UCLA Bruins Football

The UCLA Bruins football team has represented the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) since 1919. Since 1982, the team has played their home games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, about a 30-minute drive from the UCLA campus in Westwood. The Bruins are sometimes overlooked when it comes to California college football teams in lieu of better-known programs like the USC Trojans or Stanford Cardinal, but the Bruins did have two periods of considerable success, first in the 1950s, when they won three straight conference championships and their only national title, and later in the 1980s and early 1990s, when they amassed seven more conference titles along with an astonishing and record-breaking run of 8 straight Bowl game victories in 8 consecutive seasons, including a hat trick of Rose Bowl triumphs. Recent years have seen the Bruins slump hard, however, recording losing seasons with disturbing frequency as well as numerous Bowl game disappointments that have seen their once unassailable Bowl record crumble to 17-20-1). The Bruins’ last appearance in the New Year’s Rose Bowl game (a game the team has appeared in 12 times and won on 5 occasions) was in 1998 and last victory in 1985. In spite of their team’s recently failing fortunes, devoted Bruins fans still don their blue and gold and brave the traffic in Pasadena to fill the stands of the mighty Rose Bowl and belt out “Mighty Bruins” and “Sons of Westwood” and try to inspire their team back to the heights that they once assailed.

UCLA Bruins Rivalries

Both main rivalries involving the UCLA Bruins are with fellow Californians, including a particularly fierce rivalry with the USC Trojans, who also hail from the same city (a rarity among Division 1 football-playing colleges). For many years (until the Bruins moved to the Rose Bowl), they also shared a stadium: the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (still home to the Trojans). In 1939, the Bruins were gifted the bell from a Southern Pacific rail locomotive to use as a Victory Bell, but Trojans fans executed an outrageous heist, pretending to help move the bell but actually driving off with the prize and hiding it under a haystack (amongst other secret locations). All manner of tit-for-tat retaliatory pranks ensued between the rivals until school administrators threatened to cancel future games. The Victory Bell was thus established as the prize for the winner of each grudge match between the Bruins and Trojans, with its carriage painted red or blue depending on the current holder. The Bruins’ other state rivals and fellow ursines, the Cal Bears, have met every year since 1933, but the future of this rivalry is uncertain due to conference realignments. 

Finding UCLA Bruins Football Tickets

Despite the huge size of their home stadium, the Rose Bowl, the UCLA Bruins still draw crowds large enough to make tickets to their home games (especially the best tickets) difficult to get your hands on. This is even more true for Bowl games (if they get to one), decisive conference matchups, or games against rival schools (see above). TicketX is the place to go to find the best UCLA Bruins tickets at the most affordable prices. Use our handy TicketX stadium seating chart to compare seats in terms of price and location.