1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

The 1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season.[1] The team was coached by Joe Paterno and played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Orange Bowl, L 10–25 vs. Oklahoma
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
CoachesNo. 3
APNo. 3
1985 record11–1
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorFran Ganter
Defensive coordinatorJerry Sandusky
Home stadiumBeaver Stadium
(Capacity: 83,370)
1985 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 3 Penn State        11 1 0
No. 9 Miami (FL)        10 2 0
Army        9 3 0
No. 15 Florida State        9 3 0
West Virginia        7 3 1
Southern Miss        7 4 0
Syracuse        7 5 0
Virginia Tech        6 5 0
Pittsburgh        5 5 1
Cincinnati        5 6 0
Notre Dame        5 6 0
South Carolina        5 6 0
Southwestern Louisiana        4 7 0
Navy        4 7 0
Temple        4 7 0
Boston College        4 8 0
Memphis State        2 7 2
Rutgers        2 8 1
East Carolina        2 9 0
Louisville        2 9 0
Tulane        1 10 0
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 7at No. 7 MarylandNo. 19W 20–1850,750
September 14TempleNo. 11W 27–2584,651
September 21East CarolinaNo. 10
  • Beaver Stadium
  • University Park, PA
W 17–1084,266
September 28at RutgersNo. 9W 17–1054,560
October 12No. 10 AlabamaNo. 8
  • Beaver Stadium
  • University Park, PA (rivalry)
ABCW 19–1785,444
October 19at SyracuseNo. 6W 24–2050,021
October 26West VirginiaNo. 3
  • Beaver Stadium
  • University Park, PA (rivalry)
ABCW 27–085,534
November 2Boston CollegeNo. 3
  • Beaver Stadium
  • University Park, PA
W 16–1282,000
November 9at CincinnatiNo. 2W 31–1033,528
November 16Notre DameNo. 1
  • Beaver Stadium
  • University Park, PA
ABCW 36–684,000
November 23at PittsburghNo. 1ESPNW 31–060,134
January 1, 1986vs. No. 3 OklahomaNo. 1NBCL 10–2574,148
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
WR 9 Mike Alexander Jr
T 74 Stan Clayton So
G 57 Chris Conlin Jr
RB 42 D.J. Dozier So
G 54 Mitch Frerotte Jr
FB 27 John Hornyak Jr
FB 44 Tim Manoa Jr
G 59 Dan Morgan Jr
C 56 Keith Radecic Jr
WR 6 Ray Roundtree So
QB 14 John Shaffer Jr
RB 35 Steve Smith Jr
Defense
Pos.#NameClass
LB 95 Rogers Alexander Sr
LB 31 Shane Conlan Jr
LB 53 Don Graham Jr
S 22 Ray Isom Jr
LB 55 Tim Johnson Jr
DB 43 Mike Zordich Sr
Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
PK 10 Massimo Manca Jr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Final 
AP 18 19 11 10 9 9 8 6 3 3 2 (15) 1 () 1 (46) 1 (49) 1 (47) 1 (47) 3 
Coaches 17 17 9 8 6 7 6 4 2 2 1 (34) 1 (34) 1 (41) 1 (39) 1 (37) 1 (36) 3

Game summaries

at Maryland

Penn State at Maryland
1 234Total
No. 19 Nittany Lions 10 730 20
No. 7 Terrapins 0 1080 18

[2]

at Pittsburgh

vs. Oklahoma (Orange Bowl)

Penn State vs. Oklahoma
1 234Total
No. 1 Nittany Lions 7 300 10
No. 3 Sooners 0 1636 25


[3]

NFL Draft

Three Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1986 NFL Draft.

RoundPickOverallNamePositionTeam
4th23105Rogers AlexanderLinebackerNew York Jets
7th2168Bob WilliamsBuffalo Bills
9th14235Mike ZordichDefensive backSan Diego Chargers

References

  1. "Penn State Yearly Results (1985-1989)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  2. Gainesville Sun. 1985 September 8.
  3. "Orange Bowl; Oklahoma Upends Penn State, Stakes Claim to No. 1". The New York Times. January 2, 1986. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
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