The 62nd Rose Bowl Game

Historian and podcaster Dana Auguster of the Sports History Network's, Historically Speaking Sports Podcast joins us to chat about the 62nd Rose Bowl between UCLA and Ohio State.

The 62nd version of the Rose Bowl Game had Woody Hayes taking his Ohio State Buckeyes to a fourth consecutive Rose Bowl game on January 1, 1976. Their opponent this time was the UCLA Bruins under the guidance of Coach Dick Vermeil. It would be Coach Hayes’ 8th and final appearance in the Rose Bowl as well as the fourth a final appearance in the game by two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin. Ohio State was 11-0 while UCLA entered the game at 8-2, one of those coming from the Buckeyes in a 41-20 loss early in the season. On the rare occasion both teams wore their dark jerseys, if you consider that UCLA’s powderkeg blues were their home attire. OSU had their signature scarlet jerseys on display. 
The score was 3-0 Buckeyes, eventhough they had dominated almost every first half stat. UCLA’s defense held on a fourth down play and forced two critical OSU turnovers to keep the game close. Ohio State was playing solid defense too, not allowing the Bruins to make the line to gain sticks until the second quarter. UCLA got their veer offensive scheme to start becoming effective in the third when they produced a field goal to tie the game. The Bruins defense stopped Ohio State to two consecutive drives and then their offense turned around and drove the field for two TDs, including a a 67-yard touchdown pass from Quarterback John Sciarra to wideout Wally Henry, and UCLA was up 16-3. As the fourth quarter arrived OSU cut into the lead with a  Pete Johnson, 3-yard run and Klaban kick. But down by only six they could not stop the veer attack and Bruin Wendell Tyler, dashed to the end zone 54-yard run to provide a final outcome of 23-10 UCLA. 

Fired Up Bruins 02 Jan 1976, Fri Santa Ana Register (Santa Ana, California) Newspapers.com

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: Dana Auguster and the Historically Speaking Sports Podcast, Newspapers.com, Wikipedia.com, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com.

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of Photo of the Rose Bowl that has been taken right before the Rose Bowl of 1976 when Ohio was beat by UCLA (resized by user to fit banner), contributed to Wikimedia by Tom Brandt