Rose Bowl

1966

 

UCLA 14

Michigan State 12

 

 

UCLA Fight Song

 

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.

 

Beban dives into endzone for score

 

Bubba Smith pressures Beban Stiles is helped from field after game saving tackle

 

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
 

Home

Next