1966 UCLA Bruins football team

The 1966 UCLA Bruins football team was an American football team that represented the University of California, Los Angeles during the 1966 NCAA University Division football season. In their second year under head coach Tommy Prothro, the Bruins compiled a 9–1 record (3–1 AAWU), finished in second place in the Athletic Association of Western Universities, and were ranked #5 in the final AP Poll.[1]

1966 UCLA Bruins football
Conference	Athletic Association of Western Universities
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 5
1966 record	9–1 (3–1 AAWU)
Head coach	Tommy Prothro (2nd season)
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

1966 Athletic Association of Western Universities football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
USC $	4	–	1	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
No. 5 UCLA	3	–	1	–	0			9	–	1	–	0
Oregon State	3	–	1	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Washington	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
California	2	–	3	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Oregon	1	–	3	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Washington State	1	–	3	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Stanford	1	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

UCLA's offensive leaders in 1966 were quarterback Gary Beban with 1,245 passing yards, running back Mel Farr with 809 rushing yards, and Harold Busby with 474 receiving yards.[2]

Heading into the final game of the 1966 season vs. USC, UCLA was 2–1 in conference games, 8–1 overall and ranked #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 the unranked Miami Hurricanes. The Bruins and Trojans played a different number of conference games 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.[3][4] That left USC with a 4–1 conference record (7–2 overall) and #5 UCLA with a 3–1 conference record (9–1) overall. 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 at home in the L.A. Coliseum to Notre Dame, 51–0. They went on to lose the Rose Bowl as well to Purdue, 14–13, finishing the season at 7–4.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 17	Pittsburgh*	No. 4	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 57–14	35,692[5]
September 24	at Syracuse*	No. 2	Archbold Stadium Syracuse, NY	W 31–12	35,000[6]
October 1	Missouri*	No. 2	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 24–15	32,649[7]
October 8	at Rice*	No. 2	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	W 27–24	33,000[8]
October 15	Penn State*	No. 4	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 49–11	37,271
October 22	at California	No. 3	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA (rivalry)	W 28–15	54,000
October 29	Air Force*	No. 3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 38–13	34,654[9]
November 5	at Washington	No. 3	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 3–16	55,536
November 12	Stanford	No. 8	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 10–0	45,290[10]
November 19	No. 7 USC	No. 8	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)	W 14–7	81,980
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Source:[11]

Personnel

1966 UCLA Bruins football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB Gary Beban Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Tommy Prothro Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

References

1. "1966 UCLA Bruins Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
2. "1966 UCLA Bruins Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
3. John Hall – BRUINS DO IT AGAIN! AWAIT BOWL BID: Dow's Heroics Spill Trojans in 14-7 Upset. Los Angeles Times, November 20, 1966
4. John Hall – Bruins Hope to Celebrate Bowl Bid. Los Angeles Times, November 21, 1966
5. "U. C. L. A. JARS PITT BEHIND FARR, BEBAN". Chicago Tribune. 18 September 1966.
6. Wolf, Al (25 September 1966). "BRUINS' B-B ATTACK ROUTS SYRACUSE". Los Angeles Times.
7. Becker, Bill (2 October 1966). "MISSOURI BEATEN FIRST TIME, 24-15". New York Times.
8. "U.C.L.A. RALLIES TO TOP RICE, 27-24". New York Times. 9 October 1966.
9. Hall, J. (30 October 1966). "Bruins start slow, then roll, 38-13". Los Angeles Times.
10. Hall, J. (13 November 1966). "BEBAN BREAKS ANKLE, OUT OF USC GAME". Los Angeles Times.
11. "2015 UCLA Bruins Football Media Guide Year-by-Year Results" (PDF). Retrieved December 19, 2016.