Teams
The 1983 Rose Bowl would be the 3rd meeting between the UCLA Bruins and the Michigan Wolverines in a 366 day span. They met on December 31, 1981 in the Bluebonnet Bowl. Michigan won that game 33-14. The 1981 Bluebonnet Bowl was the first Big Ten/Pac-10 bowl meeting outside the Rose Bowl. As such, it was labeled the "mini Rose Bowl".
On September 25, 1982, UCLA and Michigan would have a rematch of the Bluebonnet Bowl at Michigan Stadium. Quarterback Steve Smith's six-yard run gave Michigan a 14-0 lead and after the Wolverines blocked a Bruin punt and took possession on the UCLA seven, Smith's five-yard pass to Anthony Carter made the score 21-0 with 12:57 remaining in the second quarter.
The Bruins scored two touchdowns and were behind 21-14 at the half in the game at Ann Arbor with one second left to play. The Bruin players headed for the locker room. They had to come back out because Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler had called a time-out with one second left. Ali Haji-Sheikh kicked a 47-yard field goal to increase Michigan's lead to 24-14. When UCLA coach Terry Donahue began to argue with the referees, Schembechler reportedly ran past and screamed, "That's three more points, Terry!" In the second half the Bruins topped off their greatest point deficit comeback in their history. The Bruins put 17 more points in the second half, while allowing Michigan just one more field goal. An interception by Don Rogers on the second play of the second half gave the Bruins the ball on the Michigan 22-yard line for their first possession of the half. Quarterback Tom Ramsey connected on a six-yard touchdown pass to JoJo Townsell to make it 24-21. Another Michigan field goal pushed the UM advantage up to 27-21 with 4:32 remaining in the third quarter. Dokie Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 65 yards and the Bruins took it in from there on a two-yard run by Kevin Nelson. John Lee's extra point put the Bruins in the lead at 28-27 with 2:50 to play in the third quarter. UCLA won 31-27, overcoming a 21-0 deficit, in what would stand as one of the greatest comebacks in Bruin football history until the 2005 Sun Bowl.
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Famous quotes containing the word teams:
“A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always like a cat falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days and feels no shame in not “studying a profession,” for he does not postpone his life, but lives already.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)