1976 UCLA Bruins football team

American college football season

1976 UCLA Bruins football
Liberty Bowl, L 6–36 vs. Alabama
Conference	Pacific-8 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 15
AP	No. 15
Record	9–2–1 (6–1 Pac-8)
Head coach	Terry Donahue (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Dick Tomey (1st season)
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Seasons ← 1975 1977 →

1976 Pacific-8 Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 2 USC $	7	–	0	–	0	11	–	1	–	0
No. 15 UCLA	6	–	1	–	0	9	–	2	–	1
Stanford	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
California	3	–	4	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Washington	3	–	4	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Washington State	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Oregon	1	–	6	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Oregon State	1	–	6	–	0	2	–	10	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1976 UCLA Bruins football team represented the University of California, Los Angeles during the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. Ranked at 17th in the pre-season AP Poll, former UCLA player Terry Donahue took over as the head coach. The Bruins were 9–2–1 for the season and second in the Pacific-8 Conference. UCLA lost 36–6 in the Liberty Bowl to Alabama.^[1]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 9	at No. 3 Arizona State*	No. 17	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	W 28–10	50,876	^[2]
September 18	Arizona*	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 37–9	41,651	^[3]
September 25	Air Force*	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 40–7	37,302
October 2	at No. 8 Ohio State*	No. 4	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	T 10–10	87,969
October 9	Stanford	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 38–20	50,894
October 16	Washington State	No. 4	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 62–3	35,508
October 23	at California	No. 4	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA (rivalry)	W 35–19	62,228
October 30	at Washington	No. 3	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 30–21	47,187
November 6	Oregon	No. 3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 46–0	32,470
November 13	at Oregon State	No. 2	Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR	W 45–14	22,151
November 20	No. 3 USC	No. 2	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)	L 14–24	90,519
December 20	vs. No. 16 Alabama*	No. 7	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN (Liberty Bowl)	L 6–36	52,736
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[4]

Personnel

1976 UCLA Bruins football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
QB		Jeff Dankworth
WR		Wally Henry
RB		Wendell Tyler

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB	`40`	Manu Tuiasosopo	So

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

Head coach

Terry Donahue

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Game summaries

California

	1	2	3	4	Total
• UCLA	14	0	7	14	35
California	0	13	0	6	19

Date: October 23
Location: California Memorial Stadium
Game attendance: 65,228

Scoring summary

Q1	UCLA	Dankworth 18 yard run (kick good)	UCLA 7–0

Q1	UCLA	Henry 27 yard pass from Dankworth (kick good)	UCLA 14–0

Q2	CAL	Bresna 1 yard run (Breech kick)	UCLA 14–7

Q2	CAL	Breech 41 yard field goal	UCLA 14–10

Q2	CAL	Breech 41 yard field goal	UCLA 14–13

Q3	UCLA	Touchdown	UCLA 21–13

Q4	UCLA	Tyler 33 yard run (kick good)	UCLA 28–13

Q4	UCLA	Tyler 13 yard run (kick good)	UCLA 35–13

QB Jeff Dankworth sat out the second quarter with a bruised hip; returned in the third

^[5]

Alabama (Liberty Bowl)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Alabama	17	7	3	9	36
UCLA	0	0	0	6	6

1st quarter scoring: Alabama – Bucky Berrey 37-yard field goal; Alabama – Barry Krauss 44-yard interception return (Bucky Berrey kick); Alabama – Johnny Davis 2-yard run (Bucky Berrey kick)

2nd quarter scoring: Alabama – Jack O'Rear 20-yard pass from Tony Nathan (Bucky Berrey kick)

3rd quarter scoring: Alabama – Bucky Berrey 25-yard field goal

4th quarter scoring: Alabama – Bucky Berrey 28-yard field goal; UCLA – Jim Brown 61-yard run (Kick failed); Alabama – Rick Watson 1-yard run (2-point pass failed)

Awards and honors

All-American: Jeff Dankworth (QB), Oscar Edwards (DB), Jerry Robinson (LB, consensus)

References

^ 2014 UCLA Media Guide, UCLA Athletics Department, 2014
^ "UCLA severs arizona state win skein at 13". Chicago Tribune. No. September 10, 1976. Chicago Tribune.
^ Oates, B. (September 19, 1976). "UCLA takes care of the rest of Arizona". Los Angeles Times.
^ "2015 UCLA Bruins Football Media Guide Year-by-Year Results" (PDF). Retrieved June 14, 2017.
^ Ocala Star-Banner. 1976 Oct 24. Retrieved 2018-Oct-28.

v t e UCLA Bruins football
Venues	Moore Field (1919–1928) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1926–1981) Rose Bowl (1982–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games California USC: Victory Bell
Culture & lore	Joe Bruin "Sons of Westwood" "Mighty Bruins" Marching band 1967 "Game of the Century" 1998 Miami game
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
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