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1951 California

8–⁠2 (5–⁠2 Pacific Coast Conference), coached by Pappy Waldorf, finished No. 12 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

California in 1951, game by game: won vs. Santa Clara 34–0; won at No. 19 Pennsylvania 35–0; won vs. Minnesota 55–14; won at Washington State 42–35; lost vs. No. 11 USC 14–21; won vs. Oregon State 35–14; lost at UCLA 7–21; won vs. Washington 37–28; won vs. Oregon 28–26; won at No. 3 Stanford 20–7+41−14Won 34–0 vs. Santa Clara+34Santa ClaraWon 35–0 at No. 19 Pennsylvania+35No. 19 PennsylvaniaWon 55–14 vs. Minnesota+41MinnesotaWon 42–35 at Washington State+7Washington StateLost 14–21 vs. No. 11 USC-7No. 11 USCWon 35–14 vs. Oregon State+21Oregon StateLost 7–21 at UCLA-14UCLAWon 37–28 vs. Washington+9WashingtonWon 28–26 vs. Oregon+2OregonWon 20–7 at No. 3 Stanford+13No. 3 Stanford
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 22vsSanta ClaraW 34–⁠079%
Sep 29at19PennsylvaniaW 35–⁠056%
Oct 6vsMinnesotaW 55–⁠1485%
Oct 13atWashington StateW 42–⁠3571%
Oct 20vs11USCL 14–⁠2178%
Oct 27vsOregon StateW 35–⁠1481%
Nov 3atUCLAL 7–⁠2164%
Nov 10vsWashingtonW 37–⁠2877%
Nov 17vsOregonW 28–⁠2691%
Nov 24at3StanfordW 20–⁠739%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Stanford 20–⁠7; No. 12 in the final AP poll; 3rd in the Pacific Coast Conference.

In program history: The 9th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 112 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 5
  2. Wk 2: 2
  3. Wk 3: 2
  4. Wk 4: 1
  5. Wk 5: 9
  6. Wk 6: 9
  7. Wk 7: 17
  8. Wk 8: 16
  9. Wk 9: 19
  10. Wk 10: 12
  11. Final: 12

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1951.

Consensus All-AmericanLes Richter, OG/LB

Record
8–⁠2
Conference
5–⁠2 3rd in Pacific Coast Conference
AP final
No. 12 peak No. 1
Points
307–⁠166
Coach
Pappy Waldorf
Elo
1705 +48 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
16.5 No. 12 of 116 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Offense
Single-wing

Drafted in 1952

The 1952 draft
Rd 1Les Richter OGNew York Yanks
Rd 6Dick Lemmon BPhiladelphia Eagles
Rd 7Don Robison BSan Francisco 49ers

All-Pacific Coast

4 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

  • Johnny OlszewskiBAP-2
  • Ed BartlettEAP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1951 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1951 Pacific Coast Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Stanford6–⁠19–⁠27
UCLA4–⁠1–⁠15–⁠3–⁠117
California5–⁠28–⁠212
USC4–⁠27–⁠3
Washington State4–⁠37–⁠318
Oregon State3–⁠54–⁠6
Washington1–⁠5–⁠13–⁠6–⁠1
Oregon1–⁠62–⁠8
Idaho0–⁠32–⁠7

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.