The UCLA Bruins football program competes in NCAA Division I-A and is a member of the Pacific-10 Conference. The Bruins have enjoyed several periods of success in their history, having been ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll at least once in every decade since the poll began in the 1930s. Their first major period of success came in the 1950s, under head coach Red Sanders. Sanders led the Bruins to a shared national championship in 1954, three league championships, and an overall record of 66-19-1 in 9 years. In the 1980s and 1990's, during the tenure of Terry Donahue, the Bruins compiled a 151-74-8 record, including 13 bowl games and an NCAA record eight straight bowl wins. The program has produced 28 first round draft picks, 30 consensus All-Americans, and multiple major award winners.
As of 2007, UCLA is one of only five of the 119 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) teams to have never played a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) team since the division was made in 1978.
The Rose Bowl is a National Historic Landmark located in Pasadena, California with an official capacity of 92,542. It has been the home football field for the UCLA Bruins since the 1982 season. The Bruins had played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which is also the home of the rival USC Trojans, beginning in 1928. As the Coliseum is located across the street from (UCLA's rival) the USC campus, Bruin officials long sought to move out from under the Trojan's shadow. An on campus facility was discussed, but UCLA's location is not conducive to adequate traffic flow, and the campus lacks room for sufficient parking. In addition, the Coliseum already was constructed by and is a facility of the State of California. When the Oakland Raiders became the Los Angeles Raiders, in 1982, and after arduous negotiations with the city of Pasadena, UCLA decided to move out of the Coliseum, relocating its home games to the Rose Bowl Stadium. UCLA has participated in five Rose Bowl games since moving to the stadium; including the 1983 Rose Bowl at the end of the Bruins' first season there.
The UCLA athletic colors are "True Blue" and gold. The "True Blue" is a slightly darker shade than the previous powder blue worn by teams. The shade was developed by the UCLA athletic department and Adidas for the 2003 school year.
In the early days of the school, UCLA had the same colors as the University of California, navy blue and gold. The colors represent blue for the ocean, and gold for the California poppy, "The Golden State" motto, and sunsets.
When football coach Red Sanders came to UCLA for the 1949 season he redesigned the football uniforms. The navy blue was changed to a lighter shade of blue. Sanders figured that the baby blue would look better on the field and in film. He would dub the baby blue uniform "Powder keg blue", powder blue with an explosive kick. For the 1954 season, Sanders added a the now familiar loop on the shoulders, the UCLA Stripe, to give an impression of motion. The away uniforms became white, with a navy blue and gold shoulder stripe and gold pants. The helmets became gold.
At times, beginning with the 1954 football season, the font for the numbers on the uniforms has been Clarendon typeface. Otherwise it has been block numerals. In the 1980's the uniform pants became yellow to look better in color publications, the jerseys a lighter blue and the UCLA script were added to the helmets. In the 1990s, the uniform pants became gold again.
In 2003, the True Blue colors were adopted. The away uniforms got true blue shoulder stripes and numbers in 2006.
The UCLA Bruins football team (Motto: Then ... Now ... Forever) will open the 2008 campaign by playing its first game at home against Tennessee under new head coach Rick Neuheisel. The game is scheduled at 5:00 p.m. at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California. The Bruins will play six of the Top 25 teams in the 2007 final Associated Press rankings, with eight opponents played in last season's bowl games. More than half of the opponents had won nine or more games during the 2007 season.
The Bruins will have seven home games and five away games this season, UCLA's 90th season in college football and 27th season at the Rose Bowl. Since moving to the Rose Bowl, the Bruins have a 109-46-2 record (winning 70%).
On Monday, August 19, Neuheisel named Kevin Craft (#3) as starting quarterback for the first game of the season. Both Ben Olson (#7) and Patrick Cowan (#12) were injured in pre-season practices. Other available quarterbacks are Chris Forcier (#8), Osaar Rasshan (#11), and Nick Crissman (#18).
Schedule 2008
Date Opponent
09/01/08 vs. Tennessee
09/13/08 at BYU
09/20/08 vs. Arizona
09/27/08 vs. Fresno State
10/04/08 vs. Washington State Rose Bowl
10/11/08 at Oregon Eugene, OR
10/18/08 vs. Stanford
10/25/08 at California Berkeley, CA
11/08/08 vs. Oregon State Rose Bowl
11/15/08 at Washington Seattle, WA
11/28/08 at Arizona State
12/06/08 vs. USC
Coaching Staff
Rick Neuheisel
* MVP, 1984 Rose Bowl game
* Played for USFL San Antonio Gunslingers
* Assistant UCLA football coach
* Played for NFL San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers
* Head Coach, Colorado & Washington
* Quarterback Coach and Offensive Coordinator for NFL Baltimore Ravens
DeWayne Walker
* Defensive Coordinator Walker's defensive unit ranked best in each of his first two seasons.
* UCLA ranked 14th in rushing defense (109.2 yds./g) and 29th in total defense (343.23) in 2007.
* The Bruins also ranked second in tackles for loss per game (8.7), third in third down conversion defense (29.1%), tied for 15th in sacks per game (3.0) and tied for 17th in fumbles caused (14).
* The Bruins ranked tied for ninth in the nation in rushing defense (91.08)and ranked fifth in third-down conversion defense (28.4%) in 2006.
Norm Chow
* Offensive Coordinator Chow has worked with several of the NCAA’s all-time career pass efficiency leaders.
* He has mentored six quarterbacks selected in the first-round of the NFL draft (Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Philip Rivers, Steve Young, Jim McMahon, and Marc Wilson).
Other members of the coaching staff include: Wayne Moses, Running Backs coach; Bob Palcic, Offensive Line coach; Reggie Moore, Wide Receivers coach; Todd Howard, Defensive Line coach; Chuck Bullough, Linebackers coach; Tim Hauck, Secondary Coach ; Frank Gansz, Jr., Special Teams.
