didn’t matter. UCLA pounded Cal 61-21. When the next polls came out, the Bruins were back where they started, at #10 in the nation.

The routs continued with a 62-13 demolition of lowly Washington. Oregon was another bad team that had some notable individual talent—Don Reynolds was another 1,000-yard rusher and tight end Russ Francis went on to a good pro career. But the rest of the Ducks didn’t measure up to the Bruins, and UCLA coasted, 27-7. A 56-14 blowout of lowly Oregon State set up the season finale.

UCLA and USC were both 6-0 in league play. The Trojans were the defending national champions, although with a loss and a tie in non-conference games, were out of that picture. But this rivalry stands on its own in any case, and certainly when it’s winner-take-all for the Rose Bowl.

Through six conference games, the Bruins had been the more impressive team. But on the day that counted, USC—with Pat Haden at quarterback and Lynn Swann at wide receiver to go along with the exceptional running talents of Davis—was better. UCLA lost 23-13.

In this era, neither the Big Ten or the Pac-8 sent their runner-ups to bowl games, so the USC loss marked the end of the season. UCLA finished #12. It was also the end of the short era for Pepper Rodgers. A graduate of Georgia Tech, Rodgers went back to his alma mater to coach.

Meaning nothing against Rodgers, this ended up working out pretty well for UCLA. They hired a guy named Dick Vermeil. Two years later, Sciarra was an All-American quarterback and the Bruins won the Rose Bowl.

Ultimately, the 1973 UCLA football season was typical, in ways both good and bad. Good, in that there’s no question these Bruins were a sound team. But the long shadow of Wooden’s basketball team and—more importantly—the football program at USC—always managed to overshadow UCLA’s gridiron efforts.

1982 UCLA Football: A Rose Bowl Return & A Run Begins

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1982 UCLA football came into the season hungry for a Rose Bowl. The program’s last Rose Bowl appearance had come following the 1975 season with Dick Vermeil as head coach. Vermeil then left to coach the Philadelphia Eagles and was succeeded by Terry Donahue. The winning continued—a 44-21-3 record between 1976-81—but the Pac-10’s Rose Bowl bid belonged to either hated rival USC or Washington.

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The Bruins had a top passing offense in 1982. Quarterback Tom Ramsey threw for nearly 3,000 yards and completed over 62 percent of his passes. Those numbers were second in the Pac-10, trailing only a Stanford man by the name of John Elway. Ramsey’s 8.9 yards-per-attempt and his 151.5 efficiency rating actually exceeded Elway’s. Ramsey’s 21/10 TD-INT ratio was essentially comparable with Elway’s.

Ramsey’s receiving corps was well-balanced with Jojo Townsell, Cormac Carney and Paul Bergmann, each of whom caught between 40-50 passes. Townsell’s 17.5 yards-per-catch were third in the league.

There still wasn’t great talent defensively although the Bruins had a future NFL safety in hard-hitting Don Rogers. Nor was there was a big-time running game, and UCLA opened the season ranked #20.

A tune-up win over Long Beach State was followed by a 51-26 road thrashing of Wisconsin. This was a decent Badger team that made a bowl game, and growing up in southeastern Wisconsin, I attended this game and still recall watching Ramsey carve up the Badgers.

A road trip to Ann Arbor to face Michigan came next for UCLA and the game was dynamite. The Bruins rallied to take a late 31-27 lead and then held off last-gasp Wolverine drive that reached the eight-yard line. The victory moved UCLA to #9 in the polls.

After a blowout win over lowly Colorado, the Bruins stumbled for the first time when they tied a decent Arizona team 24-24 at home. Before the year was over, the Wildcats would find a way to make it up to the Bruins.

The next three games came with two bad opponents, Washington State and Oregon, sandwiched around a seven-win Cal squad. Ramsey’s offense dropped 40-plus all three times and UCLA won those games by a combined 129-42. They were back into the Top 10 as the calendar flipped to November and a red-hot four-team Pac-10 race was on.

A tough 10-7 loss at Washington seemed to spell the end of UCLA’s Rose Bowl hopes. They were 3-1-1 in league play, with Arizona State at 5-0 and Washington at 5-1. USC was also in the race at 4-1, although probation would render the Trojans ineligible for the Rose Bowl.

Ramsey won a duel with Elway the following week as the Bruins edged the Cardinal 38-35. The conference race stayed open when Washington beat Arizona State. UCLA was within a half-game of the lead.

There was still the traditional season finale with USC at the Los Angeles Coliseum, which UCLA shared with their rival as a home field at this time. A year earlier, a blocked field goal cost the Bruins a Rose Bowl trip. It looked like similar heartbreak might come this year. Leading 20-13, UCLA allowed a last-play touchdown pass.

If USC just kicked the extra point they could finish UCLA’s Rose Bowl hopes, but Trojan head coach John Robinson decided to play for the win in his team’s last game of the season. Robinson dialed up a pass play. Bruin nose tackle Karl Morgan pressured from the inside. Outside linebacker Eugene Leoni came from the perimeter. They met at the quarterback and the sack preserved the 20-19 win.

UCLA got their first break when Washington State stunned Washington. Now it was time to wait a week for the Arizona-Arizona State game. If the Sun Devils lost, the Bruins were Rose Bowl-bound. And sure enough, thanks to two long touchdown passes Arizona won 28-18.

The Wildcats were coached by future USC boss Larry Smith. Ironically, UCLA’s Rose Bowl trip had come thanks to the leadership of a future Trojan coach and the competitive class of the current one, as Robinson placed going for the win ahead of simply breaking the heart of his rival.

The Rose Bowl was a rematch between UCLA and Michigan, something that was a rarity in college football before the age of longer schedules and conference championship games. It was also two teams with different recent histories. Since the Bruins’ last visit to this stage, Michigan had made four trips.

For the first half, the Rose Bowl seemed to promise the same excitement that the September game in Ann Arbor provided. UCLA led 10-7 at intermission, but the Bruin defense was beginning to assert itself. No one did more than Rogers, who made 11 tackles, including a vicious (but clean) hit on Michigan quarterback Steve Smith that separated the quarterback’s shoulder.

UCLA was also getting turnovers, four on the day and they took care of the ball themselves. The Bruins won 24-14 in a game that didn’t feel quite that close by the time the second half dominance was over.

This New Year’s Day breakthrough was the start of something special for Donahue. It was the first of four straight major bowl victories, three of which would be in Pasadena and he would develop a reputation for his bowl success. The 1982 season was the start of that run.

The Road To The 1986 Rose Bowl: UCLA & Iowa

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Iowa came to the 1986 Rose Bowl looking to put the finishing touches on what had been a special season. UCLA wanted to put the seal on what had become a great four-year run of winning New Year’s Day bowl games. Here’s a look back at the roads the Hawkeyes and Bruins took through the 1985 college football season and to their January 1 meeting in Pasadena.

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UCLA had won the Rose Bowl following the 1982 and 1983 seasons. They didn’t get here in 1984, but did get an invite to the Fiesta Bowl, where they won. Head coach Terry Donahue had his program on a high.

The Bruins were led by David Norrie at quarterback, who won the job away from Matt Stevens early in the season. Norrie validated Donahue’s confidence, with a 64 percent completion rate that was second in a Pac-10 filled with good passing offenses. UCLA didn’t throw quite as often, but Norrie made his passes count, with an 8.5 yards-per-attempt that was the league’s best and his ten interceptions were the second-lowest among regular starters.

A well-balanced running game made the offense hum, with Gaston Green and Eric Ball each going for over 700 yards and ranking 4th and 5th among conference rushers in yardage. Ball was the league’s most explosive back, getting 5.8 yards-per-attempt. They were supported on the outside by deep threat Mike Sherrard, a future NFL first-round draft pick, and Karl Dorrell, a future head coach here in Westwood.

The defense was anchored by Mark Walen and the versatile player officially listed at defensive tackle, but who lined up most everywhere, was the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. In the secondary, James Washington had five interceptions.

Despite the recent pedigree of success, and despite the fact that John Lee, the best kicker in the country, gave UCLA a huge edge in any close game, the Bruins were only ranked #20 to start the 1985 college football season.

It wouldn’t take long for them to make their mark. The opening game was at BYU. The Cougars were the defending national champion and ranked #10 to start this season. The game was a 4:30 PM ET start on ESPN, at a time when the still-young network didn’t have college football televised wall-to-wall.

An opportunistic defense delivered the Bruins in Provo. They got five turnovers, including a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown by Craig Rutledge. UCLA got field goals from Lee off the other four turnovers. They still trailed 24-19, when Sherrard got deep late in the game for a 62-yard catch that set up a short touchdown run. UCLA’s 27-24 win moved them up to #14 in the polls.

No one could accuse Donahue of ducking anyone in non-conference competition. Even though Tennessee didn’t have a strong recent history, this was a year they would rise up and win the Sugar Bowl. UCLA went to Knoxville and came out with a 26-26 tie, one that got them enough respect to be nudged up #12 nationally.

A 34-16 rout of mediocre San Diego State closed out the non-conference schedule and then UCLA opened Pac-10 play with a 21-14 loss at Washington, who had finished #2 in the nation. Unforgiving pollsters dropped the Bruins from the land of the ranked.

UCLA hosted a good Arizona State team that would contend with them to the end of the season and had a talented future NFL strong safety in David Fulcher. The Bruins put a 40-17 beating on the Sun Devils, and then followed it up by blasting bad teams in Stanford, Washington State and Cal by a combined 99-26.

Coming into the games of November 9, UCLA was tied with Washington atop the league standings at 4-1, though the Huskies of course had the tiebreaker. USC, Arizona and Arizona State all had just one league loss themselves, at 3-1 each, so there was a lot to be settled in November.

UCLA started by going to Arizona. The Bruins got an early touchdown when the Wildcats muffed a punt attempt and set up a gift score. UCLA took a 24-7 lead by late in the third quarter, with Green running well and scoring three touchdowns. Arizona rallied and closed to 24-19 with three minutes left, but the Bruins covered the onside kick and ran out the clock.

There was good news elsewhere in the league, as USC and Washington both lost. The only one-loss teams were UCLA and Arizona State and now the Bruins had the tiebreaker advantage.

They blew out lowly Oregon State 41-10 and it set up a dramatic rivalry Saturday. UCLA went crosstown to play USC. The Trojans were 5-5 and playing for a bowl bid. They upset the Bruins 17-13. But that night, Arizona State lost to Arizona 16-13. In the chaos, Washington might have created a three-way tie but they lost to Washington State.

It wasn’t exactly an inspiring finish, but UCLA was still 8-2-1 against a very good schedule, still ranked #13 and still going to the Rose Bowl for the third time in four years.

Iowa had their breakthrough season in 1981 under Hayden Fry, when they cracked the Michigan-Ohio State monopoly on the Big Ten’s Rose Bowl bid and came to Pasadena. In the ensuing three years, Fry’s teams went 25-11-1, establishing they were no one-year wonder. Expectations were high for 1985, with a preseason #4 national ranking and the hopes of getting back to the Rose Bowl, and this time, winning it.

Chuck Long was at the heart of the expectations. Even though he threw 351 times—the most of any New Year’s Day quarterback except Miami’s Vinny Testaverde, who threw 352—Long remained efficient. He completed 66 percent of his passes and though the interceptions were high, at 15, so were the touchdown passes, at 26.

He shared Big Ten MVP honors with Michigan State’s 2,000-yard running back Lorenzo White, and Long finished second to Bo Jackson in one of the closest Heisman Trophy votes in history.

Long’s weapons started with the versatile running back Ronnie Harmon. An NFL future ahead of him, Harmon ran for over 1,100 yards and caught 49 passes for nearly 600 yards. The receiving corps was well-balanced, with wideout Bill Happell and tight end Scott Halverson working secondaries from every angle.

Larry Station was the heart and soul of the defense and a consensus All-American linebacker. The secondary could play the ball, with Jay Norvel and Devon Mitchell combining for five interceptions. Iowa opened the season with three non-descript games against Drake, Northern Illinois and Iowa State and won by a combined 163-23.

When the dust settled, Iowa was #1 in the country going into the Big Ten schedule. They got a big scare at home against Michigan State, needing Long to take in a bootleg touchdown run to secure a 35-31 win. The Hawkeyes followed that up with a 23-13 win over so-so Wisconsin. Now it was time for the game that had the entire Midwest, indeed the entire nation fired up—the #1 vs #2 battle with Michigan in Iowa City.

After a scoreless first quarter, Long appeared to have broken the ice when he hit Helverson in the back of the end zone. The pass was ruled incomplete, although replay showed it was a completed pass. Under today’s rules with replay, Iowa would have had a touchdown. In 1985, they settled for a field goal.

Michigan promptly brought the kickoff back 60 yards, setting up a quick touchdown. Iowa came back with two more field goals, but another special teams mishap allowed a long kickoff return setting up a Wolverine field goal. In spite of controlling the flow of play, the Hawkeyes trailed 10-9 in the closing minutes.

Long came up big when it mattered most. He converted three third-down throws and moved his team to the 12-yard line. Kicker Rob Houghtlin came on and hit the game-winner on the final play. Iowa won 12-10 and national championship talk was flowing freely.

After a 49-10 blasting of Northwestern, the national title talk got squashed—or more accurately, rained on, in Columbus. Playing in the sloppy wet, Iowa lost to Ohio State 22-13. The Hawkeyes were still #6 in the country, but now the Buckeyes controlled the path to Pasadena.

Iowa took care of their end of things against a pretty good Illinois team that was in close pursuit of the Big Ten lead. The Hawkeyes blasted the Illini 59-0. A shootout with Purdue, with NFL-bound Jim Everett at quarterback followed. Everett’s 3,600 passing yards this season were higher than Long’s, but Iowa pulled out a 27-24 win in West Lafayette.

That same day, Wisconsin did Iowa a big solid, and beat Ohio State 12-7. Iowa was back in the driver’s seat. They needed only beat Minnesota in the season finale to wrap up the Pasadena trip. If the Hawkeyes lost, the Michigan-Ohio State winner would go.

This was a competitive Minnesota team, one that was 6-4 coming in and played well enough to get head coach Lou Holtz the Notre Dame job for the following season. The Hawkeyes still dismantled the Gophers 31-9. Iowa was back into the top five, at #4, and headed back to the Rose Bowl.

The game would be a tale of two running backs. Much was made coming into the game about how this year’s Iowa team was not there to enjoy the sights and sounds of SoCal the way they presumably were in 1981. This year it was all about winning. Perhaps it created too much pressure.

Harmon would fumble four times, and was never able to get untracked. Long threw for 319 yards, but without support from his defense or his running game, it wasn’t enough.

Meanwhile, UCLA, even with Norrie out with a thigh injury, was getting all the support it needed. Ball had the game of his life, with 227 yards and four touchdowns. Stevens played efficiently and the offense produced 488 total yards.

With Ball going crazy as Harmon melted down, the result was a 45-28 UCLA win. Fry would get Iowa back to this stage one more time, following the 1990 season, but never did get a win. Just as surprising is that Donahue never won this bowl game again either.

UCLA didn’t disappear and won the Cotton Bowl in 1988 with Troy Aikman at quarterback. They returned to the Rose Bowl under Donahue in 1993, and under Bob Toledo in 1998, but lost to Wisconsin. New Year’s Day 1986 was the last time UCLA won the major bowl game at their home stadium.

The Road To The 1985 Fiesta Bowl: UCLA & Miami

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Miami was the defending national champion, while UCLA had won back-to-back Rose Bowls. Both teams slipped from those lofty heights during the 1984 college football season. But they both made their way back to the New Year’s Day stage and met in the 1985 Fiesta Bowl. Here’s a look back at the paths the Bruins and Hurricanes traveled.

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UCLA opened the season ranked fifth in the nation and had a future NFL quarterback in Steve Bono. The numbers weren’t dazzling for Bono, but his 54 percent completion rate was second-best in a Pac-10 that had good quarterbacks, and his six interceptions were the fewest among conference starters. It was the kind of high-efficiency work that kept him in the NFL.

Bono had a field-stretcher at receiver in future first-round draft pick Mike Sherrard, who finished with 38 catches for 635 yards. Mike Young was a quality second wideout, and Danny Andrews was a versatile running back who could also catch the ball.

The running game itself wasn’t great—Andrews only ran for a little over 600 yards—and the defense didn’t have any All-American talent. The weaknesses showed in the first three games. UCLA was unimpressive in beating weak teams in San Diego State and Long Beach State. Then they hosted top-ranked Nebraska and were physically manhandled in a 42-3 loss that dropped the Bruins to #17.

A 33-16 win at lowly Colorado didn’t prove much, and it was followed by a 23-21 upset loss at home to Stanford, against a Cardinal team that would finish sub-.500. UCLA then pulled out a couple more narrow escapes, 27-24 over Washington State and 17-14 over Cal.

The win over WSU was pretty good, considering the Cougars were a winning team that had the Pac-10 MVP in running back Reuben Mayes and a future Super Bowl MVP at quarterback in Mark Rypien. But Cal only went 2-9. UCLA had still yet to do anything impressive.

The Bruins went to Arizona State, and while the Sun Devils were a subpar team, they had a prolific passing attack. Jeff Van Raaphorst never made it at the next level, but he was one of the league’s best in 1984. The UCLA defense stood tall in a 21-13 win.

Another disappointing effort at home resulted in a 20-18 loss to mediocre Oregon and eliminated the Bruins from the Rose Bowl chase. They beat two-win Oregon State 26-17 and got set to face USC. Their archrival had already wrapped up the Rose Bowl spot and was doing some trash-talking. Trojan quarterback Tim Green promised a “whipping.” UCLA had bulletin-board material and the added enticement of the Fiesta Bowl spot if they could win.

Donahue’s team delivered its best performance of the season. They picked off Green three times and forced five turnovers in all. Andrews left the game with an injury in the second quarter and freshman Gaston Green entered to rush for 134 yards. UCLA was an easy 29-10 winner and after being unranked since the Stanford loss in early October, the Bruins were #14 when the Fiesta Bowl arrived.

Miami had a new coach coming off its miracle national championship. Howard Schnellenberger left and Jimmy Johnson took over. The ‘Canes were ranked 10th to start the year and opened the season against Auburn in the Kickoff Classic held in the Meadowlands.

Auburn was not only the #1 team in the country, but the Tigers felt (correctly) that they, and not the Hurricanes should have been voted national champs the previous January.

 

But Miami was ready. Alonzo Highsmith rushed for 140 yards, outperforming the great Bo Jackson, who ran for 96. Bernie Kosar threw for 329 yards, repeatedly connecting with Eddie Brown, who caught eight passes for 157 yards.

Kosar threw an early 17-yard touchdown pass to Stanley Shakespeare to give Miami the lead. Auburn tied it, and then got a safety when the Miami punter muffed a snap. The ‘Canes trailed 15-14 in the third quarter and both teams traded field goals. One more field goal by Miami with 6:08 left got them out of New Jersey with a 20-18 win.

Another tough game with an SEC opponent awaited. Seventh-ranked Florida would come to Miami. The Gators would win the SEC this season, though probation would prevent formal recognition of the title. They were the only team to have beaten Miami in the 1983 season and the Gators nearly did it again.

Kosar played well again, going 25/33 for 300 yards and Miami led 19-13 in the fourth quarter. Florida drove to the brink of the goal line, but Hurricane safety Ken Calhoun, who made the defensive play that had preserved the national championship win the previous year, recovered a fumble on the one-yard line. Miami continued to have problems with the punting game, with another muffed snap giving Florida a chance at a field goal…which they missed.

Finally, the Gators broke thorugh and took a 20-19 lead with 41 seconds left. Kosar went to work, and when he hit tight end Willie Smith on a 36-yard pass, it got the ‘Canes into field goal range. It was Smith’s 11th catch of the game and he finished with 152 total yards. Kosar found Brown on a 12-yard touchdown pass with seven seconds left. On the game’s final play, a Florida desperation pass was intercepted and brought back for a score, making the final a deceptive 32-20.

Because Miami’s season got an early start in the Kickoff Classic, they played two games before the next poll was taken and they were appropriately moved up to the #1 spot. But they played a very demanding schedule and a road trip to Michigan—even a team that would be mediocre by Wolverine standards—ended up in a 22-14 loss.

The Hurricanes bounced back with a 28-17 win at Purdue and future NFL quarterback Jim Everett, but Miami was then embarrassed by archrival and 15th-ranked Florida State. The 38-3 win sent the ‘Canes plummeting to #16.

A bounceback win over lowly Rice was followed by a trip to #16 Notre Dame. The Irish had their share of problems in the early 1980s, but this was still a team that would win seven games. Miami’s 31-13 win was impressive and got them back into the Top 10. They followed it up with three straight easy wins over bad teams in Cincinnati, Pitt and Louisville.

Miami was having no problems moving the football. Kosar threw for over 3,600 yards on the season, completed 63% of his passes and got 8.8 yards-per-attempt, all numbers that are good today and were positively dazzling in the world of 1984. He finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting.

The sophomore Highsmith rushed for over 900 yards and caught 37 passes out of the backfield. Brown was an All-American receiver with over 1,100 receiving yards, while Smith caught 66 passes for 859 yards in the tight end slot.

No, scoring wasn’t the problem in Coral Gables. Defense was, and it would be the reason that, with a #6 ranking, the season suddenly took a wrong turn of historic proportions.

Miami hosted a good eight-win Maryland team. The Hurricanes came out smoking and were up 31-0 at halftime. Then came the biggest collapse in college football history and they lost 42-40. After licking their wounds on that game, came an even bigger defensive debacle against Boston College on Black Friday. Miami scored 45 points at home, with Kosar throwing for 447 yards. And they lost 47-45, on Doug Flutie’s legendary desperation pass on the final play.

The Hurricanes were reeling, going into the Fiesta Bowl ranked #13 and looking for some way to find some defense.

There wasn’t a lot of defense to be found in Tempe on New Year’s Day and the back-and-forth action made for great television. UCLA took a 7-0 lead, but Miami responded with three straight touchdowns, including a 68-yard punt return from Brown.

The Bruins responded with a 72-yard touchdown run from Green, a safety and a pair of field goals—including a 51-yarder from Lee—to take a 22-21 lead into the locker room.

Bono threw two touchdown passes in the second half and UCLA took a 36-24 lead. But while Miami might not be able to hold a lead, they could still overcome this kind of fourth-quarter deficit. The Hurricanes scored two quick touchdowns of their own, but a missed two-point conversion in the process kept the lead at one point, 37-36, rather than stretching it to three.

It proved to be the difference. UCLA got the ball with 2:58 left, drove it down and won the game with a short field goal by Lee.

The 39-37 win marked the third straight major bowl win for UCLA, a streak they would continue at the following year’s Rose Bowl. As for Miami, they would most definitely be back. Johnson’s program would lose just four games over the next four years and win a national championship, all keyed by staff changes and massive improvements on defense.

The Road To The 1984 Rose Bowl: UCLA & Illinois

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UCLA and Illinois came to the 1984 Rose Bowl with two very different heritages and two paths through the 1983 college football season that were quite different. The Bruins were the defending Rose Bowl champions, but had struggled to a 6-4-1 record in 1983. The Illini hadn’t been to Pasadena since 1963, but arrived this year as a 10-1 team, ranked fourth in the nation. Let’s look back on the paths each team took to the Rose Bowl…

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Terry Donahue’s UCLA program had a breakthrough Rose Bowl win in 1982, his first major bowl victory since taking over in 1976. He had a team led by a future head coach, in quarterback Rick Neuheisel, who completed both a high percentage of his passes—69%–and still generated 8.4 yards-per-attempt.

Neuheisel is remembered today as the coach of both Colorado and Washington who was chased out of college football for betting on the NCAA Tournament, but those numbers indicate he was a pretty good college quarterback in the day. Neuheisel was good enough to keep junior Steve Bono, a future NFL starter, on the bench.

The top targets were sophomore Mike Sherrard, a future first-round draft choice and tight end Paul Bergmann. The second wide receiver was another future head coach, Karl Dorrell, who took over his alma mater and led a memorable upset of second-ranked USC in 2006.

Donahue’s backfield was well-balanced, led by Kevin Nelson with support from Frank Cephous and Danny Andrews. The defense was led by hard-hitting All-American safety Don Rogers. UCLA opened the season ranked #20 and had a difficult non-conference schedule ahead.

The first game was on the road at 15th-ranked Georgia. The Bruins dropped a tough 19-8 decision when a potential game-winning drive in the closing minute ended with a Pick-6 going back the other way. UCLA then played Arizona State, a winning program that had been the top competition for the Rose Bowl in 1982, to a 26-26 tie.

A visit to top-ranked Nebraska followed and ended with the Bruins taking the worst of a 42-10 pummeling to a Cornhusker team that would finish the regular season undefeated and had one of the great running games of all time. UCLA then experienced an offense of a completely different color—BYU’s pass-happy attack led by Steve Young and lost 37-35.

The season was into October and the Bruins had yet to win a game. Fortunately, their Pac-10 record was still 0-0-1 and the games to settle the Rose Bowl bid were still to come.

UCLA beat lowly Stanford 39-21 and then went on the road to a pretty good Washington State team and won 24-14. The Bruins survived mediocre Cal 20-16 and were in business as they prepared to host 11th-ranked Washington on the final Saturday of October.

A 27-24 win gave UCLA sole possession of first place in the Pac-10, and they followed it up with a 24-13 win at subpar Oregon. But a road trip to Arizona, coached by future nemesis Larry Smith, who would take USC to three straight Rose Bowls later in the decade, ended badly in a 27-24 loss.

Just as had been the case a year earlier, UCLA needed to get help. They needed to beat USC, not only to stay alive for the Rose Bowl, but just to ensure a winning season. Then Washington needed to lose to Washington State. For the second straight season, fortune smiled on Donahue. They beat USC 27-17 and got word the Huskies had lost to their archrival.

UCLA was unranked and barely over .500, but they were Rose Bowl bound again.

Since Illinois’ last Rose Bowl trip exactly twenty years earlier, they had been essentially off the football map. The Illini had not even enjoyed a winning season since 1974. Mike White became head coach in 1980, and in 1981-82 he ended that drought with consecutive seven-win campaigns.

Illinois was led by future NFL quarterback Jack Trudeau, who completed 63% of his passes, averaged a solid 7.5 yards-per-attempt and threw 18 touchdowns. He had an excellent wide receiver in David Williams, who caught 59 passes for 870 yards.

Tight end Tim Brewster was another key target, with 59 more catches and 628 yards. Brewster also added to the list of future head coaches playing in this year’s Rose Bowl, as he later coached at Minnesota.

Thomas Rooks was the Big Ten’s second-leading rusher, with 842 yards, while Dwight Beverley was an effective second back, racking up 685 more. Defensively, the secondary had a pair of ballhawks in David Edwards and Mike Heaven, with five interceptions apiece.

But the best player on the 1983 Illinois football team was none of the above. Defensive end Don Thorp was a one-man wrecking crew, so much so that he not only made All-American, he won Big Ten Player of the Year.

In spite of their improvement over the previous two seasons, Illinois was still under the radar when the season began, unranked in the polls. When they lost 28-18 at Missouri, a decent team that would win seven games, it seemed to validate that lack of belief.

The Illini got an unimpressive 17-7 win over Stanford, then won 20-10 at subpar Michigan State. The first sign that something special might be brewing in Champaign came on October 1. Fourth-ranked Iowa, with talented sophomore quarterback Chuck Long, came to town and left with a stunning 33-0 loss hung on them. Illinois appeared in the polls for the first time at #19.

They followed it up by going to Wisconsin, another pretty good team that won seven games, and like Iowa had a nice quarterback in Randy Wright. Illinois won 27-15 and were set to host sixth-ranked Ohio State.

Illinois led 10-3 at the half, but Trudeau then threw an interception deep in his own end and set up a tying touchdown for the Buckeyes. Ohio State took a 13-10 lead early in the fourth quarter, but also missed a 27-yard field goal that could have widened the lead to six.

The Illini got the ball on their own 17-yard line late in the game and Trudeau led a rapid-fire drive in just five plays. It was capped when Rooks bounced to the right sideline and took off on a 21-yard touchdown with 1:06 left. Illinois held on for the 17-13 win and moved up to #11.

They beat Purdue 35-21, a victory that doesn’t look impressive, given the Boilermakers’ eventual 3-7-1 record. But it was that road sandwich game—stuck right in between Ohio State and the impending arrival of Michigan.

The Wolverines and Illini were the only teams unbeaten in Big Ten play. Michigan was ranked #6 and head coach Bo Schembecler had never lost to Illinois. But if this Illini team could change that in front of a national TV audience, they would be in complete command of the Big Ten race.

Trudeau was sloppy and committed a couple foolish turnovers that cost his team points. But the Thorp-led defense was dominant and Illinois led 7-6 midway through the third quarter. The quarterback stepped up and redeemed himself with a touchdown pass to Williams, who made a nice catch-and-run and found the left sideline. A subsequent safety put the game away, 16-6.

Illinois now needed to just win two of their final three games, and they would come against the three worst teams in the Big Ten, Minnesota, Indiana and Northwestern. How sure was everyone the Illini were in? CBS play-by-play man concluded the telecast of the Michigan game by saying “Illinois is headed to Pasadena.”

This wouldn’t be a “Dewey Defeats Truman” moment in the annals of sports journalism. Illinois won those three games by a combined 155-68 to lock up both the Rose Bowl and the outright Big Ten crown. They were #4 in the country as the regular season came to a close.

Illinois did not have a real chance at the national championship even though the three teams ahead of them—Nebraska, Texas and Auburn—were all in different bowls. From the perspective of game-day morning on January 2, no one expected Nebraska or Texas to lose. Even when the Rose Bowl began, and the upset loss suffered by Texas was already known, no one expected Nebraska to lose.

And even though we know now that the Cornhuskers would lose an epic Orange Bowl game to Miami, the fifth-ranked Hurricanes vaulted victorious Auburn for the national title and would certainly have done the same to Illinois. But there was never a chance to find out, due to a Rose Bowl game that no one expected.

The day started badly for UCLA—several players were unable to go because of food poisoning and Neuheisel was so sick that Donahue put him on a private car to the stadium rather than the bus, because the coach feared the mere sight of the starting quarterback would depress the rest of the team.

Once the game started it was a different story. Rogers quickly intercepted Trudeau and set up a field goal attempt. It was blocked, but Illinois fumbled it right back and the tone was set.

With a 7-3 lead, Rogers intercepted another pass and Neuheisel hit Dorrell with a 16-yard touchdown pass. The score was 21-3 by the half. Neuheisel and Dorrell hooked up again in the second half, and the quarterback set a Rose Bowl record with four touchdown passes. The lead grew as high as 38-3 and ended at 45-9.

Illinois’ time in the sun was brief—they would not win the Big Ten title again until 2001. As for Donahue, he was now halfway through a major bowl run that would see him win four straight, three of them right here in Pasadena.

USC-UCLA Football Rivalry: The 1988 War Of The Roses

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The USC-UCLA football rivalry is the most storied in the West, and one of the most historic college football rivalries in the country. While it would be overdoing it to say 1988 was the high point, the 1988 USC-UCLA rivalry had plenty of color, some great storylines and added significant juice to what was a very good college football season.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
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September was a good month for football in the City of Angels, a town that had already seen the Lakers win the NBA title and the Dodgers were on their way to winning the World Series. USC and UCLA both had high expectations. The Trojans had beaten the Bruins out for the Rose Bowl bid a year ago and not only were both expected to again lead up the conference then known as the Pac-10, but national hopes were prevalent.

The quarterbacks at both schools were highly regarded seniors, with Rodney Peete for USC having an NFL career in front of him. UCLA was quarterbacked by Troy Aikman, whom you may have heard also had a pretty fair NFL career on the horizon.

Both teams had big non-conference tests, against Oklahoma and Nebraska respectively, each perennial national title contenders. The Pac-10 passed with flying colors. USC’s defense dominated the potent Oklahoma running game, holding them to 89 yards rushing, forcing six turnovers, jumping out to a 20-0 halftime lead and cruising to a 23-7 win.

UCLA’s dominance was even more startling, because Aikman’s offense hung 28 points on the Cornhuskers before the first quarter was out. The final was a deceptive 41-28, but it was never remotely a game.

Over the course of the season the Bruins would rise to #1 in the polls before a surprise loss to Washington State ended their national title hopes. But USC kept winning, moved up to #2 and another winner-take-all battle was set for November 19.

It looked like USC might join the championship parade in the city as they got set for their two season-ending games. If the Trojans could beat UCLA and then win at home against #1 Notre Dame, then USC would move into the top spot and control its championship destiny in the Rose Bowl.

Aikman would one day get the best of Peete many times when they played for the Cowboys and Eagle respectively, but November 19, 1988 was a day that belonged to USC. While Aikman had a good day, Peete had a running game with Aaron Emanuel. The result was that UCLA drove the field three times and settled for field goals. USC drove it three times and scored touchdowns. The 21-9 lead set the tone and USC won it 31-22.

Peete’s Trojans were favorites to beat Notre Dame and then go on and beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl, but they just didn’t have the muscle. The Irish whipped them up front, getting a long option run by quarterback Tony Rice for a 65-yard scoring play and linebacker Frank Stams sacked Peete three times and forced a fumble that set up a score.

Trailing 14-7 and still with a chance to get back into it, Peete threw an interception that was returned 64 yards for a score. Though USC outgained Notre Dame, the turnovers did them in and the final was 27-10.

The Rose Bowl provided similar disappointment as a halftime lead disappeared against a Michigan offensive front that took over the second half. The Wolverines led 15-14 late and put the game away on fourth-and-goal from the one when USC couldn’t stop Leroy Hoard from willing his way into the end zone as part of a huge second half. It was a tough ending for the Trojans, but still a good year.

UCLA ended on an up note in the Cotton Bowl, where Aikman played mistake-free football and let his defense deliver a 17-3 win over Arkansas. It was a fitting college end for Aikman, playing the game in Dallas where he would be on his way too in a few short months.