1973 California Golden Bears football team

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]

1973 California Golden Bears football
Conference	Pacific-8
1973 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

1973 Pacific-8 Conference football standings
	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 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
September 15	at No. 6 Alabama*	Legion Field Birmingham, AL	L 0–66	71,119[4]
September 22	Illinois*	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 7–27	22,000[5]
September 29	at Army*	Michie Stadium West Point, NY	W 51–6	40,982[6]
October 6	Washington	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	W 54–49	28,000[7]
October 13	at Oregon	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	L 10–41	28,700[8]
October 20	Oregon State	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	W 24–14	24,123[9]
October 27	at No. 13 UCLA	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	L 21–61	35,492[10]
November 3	No. 9 USC	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 14–50	48,000[11]
November 10	San Jose State*	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	W 19–9	12,000[12]
November 17	at Washington State	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	L 28–31	13,082[13]
November 24	at Stanford	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (Big Game)	L 17–26	67,000[14]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[15]

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.[16]

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

[17]

Roster

1973 California Golden Bears football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class T 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 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

1. "1973 California Golden Bears Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
2. "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.
3. "1973 California Golden Bears Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
4. "Alabama vs California Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
5. "California vs Illinois Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
6. "Army vs California Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
7. "California vs Washington Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
8. "Oregon vs California Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
9. "California vs Oregon State Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
10. "UCLA vs California Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
11. "California vs USC Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
12. "California vs San Jose State Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
13. "Washington State vs California Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
14. "Stanford vs California Summary of Football Game Statistics" (PDF). NCAA Football Statistics. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
15. 2015 Football Information Guide (PDF). Cal Athletics. 2015. p. 165. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2016.
16. "California 59, Washington 49." Eugene Register-Guard. 1973 Oct 7.
17. Eugene Register-Guard. October 21, 1973.