1978 Fiesta Bowl

Teams

Main article: 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season

This was the first meeting between the two programs.

Arkansas

Main article: 1978 Arkansas Razorbacks football team

With a win over Texas A&M, Arkansas clinched a Fiesta Bowl berth. Entering the game, Arkansas had come off a 49–7 win over Texas Tech, and was 10–2 overall. The Razorbacks began the season at #2 in the AP poll, but consecutive losses at Texas and at Houston dropped the Razorbacks from SWC title contention. Ron Calcagni led the team at quarterback, while Ben Cowins was the leading rusher for the Hogs. Bruins head coach Terry Donahue said before the game that the UCLA defense would try to slow down an Arkansas rushing attack that "couldn't be stopped."

UCLA

Main article: 1978 UCLA Bruins football

The Bruins had been upset at Kansas in September, then won six straight to improve to 8–1. They dropped their final two games, at Oregon State, and to rival USC.

Game summary

Now televised by NBC, the game kicked off on Christmas Day shortly after 1:30 p.m. MST. The Peach Bowl was played earlier in the day on CBS. The NBC telecast was most noted for sideline reporter Mike Haffner inadvertently capturing on his live microphone a two-word expletive uttered by Terry Donahue who was voicing his disapproval over a Bruins interception being nullified due to a penalty. Ironically Haffner and Donohue were roommates at UCLA.

After a scoreless first quarter, Jim Howard sacked UCLA quarterback Steve Bukich, who fumbled, and Arkansas recovered at the UCLA 37. Roland Sales punched it in from four yards out to give the Hogs a 7–0 advantage. The Razorbacks added a field goal from Ish Ordonez, stretching the lead to ten points at halftime.

UCLA took the second half kickoff and drove it for a field goal from Peter Boermaester. Down 10–3, UCLA was set to field a Razorback punt in the fourth quarter. An interference penalty added yardage, giving the Bruins the football at midfield. Severne Reece caught a Bukich pass at the Arkansas 14, and Bukich ran it in on the following play. The Bruins opted not to attempt a two-point conversion, made the kick, and the game was tied at 10–10 with 8:32 remaining. Neither team could get the ball past midfield again, and the tie stood.

Scoring

Statistics

:{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" ! Statistics !! Arkansas !! UCLA |- | First downs || 19 || 14 |- | Yards rushing|| 51–200 || 55–255 |- | Yards passing || 78 || 61 |- | Passing || 13–24–2 || 4–11–2 |- | Return yards || 72 || 35 |- | Total Offense || 75–278 || 66–316 |- |Punts–Average ||8–37|| 6–41 |- |Fumbles–Lost ||2–0|| 2–1 |- |Turnovers||2||3 |- |Penalties–Yards ||4–55|| 7–67 |} :Source:

References

References

1. (December 25, 1978). "The latest line". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
2. (December 25, 1978). "Hot Razorbacks face cool Bruins". Spokesman-Review.
3. (December 26, 1977). "Nothing festive about Fiesta, 10-10". Eugene Register-Guard.
4. (December 26, 1978). "UCLA, Arkansas battle to 10-10 tie in Fiesta Bowl". Wilmington Morning Star.
5. "1978 Fiesta Bowl." [http://www.fiestabowl.org/index.php/tostitos/history_display/8th_annual_fiesta_bowl/ Game Summary.] {{webarchive. link. (January 6, 2009 Retrieved January 12, 2011.)
6. "Arkansas 26, Texas A. & M. 7." [https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/19/archives/arkansas-26-texas-a-m-7.html Article.] [[The New York Times]]. November 19, 1978. Retrieved on January 12, 2011.
7. The Prescott Courier]]. December 19, 1987. Retrieved on 7 November 2008.
8. "UCLA Needs Consistency." [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zbUOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=woIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4200,8036025&dq=fiesta+bowl+arkansas Article.] [[The Kingman Daily Miner]]. December 21, 1987. Retrieved on January 12, 2011.
9. (September 24, 1978). "Bruins fall way behind, upset 28-24". Eugene Register-Guard.
10. (November 12, 1978). "Walford's FG leads Beavers over Bruins". Spokesman-review.
11. (November 19, 1978). "Pac-10: Trojans beat Bruins by the book". Lewiston Morning Tribune.
12. (December 24, 1978). "Bowls don't hurt UCLA recruiting". Eugene Register-Guard.
13. [https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/26/archives/two-words-from-the-coach-with-expletives-undeleted.html "Two Words From the Coach With Expletives Undeleted," ''The Associated Press'' (AP), Monday, December 25, 1978.] Retrieved December 7, 2020