Rose Bowl
1966
UCLA 14
Michigan State 12
The UCLA Bruins, the team they said didn’t belong in a New Years Day
Bowl game in 1966, stunned the football world by holding off a much
bigger and stronger Michigan State team to post a tremendous upset.
Tommy Prothro’s Bruins kept MSU scoreless for 52 minutes, three times
held on downs, and finally stopped State’s two point conversion try to
seal the victory. UCLA had been totally dominated by these same
Spartans, 13-3, in their season opener of 1965.
Gary Beban ran for two touchdowns and threw for 147 yards to lead No. 5
UCLA to the 14-12 upset win over No. 2 Michigan State. Michigan State committed four first-half turnovers, with the first
coming late in the first quarter as Don Japinga fumbled away a punt at
the Spartan 6 that UCLA’s John Erquiaga recovered.
On the opening play
of the second quarter, Beban scored on a 1-yard sneak to give the Bruins
a 7-0 lead. UCLA then surprised the Spartans with an onsides kick that
Bruin Dallas Grider recovered at the MSU 42. Beban hooked up with Kurt
Altenburg for a 27-yard pass to the MSU 1. Beban capped off the
five-play, 42-yard drive with another 1-yard sneak as UCLA scored twice
in 3:07 to build a 14-0 lead. At halftime, the stadium crowd was
stunned.
In the third quarter, UCLA used tackle-eligible plays and well
designed
short pass plays to hold onto the ball and keep it out of the Spartan’s hands.
It wasn’t until the 52 minute mark that MSU was able to break through.
They rallied late in the fourth quarter, scoring twice in the final
6:13. Steve Juday’s 42-yard strike to Gene Washington set up Apisa’s
38-yard TD run. Believing they would score again, the Spartans went for
two, but Juday’s two-point pass attempt failed and the score was 14-6.
The Spartan defense held on the next series and Bubba Smith partially
blocked Larry Cox’s punt to give MSU possession at the UCLA 49. Juday
finished off the 14-play scoring drive with a 1-yard sneak with :31
left. On the two-point try, Apisa was stopped short of the goal line by
Grider, Jim Colletto and Bob Stiles. Stiles came rushing hard from the
endzone to put a crushing hit on Apisa. The impact was so intense that
Stiles fainted. The Rose Bowl exploded.
UCLA stopped the Spartans on fourth-and-1 plays three times in the
second half, including twice in the fourth quarter. Michigan State
outgained UCLA, 314-212, total yards. The Spartans picked up 204 yards
on the ground, with Clinton Jones rushing for 113 yards on 20 carries.
It was only the fifth victory for a western team in twenty years of
competition with the Big Ten and was by far the biggest upset to that
point in series.
Stiles is down at the goal line
The UCLA bench erupts
Attendance- 100,087
Scoring Summary
Second Quarter
UCLA- Beban 1 run (Zimmerman kick)
UCLA- Beban 1 run (Zimmerman kick)
Fourth Quarter
MSU- Apisa 38 run (pass failed)
MSU- Juday 1 run (run failed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
UCLA- Farr 10-36, Beban 25-14, Horgan 5-12
MSU- Jones 20-113, Apisa 4-49, Lee 15-41
Passing
UCLA- Beban 28-0-147
MSU- Juday 6-18-80, Raye 2-4-30
Receiving
UCLA- Altenberg 3-55, Nelson 2-29, Slagle 1-35, Farr 1-22
MSU- Washington 4-81, Lee 3-23
