1975 UCLA Bruins football team

The 1975 UCLA Bruins football team represented the University of California, Los Angeles in the 1975 NCAA Division I football season. Led by second-year head coach Dick Vermeil, the Bruins won their first Pacific-8 championship in a decade and were 8–2–1 in the regular season. On New Year's Day, UCLA upset previously undefeated and top-ranked Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and climbed to fifth in the final rankings.[1][2]

1975 UCLA Bruins football
Pac-8 co-champion
Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 23–10 vs. Ohio State
ConferencePacific-8
Ranking
CoachesNo. 5
APNo. 5
Record9–2–1 (6–1 Pac-8)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorRod Dowhower (2nd season)
Defensive coordinatorLynn Stiles (2nd season)
Home stadiumLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
1975 Pacific-8 Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 5 UCLA ^ + 6 –1 –09 –2 –1
No. 14 California + 6 –1 –08 –3 –0
Stanford 5 –2 –06 –4 –1
Washington 5 –2 –06 –5 –0
No. 17 USC 3 –4 –08 –4 –0
Oregon 2 –5 –03 –8 –0
Oregon State 1 –6 –01 –10 –0
Washington State 0 –7 –03 –8 –0
  • + – Conference co-champions
  • ^ – Selected as Rose Bowl representative
Rankings from AP Poll

Coming off an injury-plagued 1974 season at 6–3–2, UCLA began the season ranked #16. A season-opening 37–21 win over Iowa State in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum saw them move up to twelfth;[3] this was followed by a 34–28 win over #10 Tennessee.[4] But they stumbled in a turnover-plagued 20–20 tie at Air Force;[5] second-ranked Ohio State traveled west and handed UCLA its first loss of the season, 41–20 on October 4.[6] After the game, head coach Woody Hayes prophetically told his team that they would be facing UCLA again in the Rose Bowl. UCLA was the only opponent to score more than 14 points in a game all season against Ohio State, and they did it twice.

The Ohio State loss dropped the Bruins out of the top 20, but they returned to #13 after wins over Stanford,[7] Washington State,[8][9] and a key win over California. But another loss, this time to Washington 17–13, dropped them back out of the top 20 and resulted in a five-way tie at the top of the Pac-8 between UCLA, California, Stanford, USC, and Washington.[10]

After a pair of wins over the Oregon schools,[11][12] the Bruins went into their season-ending game against rival USC needing a win to go to the Rose Bowl; a loss or tie would send California to Pasadena. Despite fumbling 11 times and losing 8, UCLA beat the Trojans 25–22.[13] UCLA ended up tied with California for the Pac-8 championship, but advanced to the Rose Bowl on the strength of their 28–14 win over the Golden Bears.[14] The Bruins went into the Rose Bowl ranked #11. Ironically, the 1975 USC-UCLA game was legendary coach John McKay and Vermeil's final game at the Coliseum.

It was the only bowl appearance for Vermeil in his two seasons at UCLA; a month later he left for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League.[15]

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 138:05 pmIowa State*No. 16
W 37–2131,260
September 2012:50 pmNo. 10 Tennessee*No. 12
  • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
  • Los Angeles, CA [4]
ABCW 34–2833,356
September 272:30 pmat Air Force*No. 10
T 20–2033,390
October 46:00 pmNo. 2 Ohio State*No. 13
  • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
  • Los Angeles, CA [6]
ABCL 20–4155,482
October 111:30 pmat Stanford
W 31–2152,500
October 181:30 pmat Washington StateNo. 18
W 37–2328,500
October 253:00 pmCaliforniaNo. 19
  • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
  • Los Angeles, CA
W 28–1436,100
November 11:30 pmWashingtonNo. 13
  • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
  • Los Angeles, CA [10]
L 13–1729,158
November 81:30 pmat Oregon
W 50–1715,500
November 151:30 pmOregon StateNo. 19
  • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
  • Los Angeles, CA [12]
W 31–930,203
November 285:00 pmvs. USCNo. 14
ABCW 25–2280,927
January 1, 19762:00 pmvs. No. 1 Ohio State*No. 11
NBCW 23–10105,464
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Pacific time

Game summaries

Ohio State
1 2 3 4 Total
UCLA 7 0 7 6 20
Ohio State 7 21 10 3 41
See also: 1975 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

1st quarter scoring: UCLA – James Sarpy 13-yard pass from John Sciarra (Brett White kick); OSU – Greene 2-yard run (Klaban kick)

2nd quarter scoring: OSU – Johnson 3-yard run (Klaban kick); OSU – Johnson 2-yard run (Klaban kick); OSU – Greene 17-yard run (Klaban kick)

3rd quarter scoring: OSU – A. Griffin 17-yard run (Klaban kick); OSU – Klaban 34-yard field goal; UCLA – Eddie Ayers 2-yard run (White kick)

4th quarter scoring: UCLA – Ayers 1-yard run (kick failed); OSU – Klaban 42-yard field goal

Ohio State (Rose Bowl)
1 2 3 4 Total
UCLA 0 0 16 7 23
Ohio State 3 0 0 7 10
See also: 1976 Rose Bowl

1st quarter scoring: Ohio State – Tom Klaban 42-yard field goal

2nd quarter scoring: No score

3rd quarter scoring: UCLA – Brett White 33-yard field goal; UCLA – Wally Henry 16-yard pass from John Sciarra (White kick failed); UCLA – Henry 67-yard pass from Sciarra (White kick)

4th quarter scoring: Ohio State – Pete Johnson 3-yard run (Klaban kick); UCLA – Wendell Tyler 54-yard run (White kick)

Personnel

Roster
1975 UCLA Bruins football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
OT 73 Phil McKinnely Sr
WR Severn Reece So
QB 15 John Sciarra Sr
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
LB 40 Manu Tuiasosopo Fr
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

34 returning lettermen from Coach Dick Vermeil's first team that was 6–3–2 in 1974.[16]

Awards and honors
  • John Sciarra, QB, All-Conference, NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship, ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All America, National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Scholarship, NCAA Top Eight Award, inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (2014)
  • Randy Cross, G, All-Conference, inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (2010)
  • Fulton Kuykendall, LB, All-Conference
  • Head coach Dick Vermeil will be inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2014.[17]
  • Barney Person, CB, Lead nation & UCLA in interceptions, made key Rose Bowl interception

1975 team players in the NFL

The following players were claimed in the 1975 NFL Draft.

PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL club
Fulton KuykendallLinebacker6132Atlanta Falcons
Eugene ClarkOffensive guard9222Pittsburgh Steelers
Art KuehnCenter15384Washington Redskins
Myke HortonOffensive tackle17428New England Patriots

The following players were claimed in the 1976 NFL Draft.

PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL club
Cliff FrazierDefensive tackle241Kansas City Chiefs
Randy CrossCenter242San Francisco 49ers
John SciarraDefensive back4103Chicago Bears
Phil McKinnelyTackle9246Atlanta Falcons
Norman AndersenWide receiver11299Chicago Bears
Terry TautoloLinebacker13353Philadelphia Eagles
Brett WhitePunter15412Philadelphia Eagles
Dale CurryLinebacker15430Dallas Cowboys

[18]

The following player was claimed in the 1977 NFL Draft.

PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL club
Wendell TylerRunning back379Los Angeles Rams
Rick WalkerTight end485Cincinnati Bengals
Ray BurksLinebacker12318Kansas City Chiefs

References
  1. "Dynamite Bruins stagger Ohio St". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. January 2, 1976. p. 34.
  2. "Sooners poll champions". (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. January 3, 1976. p. 13.
  3. "Sciarra scores three as UCLA tops Cyclones". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 14, 1975. p. 3C.
  4. "Bruins stall late bid, upend 10th-rated Vols". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 21, 1975.
  5. "Long field goal ties UCLA at 20". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 28, 1975. p. 6B.
  6. "Greene races by Bruins". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. October 5, 1975. p. 3B.
  7. "Stanford fans boo as UCLA prevails". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. October 12, 1975. p. 6D.
  8. Missildine, Harry (October 19, 1975). "Sciarra, Ayers lead UCLA win". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
  9. "Bruin offense just too much". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. October 19, 1975. p. 3B.
  10. "Suddenly, five Pac-8 teams sniffing roses". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. November 2, 1975. p. 3B.
  11. Withers, Bud (November 9, 1975). "The athletes have their say, 50-17". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1B.
  12. Rausch, Gary (November 16, 1975). "Dee's day starts badly, gets no better". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1B.
  13. "Fumbling Bruins Pasadena-bound". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire reports. November 29, 1975. p. 1B.
  14. Jeff Prugh – UCLA DROPS BALL BUT HOLDS ROSES; USC Loses in McKay's Farewell. Los Angeles Times. November 29, 1975
  15. "Eagles hire Vermeil". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. (South Carolina). Associated Press. February 9, 1976. p. B1.
  16. UCLA 1975 Press Guide, Compiled by UCLA Athletic News Bureau, Vic Kelley, Manager
  17. Knute Rockne, Dick Vermeil and Ki-Jana Carter to be Inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame Archived 2014-08-27 at the Wayback Machine, Tournament of Roses Association, August 26, 2014
  18. "1976 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007.
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