CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1985 Washington

7–⁠5 (5–⁠3 Pac-10), coached by Don James.

Schedule and results

Washington in 1985, game by game: lost vs. No. 16 Oklahoma State 17–31; lost at No. 16 BYU 3–31; won at Houston 29–12; won vs. No. 13 UCLA 21–14; won at Oregon 19–13; won at California 28–12; lost vs. Oregon State 20–21; won vs. Stanford 34–0; lost at Arizona State 7–36; won vs. USC 20–17; lost vs. Washington State 20–21; won vs. Colorado 20–17+34−29Lost 17–31 vs. No. 16 Oklahoma State-14No. 16 Oklahoma StateLost 3–31 at No. 16 BYU-28No. 16 BYUWon 29–12 at Houston+17HoustonWon 21–14 vs. No. 13 UCLA+7No. 13 UCLAWon 19–13 at Oregon+6OregonWon 28–12 at California+16CaliforniaLost 20–21 vs. Oregon State-1Oregon StateWon 34–0 vs. Stanford+34StanfordLost 7–36 at Arizona State-29Arizona StateWon 20–17 vs. USC+3USCLost 20–21 vs. Washington State-1Washington StateWon 20–17 vs. Colorado+3Colorado
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 7vs16Oklahoma StateL 17–⁠3160%
Sep 14at16BYUL 3–⁠3131%
Sep 21atHoustonW 29–⁠1254%
Sep 28vs13UCLAW 21–⁠1454%
Oct 5atOregonW 19–⁠1364%
Oct 12atCaliforniaW 28–⁠1272%
Oct 19vsOregon StateL 20–⁠2192%
Nov 2vsStanfordW 34–⁠083%
Nov 9atArizona StateL 7–⁠3650%
Nov 16vsUSCW 20–⁠1771%
Nov 23vsWashington StateL 20–⁠2177%
Dec 30Bowls & playoffvsColoradoFreedom BowlW 20–⁠1768%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Colorado 20–⁠17 in the Freedom Bowl; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 4th in the Pac-10.

In program history: The 30th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 112 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 12
  2. Wk 2: 12

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1985.

Record
7–⁠5
Conference
5–⁠3 tied for 4th in Pac-10
AP final
Unranked peak No. 12
Points
238–⁠225
Coach
Don James
Elo
1634 −14 this season
SP+ rating
7.6 No. 39 of 106; offense No. 58, defense No. 30
SRS
5.3 No. 40 of 110 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Gary Pinkel
Defensive coordinator
Jim Lambright
Captains
Joe Kelly, Vestee Jackson, Hugh Millen and Dennis Soldat
Most valuable player
Joe Kelly

Drafted in 1986

The 1986 draft
Rd 1Joe Kelly LBCincinnati Bengals
Rd 2Vestee Jackson DBChicago Bears
Rd 3Hugh Millen QBLos Angeles Rams
Rd 5Ron Hadley LBNew York Jets

All-Pac-10

3 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1985 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1985 Pac-10 standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
UCLA6–⁠29–⁠2–⁠17
Arizona5–⁠28–⁠3–⁠1
Arizona State5–⁠28–⁠4
Washington5–⁠37–⁠5
USC5–⁠36–⁠6
Oregon3–⁠45–⁠6
Washington State3–⁠54–⁠7
Stanford3–⁠54–⁠7
Oregon State2–⁠63–⁠8
California2–⁠74–⁠7

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.