Remembering UCLA's 1982 Football Season
by Michael6636 on Jul 17, 2010 6:30 AM PDT
Email
PrintBumped. Great memories. GO BRUINS. -N
Since we don't have any UCLA sports that are active now, I thought it would be a good time to remember one of UCLA's better football teams that took an improbable path to a bowl game in Pasadena:
The prelude to the 1982 season was the 1981 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl at the Houston Astrodome which is where I spent New Year’s Eve that year (It was the last Bruin football game that I watched as an undergraduate). Unfortunately, the Bruins could not stop Butch Woolfolk who ran for 186 yards. Donahue insisted on playing single coverage on Anthony Carter who beat the Bruins for a fifty yard bomb from Steve Smith. On that play Smith had checked off at the line to a post pattern to Carter that put Michigan up 10-0, which was a deficit from which the Bruins never recovered. Kevin Nelson was held to 33 yards in 18 carries, and Tom Ramsey had an uncharacteristically poor first half, and by the time he finally completed some passes, it was too late. The final score was Michigan 33-UCLA 14.
The second game in the 1981-83 UCLA-Michigan trilogy was in September of 1982.The Bruin were 2-0 going into the game in Ann Arbor, but had never before beaten the Wolverines, and trailed 21-0 with 9:56 left in the first half. It was looking like a repeat of the previous New Year’s Eve, until Tom Ramsey found Dokie Williams on a 46 yard touchdown pass to put the Bruins on the scoreboard. On the next drive Ramsey scored on a quarterback sneak, and after a late field goal by the Wolverines (following a disputed time out call by Schembechler) it was 24-14 Michigan at the half. Two plays into the second half, Don Rogers intercepted a pass which was supposed to go to Anthony Carter at the Michigan 22. After a couple of completions from Ramsey to the Honorable Cormac Carney, and JoJo Townsell (the latter one for a touchdown), the Bruins were only down 24-21. Later a 65 kickoff return from Dokie Williams set up a short touchdown run from Kevin Nelson, and the Bruins had their first lead 28-27. After John Lee kicked an insurance field goal to put the Bruins up 31-28, the Bruins had to withstand a final Michigan drive which ended when the clock expired with the Wolverines on the UCLA 8. Part I of the revenge against the Wolverines was complete, but no one could have predicted what it would take for the Bruins to earn another game against Michigan.
The momentum from that game carried over into the Pac-10 season as the Bruins were 7-0-1 with only a tie against Arizona marring their record heading into the game against the 7-1 Huskies in Seattle. Unfortunately, although the Bruins outgained the Huskies, two interceptions and two fumbles doomed the Bruins to defeat in a 10-7 loss. UCLA’s only score came on a bomb to Townsell with six minutes left in the game. After the game Chris Baker of the Times predicted that the Bruins were all but out of the race for the Rose Bowl, since Washington and unbeaten ASU were in the driver’s seat for the Pac-10 championship. Even Donahue thought it was going to be a long shot for the Bruins to be playing in their first Rose Bowl since he had been hired in 1976. The Bruins had to beat Stanford (with John Elway) and USC in their final two Pac-10 games. ASU had to lose to both Washington and Arizona. Washington not only had to beat unbeaten ASU, but then had to lose to WSU in the Apple Cup. For good measure Arizona had to lose to either USC or Oregon. (You could have gotten pretty good odds against that parlay happening.)
The Bruins next played John Elway (in his senior year) and Stanford who had earlier given Washington its only loss. Ramsey was 19-27 with two touchdown passes and no interceptions and ran for a third score in the fourth quarter. Elway was 29-39 for 362 yards with one interception, but the Bruins, who led the whole game, won a back and forth shootout 38-35, while totaling over 600 yards in total offense. The Bruins got help from USC that weekend who beat Arizona 48-41. (The next week lowly Oregon who was 0-8-1 going into the game upset Arizona 13-7).
With things on track for the Bruins’ unlikely Rose Bowl Scenario, the Bruins still had to beat the Trojans to keep their dream alive. The Bruins took an early lead against the Trojans 7-0 when Ramsey hit Harper Howell (the backup tight end to Tim Wrightman) for an 11 yard touchdown. On the extra point the Trojans were offside and the holder, Rick Neuheisel opted to go for two with the free play. Unfortunately, when Neuheisel rolled out he was tackled from the side and separated his shoulder. The Bruins carried a 17-10 lead into halftime and after a Bruin field goal in the third quarter following a Scott Tinsley fumble, the Bruins led 20-10 going into the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Trojans got the ball down to the UCLA 6, but the Bruins held and the Trojans had to settle for a Field goal to make it 20-13. However, the Bruins had to punt with 5:28 left in the game, and after a couple of completions, Tinsley completed a touchdown pass to his tight end to make it 20-19 with three seconds left. To his credit John Robinson went for two, instead of going for a tie. However, when Tinsely went back to pass, UCLA’s nose guard Karl Morgan came off the line clean and sacked Tinsely to preserve the win for the Bruins in the first ever UCLA-USC game at the Rose Bowl.
Shortly, after the Bruins won, a friend of mine from Cal came by and said that while the Bruins were beating the Trojans, Cal had upset Stanford. He said in the Cal game (which was not televised) Cal had won with a series of laterals, and the Stanford band had gone onto the field during the winning score for Cal. It all sounded a little too hard to believe.
Later that same day, after the Bruins beat USC, the Bruins still needed 2-7-1 Washington State to win the Apple Cup. The Huskies were 18 point favorites going into the game. With 4:35 left in the game, Washington’s Chuck Nelson (now the color commentator for the Huskies) who had made an NCAA record 30 field goals in a row, missed attempt #31 to keep the score at 21-20. The Huskies defense held on the Cougars next drive but when Tim Cowan (father of Joe Cowan and Pat Cowan) went back to pass, he was hit from behind and fumbled. The Cougars made another field goal with 56 seconds left to win the game 24-21.
The Bruins still needed Arizona to beat ASU the following week to put the Bruins in the Rose Bowl. Going into that game, Arizona was coming two losses in a row and had lost 15 of 17 previous games against ASU. Arizona started off with a 92 yard pass to their tailback after catching the Sun Devils in a blitz. Later the Wildcats blocked a punt at the ASU 27 and kicked a field goal to put them up 10-0. The Wildcats’ ultimately increased that lead to 26-0 before holding on to win 28-18 (that total included two safeties for the Wildcats against the Sun Devils). The only UCLA fan who was disappointed with the outcome was purportedly, Terry Donahue’s wife who had been looking forward to a trip to Hawaii for the Aloha Bowl when destiny intervened. Bo Schembechler who had been in the desert scouting the Sun Devils now had to prepare to play the Bruins for the deciding game in their best of three series.
In the 83 Rose Bowl, Ramsey drove the Bruins to an early 7-0 lead with several completions for first downs on third and long. Michigan was then driving the ball down the field when Don Rogers intercepted a pass from Steve Smith to stymie the Wolverines. On the next drive, Smith was running around the next end, when he ran into Don Rogers which resulted in a separated shoulder for Smith. With a backup quarterback, and Butch Woolfolk having already graduated, the Wolverines chances of winning the game were effectively ended, and the Bruins won the rubber game against Michigan 24-14. It was a great end to a remarkable season.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.
39 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
1981 Bluebonnett Bowl.
FWIW, one of my law partners was on the ‘81 Michigan squad. He has told me that Donahue basically let the Bruins run wild before the game and Schembechler had a very tight leash on his team. The Wolverines coaches kept telling the players that they’d have their celebration after the game. They did.
Good stories about the next two in ’82 and ’83. Thanks.
I have always liked playing Michigan, although the ’89 game ripped my heart out.
Great Memories!!
Wow. What great memories!
I remember watching that Bluebonnet Bowl and what I recall most was at the half, Bo Schembeckler ran in front of Coach Donahue as the teams were leaving the field and stuck three fingers in Terry’s grill. I seem to recall that Michigan kicked a field goal as time was expiring after Bo convinced the officials to overturn a call extending play. I always believed Bo’s “in your face move” made the rivalry between UCLA and Michigan personal and was partly responsible for UCLA’s success in those other two games.
That USC game at the Rose Bowl was amazing and the Morgan tackle of Tinsley was epic. My wife and I (girfriend at the time…) were in the student section right in front of the north end zone where that play occurred. She grew up as a Bruin watching SC-UCLA games and she and her family experienced many of the bitter losses throughout the years. So when SC got the ball on that last drive, she said over and over again, “They’re gonna do it again! They’re gonna do it again!” As a relative newcomer to the rivalry, without the scars of past struggles against the Trojans, I kept telling her to have faith, “We’ve never lost to USC in the Rose Bowl.” When Morgan burst through the line and nailed Tinsley, our entire section exploded in a mixture of ecstacy and relief.
I also remember listening to a very faint signal of the ASU-Arizona game on the radio to find out if the Bruins were headed to the Rose Bowl, which was the end to an amazing string of events…and led to SC fans and LA media accusing UCLA of “backing into the Rose Bowl.”
That’s one of the things that made the win over Michigan on New Year’s day that much sweeter.
Thanks for walking us down Memory Lane.
Go Bruins!
I was at that Rosw Bowl, great memories
A friend of mine and I were at LAX, waiting for flights home when we heard word of the AZ-ASU game, and all we kept saying was, “We’re going to the Rose Bowl!”.
Bob O. (Signholder #3)
I was 12 years old back then and I remember these games
I don’t know why the kicker Lee stands out in my mind from that team.
'82 was my first year at UCLA
I was actually a huge basketball fan, but the football team went to three Rose Bowls and a Fiesta Bowl while I was there. The atmosphere at the games was electric. Great memories and many thanks for bringing them back.
Looking back at the Donahue era
It is hard to overstate the importance of Homer Smith to the Program. With Homer Smith running the offense the Bruins won 70% of their games while Donahue was the coach. Without Smith Donahue won 62%. Even more dramatic is the record against USC. Donahue was 8-3 against USC while Smith was there, and 2-6-1 without him. All four of the Bruins Rose Bowl appearances (including three wins) under Donahue occurred when Smith was the coach.
True
If anything, Smith has been exceptionally adaptable. Consider that during his first tenure at UCLA under Pepper Rodgers, he installed the wishbone offense (which broke school rushing records in the process).
My recollection is that Donahue basically put the offense in Homer’s hands when Smith was brought back to UCLA after the disastrous 1979 campaign. Donahue said in interviews that was when realized that in LA winning was important, but so was playing an entertaining style of offense. Even though Donahue was a devotee of the veer option, he let Smith install a pass-oriented pro style offense, which immediately paid off with a 9-2 season and a season-ending victory over SC (dubbed The Probation Bowl, because both teams were ineligible for the Rose Bowl that year).
Smith was a master playcaller — great at adapting to game situations and personnel, particularly the individual strengths of the QBs. When you look at that great run from 1982 to 1986 — the Bruins played a different fifth-year senior QB each year. The calls that Smith made with Ramsey under center were different than what he called with Neuheisel at QB. Guys like Ramsey, Schroeder, Bono, and Norrie were strong-armed pocket passers, so they got more deep routes called. Neuheisel did not have a cannon arm, but he had deadly accurate so Smith called a lot of short and medium range passes. Stevens was a great ball handler, so he got more play action and bootleg rollouts.
He’s been a winner wherever he went, and his QBs to this day speak highly of him.
Homer Smith
Also did a great job w Tommy Maddox and Wayne Cook.
by Nestor on Jul 18, 2010 8:00 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Where were you in '82
Having been a student during that magical season, I’ve always considered the ‘82 team to be UCLA’s best over the last 50 years. We were rock solid at every position with quite a few future NFL’ers, including a massive offensive line anchored by Duval Love and Irv Eatman, a secondary patrolled by Lupe Sanchez and the human wrecking ball Don Rogers, Blanchard Montgomery always dependable at LB, Tom Ramsey who very rarely made a mistake at QB, Jojo, Cormac and Dokie at WR, Tim Wrightmann at TE, and the best kicker in FB in John Lee.
We were this close to being undefeated. In the UW game, Ramsey threw a last second bomb to Danny Andrews, who had it in his fingers at the 20, just before getting blasted by a defender and having it dislodged. Would have been easily within Lee’s range for the tie.
I remember the astonishing 7-game parlay we had to to hit just to get to the Rose Bowl, and two of the most amazing games ever: the Ramsey/Elway shootout against Stanford, and the SC game, still the most exciting sporting event I’ve ever attended. I felt drained of all blood while watching SC try that 2-point attempt.
Then we annihilated Michigan when Steve Smith decided he wanted to pick up a few yards instead of sliding, and Don Rogers separated him from his right arm.
It was a sweet, sweet season, especially since BB was in a Larry Farmer indcued stupor at the time.
Couple of notes about that SC game: To commemorate our first game against SC at the RB, Joe Bruin parodied SC by riding out on a Clydesdale. Best mascot moment ever.
Prior to SC scoring their final TD, they ran three plays from the 1 yard line, and Blanchard Montgomery single-handedly stopped all 3. They had to pass to get it on 4th down.
The reason Karl Morgan came in so free was because UCLA ran a particularly brilliant stunt. They had a linebacker, I think Dellacono, rush in for the blitz. Morgan’s man bit and shifted over to block Dellacono. Morgan waited one beat, and then charged right through the open hole. Tinsley was so surprised he didn’t even bother to throw the ball up for grabs. Watch it again sometime, it’s a thing of beauty.
Oh man--Lupe Sanchez!!
During the post game interviews the play-by-play announcer, Fred Hessler, liked to interview Sanchez. It was a great interview—Sanchez was a really articulate witty player. The one thing though is Lupe would always call Fred, “Mr. Hassler,” sort of a takeoff on the word—hassle—to annoy, irritate, pester, agitate. I didn’t know if it was a verbal tick or a joke or what. Knowing college kids, particularly guys, I suspect he was just messin’ with Mr. Hessler.
Years later, I ran into Mr. Hessler—of all places on jury duty—dressed in a gray suit. This was 1985 so he may have been retired—that I can’t remember. During juror questioning, Mr. Hessler said he either broadcast or had broadcast the UCLA games. In response, the judge, obviously a Bruin (who looked about 19 years old) said with a big wide grin, "Are you the same Fred Hessler who every time UCLA gets a defensive rebound and they charge down the court on a fast break says, ‘Here come the Bruins?"’ "Sure," he responded.
During a recess, I asked him about the Lupe Sanchez "Hassler" mispronunciation, explaining that Sanchez was a smart guy. Mr. Hessler broke up laughing and confirmed that Lupe in fact was a real scholar athlete and a great kid and said something about how he loved the players. So I never got a straight answer about a great Bruin DB who could put running backs on the ground and had a sly habit of just messin’ with Fred Hessler.
Go Bruins!
Fred Hesser
In October of 1979 the Bruins were playing Stanford in Palo Alto. With six seconds left, and score tied 24-24 Ken Naber lined up to kick a 56 yard field goal for the Cardinals (It was Cardinals back then). I was listening to Fred Hessler on the radio who reported “The kick is up, its short, ……its wide to the left,……. its good!!!” I was laughing so hard at the call it made the loss a little more bearable. (It would have been a better story if the Bruins had been the ones kicking the field goal.)
The Rose Bowl announcers made some comment about names
Something on the line of it being easy to tell the teams apart, when the UCLA team had WR’s with names like Jojo, Flipper and Cormac.
Bob O. (Signholder #3)
what about the wash - asu game?
what happened there – that seemed like the titanic matchup…
Great read!
A couple of memories stand out to me from that season, but I might be confusing the year.
I recall the media referred to the Bruins winning the PAC 10 as backing into the Rose Bowl.
On that game in Ann Arbor, I remember thinking that we were going to win that game in spite of the poor play at the start. I was positive UCLA had the better team. For some reason I recall Donahue yelling at Schembechler going into half time (must have been related to the time out you refer to).
Karl freakin Morgan! Best defensive stop until Lame ran on 4th and goal this year! Cormac Carney (formerly of Air Force if I recall), Irv Eatman (previously a defensive lineman before selflessly switching sides of the ball), John Lee. I can’t believe it has been almost 28 years.
But one of the best headlines ever, after the Rose Bowl game, a headline about Don Rogers epic game “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.” Some day someone might want to start a thread on best Bruin headlines ever (unfortunately usually written by The Fishwrap). Another great one that stands out to me was from another UCLA – Stanford shootout “In a Game of Inches, UCLA Wins By a Foot,” as Peter Beormeister hit a game winning field goal (no possible way I spelled his last name correctly).
Awesome memories!
Good write-up, Michael
I look forward to the next time you have some extra time on your hands.
If you’re taking requests, how about the 76 Rose Bowl. We played No. 1 Ohio State after having been trounced by them earlier in the year. Pete Johnson was OSU’s fullback and we couldn’t stop him. He was about the size of McSUV’s Land Rover, and he just ground us up. For reasons which I have never understood, Woody Hayes decided that he would pass in the second half, and they did beans. It was a great victory. John Sciarra and Wally Henry and Wendell Tyler, as I recall.
Frank Corrall, Jerry Robinson, the veer offense.
My second year as a UCLA fan. Beating SUC at the Coliseum in spite of fumbling about 8 times to get to the Rose Bowl game was great.
That was the coldest game I ever sat through.
As I recall, we fumbled 11 times, but only lost three.
I loved the veer.
Option offense!
Seems today they call it the spread, but a rose by any other name…
In 1975
The Bruins fumbled 11 times and the Trojans recovered eight of the fumbles. One of the most frustrating games I have ever watched, although I am sure it was even more frustrating for Mike White and the Cal fans who needed the Bruins to lose for them to finally go to the Rose Bowl. I remember the UCLA defense which held the Trojans to 286 yards was phenomenal.
Ah yes "The Play"
I was watching CBS’ coverage of the SC game, and late in the 4th quarter they showed the Cal highlight. I couldn’t believe what I was watching, but it seemed more surreal than anything. The finish of that SC game when Morgan sacked Tinsley was a thrilling finish (someone dubbed it the game that time stood still) — a great hard fought game with a great finish. Basically, it was a football game. That Cal-Stanford play was just plain bizarre, but it made all the highlight shows that night. Karl Morgan’s sack would have been the play of the day, if not for the play of the century that same day.
OMG…. the Karl Morgan game … sitting right on that goal line in the student section … one of my top 3 giddiest moments celebrating Bruin wins .. the other two ?? John Barnes to JJ Stokes and Gonzaga ! For the Rose Bowl me and some buds rented a Winnebago … painted " Beat Michigan…. again !" signs on the BAGO … went and camped at Brookside Park for two days … was the most fun I think i ever had … hundreds of bagos … Michigan folks and UCLA folks … New Years Eve was an absolute blast … what a great time and then beating UM in the Rose Bowl . nothing better !!
Enjoyed the review, Michael. A few items need to be corrected, though...
The final score of the 1982 UCLA win at Michigan was 31-27, not 31-28. The final score of the Washington State victory over Washington at Pullman in 1982 was 24-20, not 24-21.
Regarding the 1982 Bluebonnet Bowl, you mentioned that “by the time he [Ramsey] finally completed some passes, it was too late.” Actually it was not too late. After Ramsey connected a number of times, including TD’s to JoJo Townsell and Tim Wrightman, the Bruins trailed only 19-14 midway through the 4th quarter and were still very much in the game with plenty of time left. Did they pull it out? Unfortunately no.
Officially the game that year was known as the Bluebonnet Bowl (not Astro-Bluebonnet as in some earlier years), although a source or two out there (like Wikipedia for example) have it wrong. All my memorabilia from attending the game reflects Bluebonnet – ticket, press guide, program, pennant, t-shirt (unworn after 29 years!), newspaper clippings, etc. Is this ticky-tack? Certainly!
Incidentally, I attended 10 of the 12 UCLA football games in 1982, missing only the contests at Madison and Ann Arbor that season.
Thanks for the memories
That was my first season as a grad. Great team.
I was at the 1982 game at Michigan Stadium and probably the only person in the stands rooting for UCLA.
There were very few UCLA fans in the stadium on that day in September 1982. It was not called the Big House until several years later by ABC Commentator Keith Jackson.
Since I was born in Michigan (and was a Michigan fan as a young child) and raised in LA (and attended both UCLA and Michigan) it was not easy rooting for either team. But when UCLA was down 21 to zero, I had to root for the Bruins.
Of interest, Steve Smith was a very talented QB for Michigan who was very fast and had a great arm. He was the last of Bo’s running QBs. After Smith, Michigan became a pro-style QB team (Harbaugh, Grbac, Greise, Brady, and Henne) until Rich Rod took over.
Smith’s major weakness was his proclivity for really bonehead plays. In fact, a med school classmate of mine (who was an equipment manager on the Michigan football team) was Smith’s personal tutor and charged by Bo to make sure, “STEVE PASSESS ALL HIS CLASSES!!!” It was a full time job as Smith was not that academically inclined.
I still have the program from that game. Among the Bruin greats (Eatman, Townselll, Ramsey, and Carney), the program has Junior Rick Neuheisel listed as QB, 6-0, 181 lbs.
Thanks for the review. It was great!!!
I have mixed feelings.
Most Michigan alums and fans also have mixed feelings. While we want the team to succeed, we think Rich Rod was really the wrong choice and the wrong cultural fit for the job at Michigan. To be frank, Michigan alums can be a bit snobby with regards to their football program. How could a West Virginia coach show Michigan how to win??
I think Biily Martin (Michigan’s old AD) was really spooked by losing to Appalachian State and Oregon in the first two games of 2007. Both teams effectively used the spead option offense against Michigan and perhaps Martin thought this is the wave of the future in college football.
What I think RR most misunderstood was that Michigan is not about just winning national championships, but about having a successful program every year. In other words, winning a national championship once every ten or twenty years is not worth having a losing team every other year or NCAA investigations. Perhaps, RR should have eased the spread option in over a two or three year period while he was recruiting his type of players. It would have taken longer to get his offense completely going, but he would not have the worst record in Michigan history.
Also, I think RR really screwed up by getting Michigan in trouble with the NCAA. This is the first time in the 128 year history of the football team that the team has committed a major violation. Compare that with USC who now has six major NCAA football violations in the last 60 years. Also, compare the way Michigan conducted an independent investigation (using an independent law firm) and publicly announced its findings in a press conference (not YouTube video) by the university president, AD and head coach.
In retrospect, if we got Les Miles, we would still have Ryan Mallet and a lot of great receivers would not have left early for the draft (e.g., Mario Manningham). We would also have had a competitive team and still have a winning football record for the forty-second straight year (except for the 1984 team that was 6-6).
My prediction is that Michigan wins seven games this year and RR will be released. I also predict Harbaugh will be Michigan’s coach by 2011. Funny thing is that I think Rodriguez is actually a nicer guy and maybe a better coach. Harbaugh can be quite a jerk, but at least he is a “Michigan Man” jerk and he understands the culture.
Besides, Harbaugh knows how to smack USC around. “No Pete…what’s YOUR deal?” (Priceless)
by Chicago Bruin on Jul 18, 2010 8:53 PM PDT up reply actions
I agree with you re. Harbaugh
Interestingly though Dave over at Maize n Brew (who is a really good friend of mine) is being pretty patient with R Rod. It is going to be pretty fascinating to see what happens in Ann Arbor this Fall.
Thanks for the detailed response CB.
After the Stanford game last year
Harbaugh went to CRN and said “haha, how do you like that, Ricky?”. LOL! This is of course a year after we beat them on that last second pass from Kevin Craft.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
I still have the Daily Bruin from the Monday after we won 20-16 in 1965.
It’s somewhat yellow, and I’m pretty cautious when I turn the pages. That was only 45 years ago. (Wow – 45 years has gone pretty fast.)
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Bruins Nation
Related FanShots on Bruins Nation
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
