UCLA assistant coach Pepper Rodgers was chosen as the head football coach after Mitchell's retirement. Rodgers led the Jayhawks to the Big Eight Conference title in 1968, the Jayhawks' most recent conference championship. That year, the Jayhawks finished the season with a 9–2 record, an Orange Bowl appearance (a 15–14 loss to Penn State) and final rankings of No. 6 and No. 7 in the final Coaches' and AP polls, respectively. Rodgers finished his tenure as KU head football coach with a 20–22 overall record in four seasons. He resigned after the 1970 season to accept the head football coach position at the school from which he came to KU, UCLA.