The UCLA Bruins football program represents the University of California, Los Angeles, in college football as members of the Big Ten Conference at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. The Bruins play their home games off campus at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
The Bruins have enjoyed several periods of success in their history, having been ranked in the top ten of the AP Poll at least once in every decade since the poll began in the 1930s. Their first major period of success came in the 1950s, under head coach Red Sanders. Sanders led the Bruins to the Coaches' Poll national championship in 1954, three conference championships, and an overall record of 66–19–1 in nine years. In the 1980s and 1990s, during the tenure of Terry Donahue, the Bruins compiled a 151–74–8 record, including 13 bowl games and an NCAA record eight straight bowl wins. 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 UCLA Bruins' main rival is the USC Trojans.
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 and fellow Pac-12 members USC, Oregon, and Washington left for the Big Ten Conference in 2024.
History
Early history (1919–1924)
The first football team fielded by UCLA took the field in 1919. The team was coached by Fred Cozens, and compiled a 2–6 record. UCLA did not participate in an athletic conference until 1920, so the 1919 football team played a schedule full of local high schools and other assorted teams. Cozens was UCLA's athletics director from 1919 to 1942. Harry Trotter took over the young UCLA football program after Cozens stepped down after guiding the Bruins in their first season. UCLA began to play in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) in 1920, and competed against Occidental College, California Institute of Technology, University of Redlands, Whittier College, and Pomona College. Coach Trotter's two wins were against Redlands and San Diego State, which did not join the SCIAC until 1926. Trotter left UCLA with a 2–13–1 record in three seasons (1920–1922). James J. Cline took over the Bruins football program as its third head coach in 1923. Coach Cline's two wins were against Loyola University and San Diego State. Cline was replaced after two seasons and a 2–10–3 record.
William Spaulding era (1925–1938)
William H. Spaulding came to UCLA from Minnesota in 1925. As the Bruins head coach, his overall record in 14 seasons was 72–51–8. During his tenure in Los Angeles, Spaulding led the Bruins to their first bowl appearance and victory, the 1938 Poi Bowl. Also during Spaulding's tenure, the Bruins left the SCIAC and joined the Pacific Coast Conference beginning in 1928. Spaulding's 72 wins rank him among the best in head coaching victories in Bruin football history. He retired after a successful fourteen-season tenure ended after the 1938 season.
Edwin Horrell era (1939–1944) Edwin C. Horrell was promoted to head coach following Spaulding's retirement. His 1942 UCLA Bruins team lost to Georgia in the 1943 Rose Bowl. He was the first coach to lead a UCLA team to defeat rival USC. It was the first football victory in the UCLA–USC rivalry. The most notable player who played for Horrell at UCLA was Jackie Robinson, who went on to a Hall of Fame career in professional baseball. Horrell's 1939 team compiled a 6–0–4 and his 1941 team posted a 5–5–1 record. With the exception of the 1942 season, the combined record of the Bruins during Horrell's tenure outside the aforementioned seasons was 6–22–1. These struggles led to Horrell's firing after six seasons at the helm of UCLA football.
Bert LaBrucherie era (1945–1949)
Coach Bert LaBrucherie was hired by his alma mater to replace Horrell. LaBrucherie's overall record at UCLA was 23–16. In his second year as head coach, the Bruins were Pacific Coast Conference champions, but lost to Illinois in the 1947 Rose Bowl. LaBrucherie's Bruins only posted one losing season during his four seasons, a 3–7 1948 season in what turned out to be his final season. LaBrucherie accepted the position of head football coach at California Institute of Technology after the 1948 season, departing UCLA. Coach LaBrucherie's 1946 team produced a perfect 10–0 season, with dominant victories until their loss to Illinois in the 1947 Rose Bowl.
Red Sanders era (1949–1957)
Red Sanders came to UCLA from Vanderbilt. He was arguably the best coach in school history, with an overall record of 66–19–1 () at UCLA and earned the school its only national championship in football in 1954. As head coach of the Bruins, Sanders led them to three Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) titles, two Rose Bowls (1953 and 1955 seasons) and to a 6–3 record over arch-rival USC. Sanders instituted the distinctive football uniforms worn by the Bruins when he replaced the navy blue jerseys with "baking powderkeg blue", added the shoulder stripe to give the impression of motion, and changed the number style from block to clarendon. Sanders said these changes were made to make it easier to see his Bruins on the grainy black and white game films of the time.
The 1954 Bruins compiled a 9–0 record and climbed to the top of the Coaches' Poll, sharing the national championship with Ohio State, winner of the AP Poll's title. Due to the PCC's early "no repeat" rule, the undefeated Bruins were unable to compete in the Rose Bowl that season 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. Henry 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. It's more important than that." The Start of Something Big: USC vs. UCLA by Lonnie White, marking 75 years of the UCLA–USC rivalryBurke, Anne (Editor) – Summer 2004 Bruin Walk: Rah-rah Boo-hiss . UCLA Magazine, summer 2004
Shortly before the 1958 season was set to begin, Sanders suffered a heart attack and died in a Los Angeles hotel. For his successes, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1996.
Bill Barnes era (1958–1964)
After the death of Red Sanders, assistant coach George W. Dickerson took over the Bruins on an interim basis before suffering a nervous breakdown.Wolf, Al – UCLA'S DICKERSON ILL, OUT FOR YEAR. Barnes in Charge of Grid Team. Los Angeles Times, October 10, 1958. George Dickerson, UCLA head football coach, late yesterday' was readmitted to the UCLA Medical Center after suffering a "bad setback" from the nervous exhaustion, which hospitalized him just before the season began. Then, a full-time head coach was hired. William F. Barnes was the head coach for the UCLA Bruins football team for seven seasons. He guided his teams to a 31–34–3 (.478) record. He did have two seven-win seasons in 1960 and 1961, leading the Bruins to the 1962 Rose Bowl. That year, the Bruins finished the season ranked No. 16 in the final AP poll. Barnes resigned after the 1964 season after learning that athletics director J.D. Morgan was not going to renew his contract.Murray, Jim – The Barnes Door Shut. Los Angeles Times, December 22, 1964
Tommy Prothro era (1965–1970)
On January 11, 1965, Tommy Prothro was hired away from Oregon State as head coach of the UCLA Bruins. 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. 6 USC, led by Heisman Trophy winner Mike Garrett led 16–6 until UCLA got a touchdown on a pass from Gary Beban to Dick Witcher with four minutes to play. After the two-point conversion made it 16–14, UCLA recovered an onside kick. Beban then hit Kurt Altenberg on a 50-yard bomb and UCLA won, 20–16.http://www.english.ucla.edu/ucla1960s/6465/Smith2.htm UCLA Athletics: 1964–1965 UCLA.edu Integrated UCLA then faced all-white Tennessee in the newly built Liberty Bowl stadium in Memphis, Prothro's native city. On the last play of the game, Tennessee defensive back Bob Petrella intercepted a UCLA pass to save a Volunteer win by a score of 37–34. Tennessee's winning drive was aided by a controversial pass interference call, the clock had questionably stopped twice, and a dropped pass that appeared to be a lateral was recovered by UCLA, but was later ruled an incomplete forward pass. After the game, Prothro stated, "For the first time in my life, I am ashamed to be a Southerner."John Shearer – Memories: 1965 UT Football Team, Coach Bill Majors . The Chattanoogan.com, December 5, 2005 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. This victory over the much stronger Spartans perpetuated the legend of the "Gutty little Bruins."
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.John Hall – BRUINS DO IT AGAIN! AWAIT BOWL BID: Dow's Heroics Spill Trojans in 14–7 Upset. Los Angeles Times, November 20, 1966John Hall – Bruins Hope to Celebrate Bowl Bid. Los Angeles Times, November 21, 1966 That left USC with a 4–1 conference record (7–2 overall) and No. 5 UCLA with a 3–1 conference record (9–1) overall.