1973 California Golden Bears football team

American college football season

1973 California Golden Bears football
Conference	Pacific-8 Conference
Record	4–7 (2–5 Pac-8)
Head coach	Mike White (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Roger Theder
Captains	Kevin O'Dorisio Fred Weber
Home stadium	California Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1972 1974 →

1973 Pacific-8 Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 8 USC $	7	–	0	–	0	9	–	2	–	1
No. 12 UCLA	6	–	1	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
Stanford	5	–	2	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Washington State	4	–	3	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
California	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Oregon	2	–	5	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Oregon State	2	–	5	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Washington	0	–	7	–	0	2	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1973 California Golden Bears football team was an American football team that represented the University of California, Berkeley in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) during the 1973 NCAA Division I football season. In their second year under head coach Mike White, the Golden Bears compiled a 4–7 record (2–5 against Pac-8 opponents), finished in a tie for fifth place in the Pac-8, and were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 380 to 245.^[1]^[2]

The team's statistical leaders included Vince Ferragamo with 1,014 passing yards (Steve Bartkowski added 910 passing yards), Chuck Muncie with 801 rushing yards, and Wesley Walker with 361 receiving yards.^[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 15	at No. 6 Alabama*	Legion Field Birmingham, AL	L 0–66	71,119	^[4]^[5]^[6]
September 22	Illinois*	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 7–27	22,000	^[7]
September 29	at Army*	Michie Stadium West Point, NY	W 51–6	40,982	^[8]
October 6	Washington	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	W 54–49	28,000	^[9]
October 13	at Oregon	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	L 10–41	28,700	^[10]
October 20	Oregon State	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	W 24–14	24,123	^[11]
October 27	at No. 13 UCLA	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	L 21–61	35,492	^[12]
November 3	No. 9 USC	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 14–50	48,000	^[13]
November 10	San Jose State*	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	W 19–9	12,000	^[14]
November 17	at Washington State	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	L 28–31	13,082	^[15]
November 24	at Stanford	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (Big Game)	L 17–26	67,000	^[16]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[17]

Game summaries

Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
Washington	7	7	7	28	49
• California	14	23	7	10	54

Date: October 6
Location: California Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, CA

Scoring summary

1	CAL	Muncie 7-yard run (VanderMeer kick)	CAL 7-0

1	WASH	Waters 9-yard run (King kick)	Tied 7-7

1	CAL	Muncie 1-yard run (VanderMeer kick)	CAL 14-7

2	CAL	Strickland 1-yard run (VanderMeer kick)	CAL 21-7

2	CAL	Shaughnessy 75-yard pass from Bartkowski (VanderMeer kick)	CAL 28-7

2	CAL	Safety	CAL 30-7

2	CAL	Strickland 52-yard pass from Bartkowski (VanderMeer kick)	CAL 37-7

2	WASH	Brown 5-yard pass from Rowland (King kick)	CAL 37-14

3	CAL	Muncie 5-yard run (VanderMeer kick)	CAL 44-14

3	WASH	Fitzpatrick 1-yard run (King kick)	CAL 44-21

4	WASH	Brown 3-yard pass from Rowland (King kick)	CAL 44-28

4	WASH	Conley 17-yard pass from Rowland (King kick)	CAL 44-35

4	CAL	Bailey 48-yard run (VanderMeer kick)	CAL 51-35

4	CAL	VanderMeer 27-yard field goal	CAL 54-35

4	WASH	Waters 28-yard pass from Rowland (King kick)	CAL 54-42

4	WASH	McDonald 9-yard pass from Rowland (King kick)	CAL 54-49

Cal gained 625 yards of total offense, the second best in school history. Steve Bartkowski came off the bench when Vince Ferragamo was shaken up with the Golden Bears ahead 21–7.^[18]

Oregon State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Oregon St	0	7	7	0	14
• California	9	7	0	8	24

Date: October 20
Location: Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, California
Game attendance: 24,000

Scoring summary

1	4:36	CAL	Muncie 1-yard run (kick failed)	California 6–0

1	1:14	CAL	VanderMeer 27-yard field goal	California 9–0

2	5:33	ORST	Maurer 1-yard run (Kuloos kick)	California 9–7

2	1:44	CAL	Leathers 27-yard pass from Bartkowski (VanderMeer kick)	California 16–7

3	8:38	ORST	Maurer 2-yard run (Kuloos kick)	California 16–14

4	13:21	CAL	Strickland 1-yard run (two-point conversion good)	California 24–14

^[19]

Roster

1973 California Golden Bears football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
OT		Ted Albrecht	Fr
QB	`10`	Steve Bartkowski	Jr
QB	`15`	Vince Ferragamo	So
RB		Chuck Muncie	So
WR		Steve Rivera	So
RB		Howard Strickland
WR		Wesley Walker	Fr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DB		Herman Edwards	So
DE	`95`	Jeff Sevy	Jr
DE	`86`	Dave Frey	Sr
DT	`90`	Bob Swenson	Jr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
PK		Ron VanderMeer

Head coach

Mike White

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

References

^ "1973 California Golden Bears Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
^ "California 2015 Football Information Guide" (PDF). CalBears.com. Cal Golden Bears Athletics. p. 165. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2016. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
^ "1973 California Golden Bears Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
^ Reed, Delbert (September 16, 1973). "Tide explosion rips California 66–0". The Tuscaloosa News. p. B1. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
^ Smothers, Jimmy (September 16, 1973). "Alabama murders California 66–0". The Gadsden Times. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
^ "Alabama vs California Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ "California vs Illinois Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ "Army vs California Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ "California vs Washington Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ "Oregon vs California Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ "California vs Oregon State Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ "UCLA vs California Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ "California vs USC Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ "California vs San Jose State Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ "Washington State vs California Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ "Stanford vs California Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
^ 2015 Football Information Guide (PDF). Cal Athletics. 2015. p. 165. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2016.
^ "California 59, Washington 49." Eugene Register-Guard. 1973 Oct 7.
^ Eugene Register-Guard. October 21, 1973.

v t e California Golden Bears football
Venues	California Field (1904–1923) California Memorial Stadium (1923–2010, 2012–present) Oracle Park (2011)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Stanford: Big Game (Stanford Axe) UCLA
Culture & lore	Oski "Fight for California" "Big C" History Marching band Tightwad Hill The Play
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906–1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold