Santa Clara Broncos football
| Santa Clara Broncos football | |
|---|---|
| First season | 1896; 130 years ago |
| Last season | 1992; 34 years ago |
| Location | Santa Clara, California |
| Stadium | Kezar Stadium (in San Francisco, 1925–1952) Buck Shaw Stadium (1962–1992) (capacity: 6,800) |
| NCAA division | Division II |
| Conference | Division II independent |
| Colors | Maroon and white |
| All-time record | 352–244–28 (.587) |
| Bowl record | 3–0 (1.000) |
| Conference championships | |
| 2 (1983, 1985) | |
| Consensus All-Americans | 2 (1938, 1939) |
| Rivalries | St. Mary's Gaels (Little Big Game) California Golden Bears Stanford Cardinal San Francisco Dons |
The Santa Clara Broncos football program was the intercollegiate American football team for Santa Clara University located in Santa Clara, California. Santa Clara played its first football game against St. Mary's College in San Francisco in 1896. Santa Clara compiled an all-time record of 352–244–28 (.587).
The team was known as ‘The S.C.U. Elevens’ from 1896 to 1907, The football program went on hiatus from 1908 to 1918. The football program returned as the Santa Clara "Missionites" in 1919, and were newly named the ‘Broncos’ in 1923.
After the 1992 season, the Santa Clara football program was discontinued due to new NCAA regulations which mandated all sports be played at the same level at each university, as well as due to the high cost of funding football. Santa Clara had fielded all Division I teams with the exception of the Division II football team, and elected not to field a team at the Division I-AA level.
Santa Clara played in three major bowl games and won all three: 1937 Sugar Bowl, 1938 Sugar Bowl, and 1950 Orange Bowl.