1954 UCLA Bruins football team

1954 UCLA Bruins football
Coaches' Poll national champion
FWAA national champion
PCC champion
ConferencePacific Coast Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 1
APNo. 2
Record9–0 (6–0 PCC)
Head coach
Offensive schemeSingle-wing
Home stadiumLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Seasons
← 1953
1955 →
1954 Pacific Coast Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 2 UCLA $ 6 – 0 – 0 9 – 0 – 0
No. 17 USC ^ 6 – 1 – 0 8 – 4 – 0
Oregon 5 – 3 – 0 6 – 4 – 0
California 4 – 3 – 0 5 – 5 – 0
Washington State 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 6 – 0
Stanford 2 – 4 – 0 4 – 6 – 0
Idaho 1 – 2 – 0 4 – 5 – 0
Washington 1 – 6 – 0 2 – 8 – 0
Oregon State 1 – 6 – 0 1 – 8 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – Selected as Rose Bowl representative
    UCLA won rivalry game over USC,
    but no-repeat rule was in effect
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1954 UCLA Bruins football team was an American football team that represented the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the Pacific Coast Conference during the 1954 college football season. They played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and were coached by Red Sanders. It was Sanders' sixth season as the UCLA head coach; the Bruins finished 9–0 overall, and were Pacific Coast Conference Champions with a 6–0 record.[1] In nine games, UCLA outscored their opponents, 367 to 40.

The Bruins were not eligible to play in the Rose Bowl vs. Ohio State (ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll) because of the PCC's "no repeat" rule, in effect for most of the decade, after California lost a third straight Rose Bowl in January 1951. Since UCLA had played in the 1954 Rose Bowl, they were excluded from the 1955 event. The game likely would have made for a de facto national championship game, but thus, rival USC (whom the Bruins soundly defeated 34–0) went instead, and lost 20–7 to Ohio State. Following the outcome, UCLA and Ohio State split the national championship.

UCLA was selected national champion by NCAA-designated major selectors of Dunkel, Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, and United Press International (Coaches Poll), and co-champion by both Football Research and Helms.[2]: 113  This consensus national championship is claimed by the school.[2]: 120 [3] Ohio State was selected national champion by the AP Poll among other selectors.

Comparing the games against two common opponents, UCLA defeated California and USC by larger margins than Ohio State and the coaches of those schools both stated that they felt UCLA was better

During the season, the Bruins debuted their powder blue uniforms, referred to as "powder-keg blue" by head coach Sanders, that featured two white stripes around the shoulders.[4] The white uniforms with blue stripes were used the previous season during the game against USC but this was the earliest known instance of the stripes becoming a regular part of the UCLA uniform.[5][6]

  1. ^ "2011 UCLA Football Media Guide" (PDF). UCLABruins.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 2, 2012. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
  2. ^ a b 2018 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. August 2018. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
  3. ^ "UCLA Football 2017 Information Guide" (PDF). University of California at Los Angeles. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  4. ^ Hoffman, Jeane (September 19, 1954). "Bruin Grid Players Sport Shoulder Hoops". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 166668400.
  5. ^ "The first use by UCLA of "UCLA stripes" on pale-blue jerseys: the 1954 San Diego Navy game . . ". Southern Branch, University of California! Unofficial notes on the early days of UCLA—when she went by a different name! The emphasis here is on pre-1955 football!. April 5, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
  6. ^ Southern Campus (1954 ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Associated Students, University of California at Los Angeles. 1920. pp. 268–271.