| 1976 California Golden Bears football | |
|---|---|
| Conference | Pacific-8 Conference |
| Record | 5–6 (3–4 Pac-8) |
| Head coach |
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| Home stadium | California Memorial Stadium |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 2 USC $ | 7 | – | 0 | – | 0 | 11 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 15 UCLA | 6 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 9 | – | 2 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stanford | 5 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| California | 3 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Washington | 3 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Washington State | 2 | – | 5 | – | 0 | 3 | – | 8 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oregon | 1 | – | 6 | – | 0 | 4 | – | 7 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oregon State | 1 | – | 6 | – | 0 | 2 | – | 10 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1976 California Golden Bears football team was an American football team that represented the University of California, Berkeley in the Pacific-8 Conference during the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. Under fifth-year head coach Mike White, the Golden Bears compiled an overall record of 5–6 and 3–4 in conference.[1][2]
The leader of the previous season's team was quarterback Joe Roth, a junior college transfer, who was a Heisman Trophy candidate as a senior in 1976. Roth had a great start, however halfway through it his performance started to drop. Unknown to almost everyone, he was diagnosed with melanoma the most dangerous form of skin cancer; only head coach White and his closest friends knew about it. With Roth continuing to play, he still had a strong season and was named an All-American. His last game was in January 1977 at an all-star game in Japan and he died several weeks later in Berkeley.[3][4] His former locker is dedicated in his honor and the annual home game against UCLA or USC is known as the Joe Roth game.[5][6]