1976 California Golden Bears football team

The 1976 California Golden Bears football team was an American football team that represented the University of California, Berkeley in the Pacific-8 Conference during the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. Under fifth-year head coach Mike White, the Golden Bears compiled an overall record of 5–6 and 3–4 in conference.^[1][2]

1976 California Golden Bears football
Conference	Pacific-8 Conference
Record	5–6 (3–4 Pac-8)
Head coach	Mike White (5th season)
Home stadium	California Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1975 1977 →

1976 Pacific-8 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 USC $	7	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 15 UCLA	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	1
Stanford	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
California	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Washington	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Washington State	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Oregon	1	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Oregon State	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The leader of the previous season's team was quarterback Joe Roth, a junior college transfer, who was a Heisman Trophy candidate as a senior in 1976. Roth had a great start, however halfway through it his performance started to drop. Unknown to almost everyone, he was diagnosed with melanoma the most dangerous form of skin cancer; only head coach White and his closest friends knew about it. With Roth continuing to play, he still had a strong season and was named an All-American. His last game was in January 1977 at an all-star game in Japan and he died several weeks later in Berkeley.^[3][4] His former locker is dedicated in his honor and the annual home game against UCLA or USC is known as the Joe Roth game.^[5][6]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	at No. 16 Georgia*	No. 15	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA	L 24–36	47,000	[7]
September 18	at No. 4 Oklahoma*		Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK	L 17–28	72,026	[8]
September 25	at Arizona State*		Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	W 31–22	50,876	[9]
October 2	San Jose State*		California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	W 43–16		[10]
October 9	Oregon		California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	W 27–10	29,946	[11][12]
October 16	at Oregon State		Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR	L 9–10	23,963	[13][14][15]
October 23	No. 4 UCLA		California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA (rivalry)	L 19–35	62,228	[16]
October 30	at No. 4 USC		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	L 6–20	60,323	[17]
November 6	at Washington		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 7–0	42,932	[18]
November 13	Washington State		California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	W 23–22	30,000	[19]
November 20	Stanford		California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA (Big Game)	L 24–27	76,780	[20]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[21]

Roster

• OT Ted Albrecht
• LB Jeff Barnes
• QB Fred Besana
• PK Jim Breech
• TE George Freitas
• DB Anthony Green
• LB Phil Heck
• DB Ken McAllister
• OG Greg Peters
• LB James Reed
• QB Joe Roth
• LB Burl Toler
• WR Wesley Walker

Draft picks

Six Golden Bears were selected in the 1977 NFL draft.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Ted Albrecht	Offensive tackle	1	15	Chicago Bears
Wesley Walker	Wide receiver	2	33	New York Jets
Fred Besana	Quarterback	5	115	Buffalo Bills
Jeff Barnes	Linebacker	5	139	Oakland Raiders
Phil Heck	Linebacker	11	297	Denver Broncos
Greg Peters	Offensive guard	12	332	Dallas Cowboys

^[22]