I was there. One of the greatest days in Strawberry Canyon!

It was my Senior year and I was there. Watching that video shows that Roth had present day NFL QB skills. He threw at a high velocity and right on the numbers. Had he lived and got drafted by the Niners, maybe he would have had Montana's career trajectory.

thanks for this! those of us who missed out on the roth years will get a better appreciation of those players...

The best Cal game in more than 40 years. It means nothing to those of us under 60 unless we were at the game. I would like to see a great win during my football lifetime. Like this Saturday.

An absolute classic with a great goal line stand.

I was there. First Cal game of many to come.

That was an amazing game. My father made the tackle on Vince Evans on that 4th and goal just before the half. He still remembers almost every play of that game lol!!

#16

Yes he was number 16... the same number I wore when I played

#16 is in the lower left hand corner

I was there ... 13 years old. We beat SC again two years later.

My senior year. Unfortunately one of our worst games was against ucla in los angeles, where we lost two fumbles which led to two bruin touchdowns and the difference in the game. Also, John McKay and u$c refused to kick a gimme typing field goal at the end of the sc-ucla game, which would have sent us to the Rose Bowl.

Still, one of the best Cal teams, with Chuck Muncie at running back and Joe Roth at the helm. Joe was amazing that year and though he showed amazing courage his senior year, his death was truly tragic. I went waiting for our Bears to win one for Joe.

Some cool numbers...

Prior to this '75 game, #4 Southern Cal had won 12 in a row, not lost in 18 games. The tie? In '74 against our Golden Bears... After we beat them in '75, they went on a slide and lost 4 in a row.

This Saturday, they are #5 and once again have a 12 game winning streak...

Cal89 said:

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Some cool numbers...

Prior to this '75 game, #4 Southern Cal had won 12 in a row, not lost in 18 games. The tie? In '74 against our Golden Bears... After we beat them in '75, they went on a slide and lost 4 in a row.

This Saturday, they are #5 and once again have a 12 game winning streak...

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I suppose technically they've won 12 in a row, but the actual streak is 13.

GMP said:

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Cal89 said:

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Some cool numbers...

Prior to this '75 game, #4 Southern Cal had won 12 in a row, not lost in 18 games. The tie? In '74 against our Golden Bears... After we beat them in '75, they went on a slide and lost 4 in a row.

This Saturday, they are #5 and once again have a 12 game winning streak...

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I suppose technically they've won 12 in a row, but the actual streak is 13.

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Ah, I see the confusion... I didn't say the streak was against us. The '75 Trojans had won their previous 12 games. They currently have a run of 12 consecutive wins (9 straight to end 2016, 3 this year).

Cal89 said:

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GMP said:

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Cal89 said:

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Some cool numbers...

Prior to this '75 game, #4 Southern Cal had won 12 in a row, not lost in 18 games. The tie? In '74 against our Golden Bears... After we beat them in '75, they went on a slide and lost 4 in a row.

This Saturday, they are #5 and once again have a 12 game winning streak...

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I suppose technically they've won 12 in a row, but the actual streak is 13.

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Ah, I see the confusion... I didn't say the streak was against us. The '75 Trojans had won their previous 12 games. They currently have a run of 12 consecutive wins (9 straight to end 2016, 3 this year).

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Aha. My mistake.

The game, IIRC, also featured a "duel" between two of college football's great running backs: Chuck Muncie and U$C's Ricky Bell. Bell was a punishing runner, a little bit like Muncie, or imagine a Marshawn Lynch w/o the elusiveness. He had a solid but brief NFL career: The punishment he accepted took its toll. I believe he passed away a number of years before Muncie.

That was a great game! Soooooo close to the Rose Bowl that year. I was a freshman. In my lack of wisdom, I just figured, well, we'll go to the Rose Bowl the next season, or the year after that. Wouldn't have thought in a million years that I'd still be waiting in 2017. Speaking of "a million years", geez, we'll get there before the year 1,002,017, won't we?

About that awesome 1975 team:

After an erratic start, and once Joe Roth was installed as the starting QB, the Bears ended the season as one of the best teams in the country, and wound up leading the nation in total offense (and perfectly balanced between run and pass).

USC, on the other hand, went into the tank after our matchup (Nov 1, I believe). If they'd managed to pull it together for their game against UCLA we'd have gone to the Rose Bowl...but nooooooo....their game (day after Thanksgiving) was one of the all-time low moments for Cal fans.

Up until that season (or just before) the Pac-8 only allowed its champion to go to a bowl game (the Rose, of course). But they opened it up, and Cal fans assumed that their high-flying Bears would be going to a bowl: the Rose if USC beats UCLA, or some lesser consolation prize. But in these years bowl invitations were a cut-throat business, and bowls tried to snatch up marquee teams early, before they were lost to a competitor.

As a result, USC went to a bowl. Nobody picked the Bears, and we stayed home.

Big C said:

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The game, IIRC, also featured a "duel" between two of college football's great running backs: Chuck Muncie and U$C's Ricky Bell. Bell was a punishing runner, a little bit like Muncie, or imagine a Marshawn Lynch w/o the elusiveness. He had a solid but brief NFL career: The punishment he accepted took its toll. I believe he passed away a number of years before Muncie.

That was a great game! Soooooo close to the Rose Bowl that year. I was a freshman. In my lack of wisdom, I just figured, well, we'll go to the Rose Bowl the next season, or the year after that. Wouldn't have thought in a million years that I'd still be waiting in 2017. Speaking of "a million years", geez, we'll get there before the year 1,002,017, won't we?

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Yep, many of us had the same lack of wisdom. Yes, we got screwed out of the Rose Bowl by SC's pathetic performance against UCLA, screwed out of even the Liberty Bowl (really, SC got it even though Cal, Stanford, and UW were all better?), but hey, we're going to be good next year!!! Even if we didn't get to play in Pasadena on January 1, 1976, the Rose Bowl is coming soon!

I'm not convinced we'll get there before 1,002,017, and already many who lacked the wisdom in 1975 to realize the Rose Bowl wasn't coming soon have passed on. But so long as I'm alive, I'll keep hope alive.

Big C said:

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The game, IIRC, also featured a "duel" between two of college football's great running backs: Chuck Muncie and U$C's Ricky Bell. Bell was a punishing runner, a little bit like Muncie, or imagine a Marshawn Lynch w/o the elusiveness. He had a solid but brief NFL career: The punishment he accepted took its toll. I believe he passed away a number of years before Muncie.

That was a great game! Soooooo close to the Rose Bowl that year. I was a freshman. In my lack of wisdom, I just figured, well, we'll go to the Rose Bowl the next season, or the year after that. Wouldn't have thought in a million years that I'd still be waiting in 2017. Speaking of "a million years", geez, we'll get there before the year 1,002,017, won't we?

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Ricky Bell did not die due to the physical toll that football played on his body. He died from a rare muscular disease. Both he and Muncie split too many Heisman votes out west and that allowed Archie the chance to win a 2nd time.

Plus Joe Roth got votes, didn't he?

It's possible Joe got a vote but highly unlikely.

1975 Heisman Voting Results

Those are only the top 10 vote getters. Its possible Joe got a vote but unlikely.

I was there for all of this. The 1975 season started out slow but once Roth took over it turned around. I went down to the UCLA game in LA that year. Shoulda woulda coulda but that loss wouldn't have kept Cal out of the Rose Bowl if USC had not tanked against UCLA. UCLA fumbled 11 times! USC could have tied the game but they didn't even try. Every Cal fan at that time was (and still is) convinced that John McKay, who was leaving to coach Tampa Bay, threw the game. Maybe not logical since I doubt he would want to lose to UCLA under any circumstance but that's our story. A lot of injustice that year. Muncie was clearly a better back than Archie Griffin of Ohio St. but he had no pre-season hype, did not play for a major power like OSU, and was bit by the East Coast bias. Nothing ever changes.

TDub said:

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Big C said:

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The game, IIRC, also featured a "duel" between two of college football's great running backs: Chuck Muncie and U$C's Ricky Bell. Bell was a punishing runner, a little bit like Muncie, or imagine a Marshawn Lynch w/o the elusiveness. He had a solid but brief NFL career: The punishment he accepted took its toll. I believe he passed away a number of years before Muncie.

That was a great game! Soooooo close to the Rose Bowl that year. I was a freshman. In my lack of wisdom, I just figured, well, we'll go to the Rose Bowl the next season, or the year after that. Wouldn't have thought in a million years that I'd still be waiting in 2017. Speaking of "a million years", geez, we'll get there before the year 1,002,017, won't we?

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Ricky Bell did not die due to the physical toll that football played on his body. He died from a rare muscular disease. Both he and Muncie split too many Heisman votes out west and that allowed Archie the chance to win a 2nd time.

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Correct. Physical toll football played on his body probably caused his NFL career to be so short. It almost certainly wasn't a contributor to his early death. Helluva running back, btw. Reminded me a lot of Denver Broncos RB Terrell Davis.

Yogi Bear said:

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1975 Heisman Voting Results

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Great find, Yogi!

Chuck Muncie should have won. We all know that!

Plus, we should have gone to the Rose Bowl if John McKay wasn't such a jerk.