1973 UCLA Bruins football team

American college football season

1973 UCLA Bruins football
Conference	Pacific-8 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 9
AP	No. 12
Record	9–2 (6–1 Pac-8)
Head coach	Pepper Rodgers (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Homer Smith (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Wishbone
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Seasons ← 1972 1974 →

1973 Pacific-8 Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 8 USC $	7	–	0	–	0	9	–	2	–	1
No. 12 UCLA	6	–	1	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
Stanford	5	–	2	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Washington State	4	–	3	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
California	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Oregon	2	–	5	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Oregon State	2	–	5	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Washington	0	–	7	–	0	2	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1973 UCLA Bruins football team represented the University of California, Los Angeles during the 1973 NCAA Division I football season. Members of the Pacific-8 Conference, the Bruins were led by third-year head coach Pepper Rodgers and played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Quarterbacks Mark Harmon and John Sciarra ran the wishbone offense, and the Bruins were 9–2 overall and 6–1 on the Pac-8. After an opening loss at fourth-ranked Nebraska,^[1] the Bruins won nine straight, but lost again to USC in the season finale.^[2] UCLA repeated as conference runner-up, but the Pac-8 did not allow a second bowl team until the 1975 season. They were ranked twelfth in the final AP poll, ninth in the UPI coaches poll.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 8	at No. 4 Nebraska*	No. 10	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	ABC	L 13–40	74,966	^[1]
September 22	Iowa*	No. 18	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 55–18	34,456
September 29	at Michigan State*	No. 17	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI		W 34–21	60,850
October 6	Utah*	No. 16	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 66–16	32,697
October 13	at Stanford	No. 15	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA		W 59–13	55,000	^[3]
October 20	at Washington State	No. 13	Joe Albi Stadium Spokane, WA		W 24–13	32,200	^[4]
October 27	California	No. 13	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)		W 61–21	35,492
November 3	Washington	No. 10	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 62–13	30,000
November 10	at Oregon	No. 9	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR		W 27–7	21,200
November 17	Oregon State	No. 8	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 56–14	18,540
November 24	at No. 9 USC	No. 8	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)	ABC	L 13–23	88,037	^[2]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[5]

Roster

QB Mark Harmon
PK Efrén Herrera
RB Kermit Johnson
FB James McAlister
QB John Sciarra
FS Jim Bright
LB Jack Jorgensen
LB Terry Tautolo
C Randy Cross
OG Eugene Clark
LB Fulton Kuykendall

Game summaries

at No. 4 Nebraska

No. 10 UCLA at No. 4 Nebraska

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Bruins	6	7	0	0	13
• No. 4 Cornhuskers	14	6	6	14	40

Date: September 8, 1973
Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska
Game attendance: 74,966

Iowa

Iowa at No. 18 UCLA

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hawkeyes	10	0	0	8	18
• No. 18 Bruins	3	21	10	21	55

Date: September 22, 1973
Location:
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles, CA
Game attendance: 34,456

Source: Box Score

Scoring summary

1	UCLA	Herrera 24-yard field goal	UCLA 3–0
	Iowa	Kokolus 45-yard field goal	Tied 3–3
	Iowa	Rollins 11-yard pass from Skogman (Kokolus kick)	Iowa 10–3

2	UCLA	James McAlister 1-yard run (Herrera kick)	Tied 10–10
	UCLA	Harmon 1-yard run (Herrera kick)	UCLA 17–10
	UCLA	John Sciarra 2-yard run (Herrera kick)	UCLA 24–10

3	UCLA	Kermit Johnson 9-yard run (Herrera kick)	UCLA 31–10
3	UCLA	Herrera 44-yard field goal	UCLA 34–10

4	UCLA	Tyler 4-yard run (Lantry kick)	UCLA 41–10
	Iowa	Skogman 5-yard run (Jenson pass from Skogman)	UCLA 41–18
	UCLA	Raymond Burks 46-yard pass from John Sciarra (Herrera kick)	UCLA 48–18
	UCLA	John Sciarra 7-yard run (Herrera kick)	UCLA 55–18

vs. No. 9 USC

No. 8 UCLA vs. No. 9 USC

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Bruins	3	7	0	3	13
• No. 9 Trojans	7	10	3	3	23

Date: November 24, 1973
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles, CA
Game attendance: 88,037

Scoring summary

1		USC	Davis 4 yard run (Limahelu kick)	USC 7–0
1		UCLA	Herrera 42 yard field goal	USC 7–3

2		USC	McKay 16 yard pass from Haden (Limahelu kick)	USC 14–3
		UCLA	Johnson 3 yard run (Herrera kick)	USC 14–10
		USC	Limahelu 35 yard field goal	USC 17–10

3		USC	Limahelu 32 yard field goal	USC 20–10

4	4:30	UCLA	Herrera 27 yard field goal	USC 20–13
4	1:07	USC	Limahelu 28 yard field goal	USC 23–13

^[6]

Awards and honors

First Team All Americans: Jimmy Allen (DB), Efrén Herrera (K), Kermit Johnson (RB, Consensus selection), James McAlister (RB), Fred McNeill (DE)^[7]
All Conference First Team: Jimmy Allen (DB), James Bright (DB), Kermit Johnson (RB), Ed Kezirian (OT), Steve Klosterman (OG), Fulton Kuykendall (LB), Fred McNeill (DE), John Nanoski (DB), Al Oliver (OT), Cal Peterson (DE)

References

^ ^a ^b "Cornhuskers too much for Bruins". Eugene Register-Guard. (location). Associated Press. September 9, 1973. p. 1C.
^ ^a ^b "Another Pasadena visit for USC..." Eugene Register-Guard. (location). Associated Press. November 25, 1973. p. 1D.
^ "How They Scored". Los Angeles Times. October 14, 1973. Retrieved September 21, 2007.
^ "Bruins sputter, but beat WSU 24-13". Eugene Register-Guard. (location). Associated Press. October 21, 1973. p. 2B.
^ College Football @ Sports-Reference.com
^ "Trojans Triumph, 23-13". The New York Times. November 25, 1973. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
^ 1975 UCLA Media Guide, UCLA Athletic News Bureau, 1975

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