It was the first win for the Bruins as the headed towards the Pac-10 conference championship and appearance in the 1986 Rose Bowl.
The BYU Cougars were the second place team in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
They were still in the hunt, but a 10–3 loss to San Diego State on November 29, 1986, gave SDSU the WAC conference championship lead.
UCLA was still in the race, and could have been the Pac-10 champion, but a tie with Washington and a loss to Stanford put them behind the Sun Devils.
The 1992 Freedom bowl featuring USC and Fresno State was expected to surpass it, but had an attendance of 50,745.