1976 Rose Bowl - Aftermath

Aftermath

Woody Hayes had a very short meeting with the press in which he stated, "We got outcoached and just got beat." Aware of the Buckeye loss, the 1975 Oklahoma Sooners played for the number 1 ranking in the 1976 Orange Bowl, with Alabama lurking after already beating Penn State in the Sugar Bowl 13-6. Texas A&M, ranked #2 at the end of the regular season, lost to Arkansas for the Cotton Bowl berth, and then to USC in the Liberty Bowl. Oklahoma would finish #1 in the AP poll after defeating Michigan 14-6 in the Orange Bowl. Ohio State would finish 3rd, and UCLA Fifth. Woody Hayes would finish with a 4-4 record in the Rose Bowl, and would be denied by Bo Schembechler, Rick Leach, and the rest of the Michigan Wolverines from reaching the Rose Bowl ever again. Dick Vermeil was able to move to the Philadelphia Eagles, whom he would lead to the Super Bowl in five years. This was the second time UCLA had defeated the #1 team in the Rose Bowl after having lost to that same team during the season. The other time was in the 1966 Rose Bowl vs. Michigan State. In The Official Ohio State Football Encyclopedia, this loss is listed as one of the most devastating setbacks in Ohio State football history.

By the 1982 college football season, UCLA would make the Rose Bowl their home stadium, moving from the Los Angeles Coliseum. As of 2008, the attendance of 105,464 still stands as the largest crowd to ever watch a UCLA football game in the Rose Bowl stadium. It is a record that is not likely to be broken, as the Rose Bowl seating has been reduced to 91,136 for UCLA Bruins Football and 92,542 for the Rose Bowl Game