A Gridiron Legacy: The Iowa Hawkeyes and UCLA Bruins Football History

For the first time in nearly 40 years, Iowa football and UCLA will square off at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The Hawkeyes (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) will travel to take on their new Big Ten opponents in a matchup at the prestigious stadium. This will mark the 10th game between the programs, with UCLA leading the all-time series 7-2. The last time the teams faced off was in 1986.

This article delves into the intertwined history of the Iowa Hawkeyes and UCLA Bruins football programs, highlighting their memorable encounters and the significance of their upcoming reunion on the gridiron.

Early Encounters and UCLA's Dominance

Their series began September 23, 1938, at the LA Memorial Coliseum, with the Bruins securing a 27-3 victory. UCLA dominated the early matchups, winning the first five games. Iowa first hosted the Bruins in the third game of their series, on Sept. 24, 1949 - a 41-25 win for the Bruins.

Iowa's Breakthrough Victories

Iowa won its first game in the series, 21-10, in Iowa City on Sept. 21, 1974. The Hawkeyes won their second game of the series, 20-7, on Sept. 26, 1981, also in Iowa City. Iowa is 2-2 at home against the Bruins but has lost all five games in L.A.

The 1986 Rose Bowl: A Clash of Titans

The most recent matchup between the programs was in the 1986 Rose Bowl when the Hawkeyes finished 10-1 and won the Big Ten championship. The 1986 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1986. It was the 72nd edition and was held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The UCLA Bruins upset the Iowa Hawkeyes 45-28.

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The Road to Pasadena

Iowa spent most of the season ranked in the top five, and five weeks ranked number one in the nation. On October 19, 1985, they defeated the #2 Michigan Wolverines 12-10 in the thirteenth regular season matchup between a #1 and #2 team, and the first in the Big Ten conference. Mike Haight, Chuck Long, and Ronnie Harmon were the stars for the Hawkeyes. After much consideration, Chuck Long delighted Iowa Hawkeye fans by declaring that he would return for his senior season. The rest of the 1984 team returning off a win in the 1984 Freedom Bowl also vowed to return. Long became an instant Heisman Trophy candidate, and Iowa was a pre-season top five team. On September 28, the Hawkeyes crushed the in-state rival Iowa State Cyclones 57-3. In the October 1, 1985 poll, the Hawkeyes ascended to #1 in the national rankings. In Iowa's first game at #1, the Hawkeyes played Michigan State. A seesaw game had the Spartans leading 31-28 in the waning minutes. Long drove Iowa the length of the field, and the Hawkeyes faced fourth and goal from the two-yard line with just 27 seconds remaining. Since there was no overtime rule until 1996, Iowa needed to go for the touchdown and the win. Long faked a handoff to running back Harmon and then ran to his right. His fake had fooled the Spartan defenders, and Long ran into the endzone, holding the ball high above his head as he crossed the goal line to give Iowa a 35-31 victory. Two weeks later, #1 Iowa faced #2 Michigan in Kinnick Stadium. Iowa trailed 10-9 as the Hawkeyes regained possession of the football at their own 22-yard line with just 5:27 remaining in the game. Long led Iowa on a 66-yard drive against the nation's top-ranked defense, twice converting third-and-eight situations by completing passes to tight end Mike Flagg. Long drove the Iowa team to the 12-yard line with two seconds remaining to set up kicker Rob Houghtlin's game-winning field goal as time expired. Their only loss, at Ohio State in early November, cost Iowa the #1 ranking, but the Hawkeyes still won the Big Ten title outright for the first time in 27 years. Long won many major national awards as a senior, including the 1985 Maxwell Award, given to the nation's top player and the Davey O'Brien Award, given to the nation's top quarterback. He was the Big Ten Player of the Year and a consensus first team All-American. Finally, Long was the runner-up in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy to Bo Jackson of Auburn in the closest margin to date, losing by just 45 points.

UCLA defeated defending national champion BYU 27-24 in Provo to start the season, and tied eventual SEC and Sugar Bowl champion Tennessee. The Bruins opened the Pac-10 season by losing 21-14 at Washington. They later got two key wins, the first against Arizona State, the second at Arizona. Needing a win against 4-5 USC, UCLA struggled. Gaston Green and Mel Farr Jr. had fumbles in the game. UCLA was leading in the fourth quarter 13-10 when Eric Ball fumbled at the USC 1 as he was about to score what would have been the clinching touchdown. Freshman quarterback Rodney Peete led USC on a drive, converting a key fourth down along the way. In the last two minutes, USC again faced a fourth down, this time at UCLA's 2-yard line. USC scored to take a 17-13 lead, then intercepted UCLA quarterback David Norrie as he tried to lead a Bruin comeback. UCLA's loss opened the door for Washington to grab the Rose Bowl berth, but they were upset by Washington State the same day, 21-20. Washington lost the advantage due to their upset home loss to Oregon State. This put Arizona State in position to win the conference as they entered their rivalry game with Arizona with only one conference loss (40-17 to UCLA). UCLA came into New Year's with a record of 8-2-1, and head coach Terry Donahue had been named Pac-10 Coach of the year. Five Bruin players were first team All-Pac-10: defensive tackle Mark Walen, offensive tackle Mike Hartmeier, kicker John Lee, nose guard Terry Tumey, and inside linebacker Tommy Taylor. Walen was named Pac-10 defensive player of the year. UCLA finished ranked #1 in the nation in rushing defense, at 70.3 yards per game.

Game Day

The weather was overcast and 71 °F (22 °C). The UCLA Bruins wore white visitor jerseys, and the Iowa Hawkeyes wore their black home jerseys. Both teams wore Rose Bowl patches on their uniforms. The Iowa Hawkeye helmets bore a sticker with the letters "ANF" for "America Needs Farmers". Humorist Erma Bombeck was the grand marshal for the 97th Tournament of Roses Parade that morning. Tournament of Roses President Lathrop K. "Lay" Leishman presided over the coin toss. Iowa recovered a fumble at the UCLA 5 from a bad snap of a UCLA punt on the first series of downs. Iowa running back Ronnie Harmon fumbled the ball a total of four times, and later dropped a pass while wide open in the end zone as Iowa attempted a late comeback. Hawkeye quarterback Chuck Long was sacked four times. A loophole with the redshirting rule allowed Long to play in his fifth bowl game. Iowa placekicker Rob Houghtlin tied a Rose Bowl record with a 52-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. This tied a record set by Ohio State's Rich Spangler the previous year. Eric Ball, a freshman tailback for UCLA, ran for 227 yards and tied a modern Rose Bowl record by scoring four rushing touchdowns. Sam Cunningham ran for four touchdowns for national champion USC in the 1973 edition. Eric was in for the injured Gaston Green, who had started, but pulled a hamstring. This record has been tied by Ron Dayne in the 1999 Rose Bowl and Vince Young in the 2006 Rose Bowl. In the 1902 Rose Bowl, Neil Snow of Michigan had scored five rushing touchdowns. Matt Stevens was the UCLA quarterback. After sharing the starting quarterback job with David Norrie for the first half of the season, he eventually lost the starter's job after playing poorly at Washington in a loss in the Bruins' Pac-10 opening game. UCLA - Eric Ball, 30-yard run.

The Aftermath

Iowa missed an outside shot at the final #1 ranking, with #2 Miami losing to Tennessee 35-7 in the Sugar Bowl and #3 Oklahoma defeating #1 Penn State 25-10 in the Orange Bowl. Oklahoma had leapfrogged Iowa on December 10 in the poll. Michigan finished at #2 after their Fiesta Bowl win, the highest final poll ranking ever achieved by Michigan coach Bo Schembechler. The Hawkeyes finished at #10 in the AP poll #9 in the coaches poll. This game had a 22.7 television ratings share. television rating at 24.9. Though Iowa lost in Chuck Long's final game in the 1986 Rose Bowl a 45-28 loss to UCLA, the loophole with the redshirting rule allowed Long to play in his fifth bowl game. He is believed to be the only collegiate player to participate in five bowl games. Long's Iowa teams compiled a 35-13-1 record. He graduated with 10,461 passing yards and 74 touchdowns on 782 completions. He held every passing record at the University of Iowa except one (passes attempted in a game) when he graduated. Long holds the best completion percentage of any college quarterback all-time who has attempted more than 1,000 career passes. He was also the first Big Ten player and just the second player in college football history to throw for more than 10,000 yards in a career. It has been implied that Harmon was actually throwing the game with the fumbles and dropped pass. In the post game interview, Harmon stated, "You know, I think you have to give UCLA some credit for causing the fumbles … They kept stripping me of the ball. Coach Hayden Fry commented on the issue in his 2001 book High Porch Picnic: "Harmon took a lot of heat because he lost four fumbles, all in the first half. That was uncharacteristic of him; I think he fumbled once during the regular season. The game film reveals that every fumble he lost was caused by a UCLA defender making a hard hit. They just knocked the ball loose. They [UCLA] did a great job of tackling. UCLA made bad things happen to Iowa; Iowa didn't self-destruct. This was Donahue's third and final win in the Rose Bowl Game. It was the fourth New Year's Day win in a row for Donahue and the Bruins. It would culminate in an NCAA record seven straight bowl game wins for Donahue and the Bruins following the 1989 Cotton Bowl.

Game Statistics

Despite quarterback Chuck Long completing 29 of his 37 passes for 319 yards and a touchdown, the Hawkeyes lost 45-28 to the Bruins, who got 227 yards and four touchdowns from running back Eric Ball.

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Missed Opportunity?

There is some speculation in the fan base in whether the Hawkeyes could have claimed at least a share of the national championship had they defeated the Bruins in the Rose Bowl. No. 1 Penn State and No. 2 Miami lost in their respective bowls, though it was ultimately Oklahoma - which beat the Nittany Lions 25-10 in the Orange Bowl - that claimed the national championship.

Series Record

UCLA leads with the Hawkeyes 7-2 (not including the 1977 forfeit). Here's a look at the football games played between the Hawkeyes and the Bruins:

Jan. 1, 1986 (Pasadena): UCLA 45, Iowa 28 (Rose Bowl)
Sept. 26, 1981 (Iowa City): Iowa 20, UCLA 7
Oct. 1, 1977 (Los Angeles): UCLA 34, Iowa 16 (UCLA forfeits)
Sept. 21, 1974 (Iowa City): Iowa 21, UCLA 10
Sept. 22, 1973 (Los Angeles): UCLA 55, Iowa 18
Oct. 21, 1955 (Los Angeles): UCLA 33, Iowa 13
Sept. 24, 1949 (Iowa City): UCLA 41, Iowa 25
Sept. 27, 1946 (Los Angeles): UCLA 22, Iowa 7
Sept. 23, 1938, at the LA Memorial Coliseum: UCLA 27-3

A New Chapter in the Big Ten

The 2021-2026 NCAA conference realignment brought UCLA into the Big Ten conference. The Iowa Hawkeyes were scheduled to play UCLA at the Rose Bowl in November 2024, their first re-match in 38 years.

Recent Performances

Iowa has found its groove in the last two weeks with a 40-14 win over Northeastern and a 42-10 win over Wisconsin in its last two games. UCLA also comes in as winners of back-to-back games, though they have been tighter than Iowa's wins. On the road, the Bruins picked up wins over Rutgers (35-32) and Nebraska (27-20).

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