Jump to content

1975 California Golden Bears football team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1975 California Golden Bears football
Pac-8 co-champion
ConferencePacific-8 Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 15
APNo. 14
Record8–3 (6–1 Pac-8)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorRoger Theder
Captains
Home stadiumCalifornia Memorial Stadium
Seasons
← 1974
1976 →
1975 Pacific-8 Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 5 UCLA ^ + 6 1 0 9 2 1
No. 14 California + 6 1 0 8 3 0
Stanford 5 2 0 6 4 1
Washington 5 2 0 6 5 0
No. 17 USC 3 4 0 8 4 0
Oregon 2 5 0 3 8 0
Oregon State 1 6 0 1 10 0
Washington State 0 7 0 3 8 0
  • + – Conference co-champions
  • ^ – Selected as Rose Bowl representative
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1975 California Golden Bears football team was an American football team that represented the University of California, Berkeley in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) during the 1975 NCAA Division I football season. In their fourth year under head coach Mike White, the Golden Bears compiled an 8–3 record (6–1 in Pac-8), finished in a tie with UCLA for the Pac-8 championship, and outscored their opponents 330 to 233. The Golden Bears gained 2,522 passing yards and 2,522 rushing yards. The average was 229 total yards per game and the team was ranked number one in total offense.[1]

The team did not participate in the Rose Bowl because during the season it lost to co-champion UCLA.[2][3] In the first year that the Pac-8 allowed additional bowl games, only fifth-place USC was invited, to the Liberty Bowl.

The team's statistical leaders included Joe Roth with 1,880 passing yards, Chuck Muncie with 1,460 rushing yards, and Steve Rivera with 790 receiving yards.[2] Roth, a junior college transfer, became the starting quarterback in the season's fourth game, taking over from junior Fred Besana.[4]

Schedule

[edit]
DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 13at Colorado*L 27–3446,211[5]
September 20No. 20 West Virginia*L 10–2823,375[6]
September 27at Washington StateW 33–2124,500[7]
October 4San Jose State*
  • California Memorial Stadium
  • Berkeley, CA
W 27–2432,788[4]
October 11at OregonW 34–718,500[8][9]
October 18Oregon State
  • California Memorial Stadium
  • Berkeley, CA
W 51–2431,758[10][11]
October 25at No. 19 UCLAL 14–2836,100[12]
November 1No. 4 USC
  • California Memorial Stadium
  • Berkeley, CA
W 28–1458,871[13]
November 8WashingtonNo. 18
  • California Memorial Stadium
  • Berkeley, CA
W 27–2443,270[14]
November 15at Air Force*No. 15W 31–1435,770[15]
November 22at StanfordNo. 13W 48–1588,000[16]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[17]

Roster

[edit]
1975 California Golden Bears football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
OT 79 Ted Albrecht Jr
QB 11 Fred Besana Jr
RB 42 Chuck Muncie Sr
WR 7 Steve Rivera Sr
QB 12 Joe Roth Jr
WR 99 Wesley Walker Jr
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
K 3 Jim Breech So
P 25 Greg Cummins So
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

[18][19]

Game summaries

[edit]

Stanford

[edit]
Quarter 1 2 34Total
California 14 13 02148
Stanford 6 0 0915

at Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, California

  • Date: November 22
  • Game attendance: 88,000

Cal needed a win and UCLA tie or loss to earn a berth in the Rose Bowl.

Chuck Muncie finished with over 3,000 yards rushing in his career along with 37 touchdowns, 230 points and 4,188 all-purpose yards. By scoring four times, Muncie also tied a single game school record and finished the year with 15 TDs for another Cal mark.

After the game, coach Mike White said "If Chuck Muncie isn't the Heisman Trophy winner, I don't know who is."

[20]

NFL draft

[edit]

Two Golden Bears were selected in the 1976 NFL draft.

Player Position Round Pick NFL club
Chuck Muncie Running back 1 3 New Orleans Saints
Steve Rivera Wide receiver 4 100 San Francisco 49ers

[21]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Jares, Joe (September 6, 1976). "SCOUTING REPORTS". SI.com. Archived from the original on October 25, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  2. ^ a b "1975 California Golden Bears Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. p. 148. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
  3. ^ "California 2015 Football Information Guide" (PDF). CalBears.com. Cal Golden Bears Athletics. p. 165. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2016. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Roth finds Walker, Cal trips San Jose". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. October 5, 1975. p. 3B.
  5. ^ "Colorado wears Cal down, 34-27". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 14, 1975. p. 3C.
  6. ^ "W. Va. shocks overconfident Cal, 28–10". The San Francisco Examiner. September 21, 1975. Retrieved January 26, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ '16 Cougar Football (PDF). Washington State University Athletics. p. 81.
  8. ^ Withers, Bud (October 12, 1975). "Ducks make 'one big mess,' 34-7". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1D.
  9. ^ Oregon Football 2015 Media Guide (PDF). University of Oregon Athletics. p. 134.
  10. ^ Kennedy, Steve (October 19, 1975). "Oregon State goes from bad to worse". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1B.
  11. ^ "Year-By-Year Results" (PDF). 2017 Oregon State Football Media Guide Football. Oregon State Athletics. p. 170.
  12. ^ Florence, Mal (October 26, 1975). "UCLA Beats Cal, 28-14; Vermeil Cries Foul: UCLA Beats California, 28-14". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 157797276.
  13. ^ USC Football 2017 Media Guide (PDF). University of Southern California Athletics. p. 70.
  14. ^ 2017 Washington Football Information (PDF). University of Washington Athletics. p. 197.
  15. ^ "Cal cruises to easy win over AFA". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. November 16, 1975. p. 4B.
  16. ^ "Muncie bowls over Cards, and wait begins". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire service reports. November 23, 1975. p. 3B.
  17. ^ 2009 California football information guide
  18. ^ "Bears vs. Cougars". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (probable starters, rosters). September 27, 1975. p. 12.
  19. ^ "Starting lineups". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). October 11, 1975. p. 1B.
  20. ^ "Muncie bowls over Cards, and wait begins." Eugene Register-Guard. 23 Nov 1975
  21. ^ "1976 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007.
[edit]