CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 1985 season

Oklahoma finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠1 under Barry Switzer, after it beat Penn State 25–⁠10 in the Orange Bowl. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Iowa 12, No. 2 Michigan 10 (Oct 19, 1985). Four Division I-A teams finished unbeaten. 44 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Bo Jackson, RB, Auburn, who also won the Walter Camp.

The Heisman vote: Bo Jackson 1,509 points, Chuck Long 1,464
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Bo Jackson RB, Auburn1,509317218122
Chuck Long QB, Iowa1,46428625498
Robbie Bosco QB, BYU4593895155
Lorenzo White RB, Michigan State3915063115
Vinny Testaverde QB, Miami (FL)249414144
Jim Everett QB, Purdue77121119
Napoleon McCallum RB, Navy7281126
Allen Pinkett RB, Notre Dame7191318
Joe Dudek RB, Plymouth State5612412
Brian McClure QB, Bowling Green5471013
Thurman Thomas RB, Oklahoma State5411325

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1OklahomaBig Eight
2MichiganBig Ten
3Penn StateIndependent
4TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
5FloridaSoutheastern Conference
6Texas A&MSouthwest Conference
7UCLAPac-10
8Air ForceWestern Athletic Conference
9MiamiIndependent
10IowaBig Ten
11NebraskaBig Eight
12ArkansasSouthwest Conference
13AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
14Ohio StateBig Ten
15Florida StateIndependent
16BYUWestern Athletic Conference
17BaylorSouthwest Conference
18MarylandAtlantic Coast Conference
19Georgia TechAtlantic Coast Conference
20LSUSoutheastern Conference

Biggest upsets

Sep 28, 1985Tennessee 38, 1Auburn 20
Sep 21, 1985Baylor 20, 3USC 13
Oct 5, 1985Arizona 28, 3SMU 6
Oct 19, 1985Miami 27, 3Oklahoma 14
Nov 16, 1985Wisconsin 12, 3Ohio State 7
Oct 19, 1985Texas 15, 4Arkansas 13
Oct 5, 1985Illinois 31, 5Ohio State 28
Oct 26, 1985UTEP 23, 7BYU 16
Nov 23, 1985Iowa State 15, 7Oklahoma State 10
Nov 30, 1985Alabama 25, 7Auburn 23
Nov 23, 1985USC 17, 8UCLA 13
Nov 16, 1985Texas A&M 10, 9Arkansas 6

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 1985, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13Wk 15FinalIowa: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 3, Wk 14 No. 2, Wk 15 No. 3, Wk 16 No. 4, Final No. 1010 IowaMiami: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 No. 15, Wk 10 No. 11, Wk 11 No. 8, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 4, Wk 14 No. 4, Wk 15 No. 2, Wk 16 No. 2, Final No. 99 MiamiAir Force: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 19, Wk 6 No. 17, Wk 7 No. 13, Wk 8 No. 10, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 13, Wk 14 No. 11, Wk 15 No. 10, Wk 16 No. 10, Final No. 88 Air ForceUCLA: Wk 1 No. 20, Wk 2 No. 20, Wk 3 No. 10, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 13, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 No. 18, Wk 9 No. 17, Wk 10 No. 15, Wk 11 No. 14, Wk 12 No. 13, Wk 13 No. 8, Wk 14 No. 16, Wk 15 No. 14, Wk 16 No. 13, Final No. 77 UCLATexas A&M: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 unranked, Wk 10 unranked, Wk 11 unranked, Wk 12 unranked, Wk 13 No. 19, Wk 14 No. 15, Wk 15 No. 11, Wk 16 No. 11, Final No. 66 Texas A&MFlorida: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 11, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 11, Wk 7 No. 7, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 11, Wk 13 No. 9, Wk 14 No. 6, Wk 15 No. 6, Wk 16 No. 6, Final No. 55 FloridaTennessee: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 16, Wk 7 No. 14, Wk 8 No. 20, Wk 9 No. 16, Wk 10 No. 19, Wk 11 No. 19, Wk 12 No. 18, Wk 13 No. 16, Wk 14 No. 10, Wk 15 No. 8, Wk 16 No. 8, Final No. 44 TennesseePenn State: Wk 1 No. 18, Wk 2 No. 19, Wk 3 No. 11, Wk 4 No. 10, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 1, Wk 15 No. 1, Wk 16 No. 1, Final No. 33 Penn StateMichigan: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 19, Wk 5 No. 12, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 6, Wk 14 No. 5, Wk 15 No. 5, Wk 16 No. 5, Final No. 22 MichiganOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 3, Wk 15 No. 4, Wk 16 No. 3, Final No. 11 Oklahoma
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Michiganunranked → No. 2
  2. Tennesseeunranked → No. 4
  3. Texas A&Munranked → No. 6
  4. Air Forceunranked → No. 8
  5. Miamiunranked → No. 9

Fell

  1. AuburnNo. 2 → unranked
  2. SMUNo. 3 → unranked
  3. USCNo. 6 → unranked
  4. IllinoisNo. 11 → unranked
  5. WashingtonNo. 12 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yards|Robbie Bosco (BYU)4,273 yds
Passing touchdownsRobbie Bosco (BYU)30 TD
Passer ratingJim Harbaugh (Michigan)163.7
Rushing yardsLorenzo White (Michigan State)2,066 yds
Rushing touchdownsBernard White (Bowling Green)18 TD
Yards per carryTom Rathman (Nebraska)7.5
ReceptionsRodney Carter (Purdue)98 catches
Receiving yardsMarc Zeno (Tulane)1,137 yds
Yards per catchStephen Baker (Fresno State)29.1
Receiving touchdownsMark Bellini (BYU)14 TD
PointsBernard White (Bowling Green)114 pts
Points per gameBernard White (Bowling Green)10.4
Total offenseRobbie Bosco (BYU)4,141 yds
Total offense per gameJim Everett (Purdue)326.3
Punt return averageErroll Tucker (Utah)24.3
Kickoff return averageErroll Tucker (Utah)29.1

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Division I-A

Atlantic Coast Conference
Maryland
Big Eight
Oklahoma
Big Ten
Iowa
Mid-American Conference
Bowling Green
Missouri Valley Conference
Tulsa
Pac-10
UCLA
Pacific Coast Athletic Association
Fresno State
Southeastern Conference
Tennessee
Southwest Conference
Texas A&M
Western Athletic Conference
Air Force and BYU (shared)

Division I-AA

Big Sky
Idaho
Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference
Northern Iowa
Ivy League
Pennsylvania
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Delaware State
Ohio Valley Conference
Middle Tennessee
Southern Conference
Furman
Southland Conference
Arkansas State
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Grambling and Jackson State (shared)
Yankee Conference
Rhode Island

Division II and below

Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference
Central Arkansas
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Hampton
Gulf South Conference
North Alabama
Gulf Star Conference
Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin (shared)
Heartland Collegiate Conference
Butler
North Central Conference
North Dakota State
Northern California Athletic Conference
UC Davis

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

29 playersAll 9 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1985 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1985 All-America teams page.

The 1985 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 14, 1985Fresno State 51, 20Bowling Green 7California Bowl
Dec 21, 198520Maryland 35, Syracuse 18Cherry Bowl
Dec 21, 1985Minnesota 20, Clemson 13Independence Bowl
Dec 22, 198514Arkansas 18, Arizona State 17Holiday Bowl
Dec 27, 1985Baylor 21, 12LSU 7Liberty Bowl
Dec 28, 198515Alabama 24, USC 3Aloha Bowl
Dec 28, 1985Georgia 13, Arizona 13Sun Bowl
Dec 28, 198517Ohio State 10, 9BYU 7Citrus Bowl
Dec 30, 198518Florida State 34, 19Oklahoma State 23Gator Bowl
Dec 30, 1985Washington 20, Colorado 17Freedom Bowl
Dec 31, 198510Air Force 24, Texas 16Bluebonnet Bowl
Dec 31, 1985Army 31, Illinois 29Peach Bowl
Dec 31, 1985Georgia Tech 17, Michigan State 14All-American Bowl
Jan 1, 19865Michigan 27, 7Nebraska 23Fiesta Bowl
Jan 1, 19863Oklahoma 25, 1Penn State 10Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 19868Tennessee 35, 2Miami 7Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 198611Texas A&M 36, 16Auburn 16Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 198613UCLA 45, 4Iowa 28Rose Bowl