1985 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

The 1985 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA", "Bama" or "The Tide") represented the University of Alabama in the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 93rd overall and 52nd season as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The team was led by head coach Ray Perkins, in his third year, and played their home games at both Bryant–Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa and Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. They finished the season with a record of nine wins, two losses and one tie (9–2–1 overall, 4–1–1 in the SEC) and with a victory in the Aloha Bowl over USC.

1985 Alabama Crimson Tide football
Aloha Bowl champion
Aloha Bowl, W 24–3 vs. USC
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 14
APNo. 13
1985 record9–2–1 (4–1–1 SEC)
Head coach
Defensive coordinatorJoe Kines
Captains
Home stadiumBryant–Denny Stadium
(Capacity: 60,210)
Legion Field
(Capacity: 75,808)
1985 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 4 Tennessee $ 5 –1 –0  9 –1 –2
No. 5 Florida 5 –1 –0  9 –1 –1
No. 13 Alabama 4 –1 –1  9 –2 –1
No. 20 LSU 4 –1 –1  9 –2 –1
Georgia 3 –2 –1  7 –3 –2
Auburn 3 –3 –0  8 –4 –0
Ole Miss 2 –4 –0  4 –6 –1
Vanderbilt 1 –4 –1  3 –7 –1
Kentucky 1 –5 –0  5 –6 –0
Mississippi State 0 –6 –0  5 –6 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • Florida ineligible for SEC championship due to NCAA probation.
Rankings from AP Poll

Highlights of the 1985 season included a last-second, 20–16 comeback victory on Labor Day over Georgia to open the season.[1] The 1985 edition of the Iron Bowl against Auburn is regarded as one of Alabama's most dramatic victories in the history of the series. In the game, Alabama led 16–10 after three quarters, but saw four lead changes in the fourth quarter, including two in the final minute.[2] It ended with Van Tiffin's 52-yard field goal as time expired to give Alabama a 25–23 victory.[2] Tiffin's field goal is remembered simply as "The Kick" in Alabama lore.[3][4]

Due to NCAA sanctions that led to the forfeit of Alabama's 1993 17–17 tie with Tennessee, and college football's adoption of an overtime that does not allow ties, the 14–14 tie with LSU remains the last official tie in school history.[5][6]

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 27:00 p.m.at Georgia
ABCW 20–1681,277
September 146:45 p.m.Texas A&M*No. 20
ESPNW 23–1074,697
September 211:30 p.m.Cincinnati*No. 16
W 45–1058,714
September 2811:30 a.m.at VanderbiltNo. 15
WTBSW 40–2041,186
October 122:30 p.m.at No. 8 Penn State*No. 10
ABCL 17–1985,444
October 1911:30 a.m.No. 20 TennesseeNo. 15
WTBSL 14–1675,808
October 261:30 p.m.at Memphis State*
W 28–937,609
November 21:30 p.m.Mississippi State
W 44–2860,210
November 92:30 p.m.at No. 15 LSUNo. 20
ABCT 14–1476,772
November 161:30 p.m.Southern Miss*No. 20
W 24–1358,714
November 302:30 p.m.vs. No. 7 Auburn
ABCW 25–2375,808
December 287:00 p.m.vs. USC*No. 13
ISNW 24–335,183
Source: Rolltide.com All-time Football Results: 1985 Season[7]

Roster
1985 Alabama Crimson Tide football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
TE 85 Howard Cross Fr
RB 26 Bobby Humphrey Fr
RB 22 Gene Jelks Fr
WR 17 Greg Richardson Jr
QB 11 Mike Shula Jr
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
LB 97 Cornelius Bennett Jr
CB 36 Chris Goode So
LB 55 Derrick Thomas Fr
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
P 5 Chris Mohr Fr
K 3 Van Tiffin Jr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Game summaries

at LSU
Alabama at LSU
1 234Total
No. 20 Crimson Tide 7 007 14
No. 15 Tigers 0 0140 14
See also: 1985 LSU Tigers football team

Auburn
1 234Total
• Crimson Tide 10 609 25
No. 7 Tigers 0 10013 23
  • Date: November 30
  • Location: Legion Field
  • Game attendance: 75,808
See also: 1985 Auburn Tigers football team and Iron Bowl

Van Tiffin kicked his fourth field goal of the game, from 52 yards out, as time expired to give Alabama the Iron Bowl victory. [8]

vs. USC (Aloha Bowl)
Main article: 1985 Aloha Bowl
See also: 1985 USC Trojans football team


References

General

  • "1985 Game Recaps". 1986 Alabama Football Media Guide (PDF). Tuscaloosa, Alabama: UA Athletics Media Relations Office. 1986. Retrieved February 21, 2012.

Specific

  1. Hersch, Hank (September 8, 1986). "The Tide Rolls with a Shula named Mike". Sports Illustrated. SI.com. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  2. 1985 Game Recaps, Game No. 11
  3. Rappaport, Ken; Barry Wilmer (2007). Football Feuds: The Greatest College Football Rivalries. Guilford, Connecticut: The Lyons Press. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-1-59921-014-8.
  4. Hersch, Hank (December 9, 1985). "The Week". Sports Illustrated. SI.com. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  5. Deas, Tommy (August 4, 1995). "1993 will be lost season for Tide". The Gadsden Times. Google News. NYT Regional Newspapers. p. D4. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  6. Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  7. "All-time Football Results: 1985 Season". RollTide.com. University of Alabama Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Archived from the original on December 2, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  8. Eugene Register-Guard. 1985 Dec 1. Retrieved 2015-Sep-18.
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