1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy
Orange Bowl, L 10–25 vs. Oklahoma
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3
1985 record	11–1
Head coach	Joe Paterno (20th season)
Offensive coordinator	Fran Ganter
Defensive coordinator	Jerry Sandusky
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium (Capacity: 83,370)
Seasons ← 1984 1986 →

1985 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
v t	Conf							Overall
Team	W		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

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.

Schedule[]

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 7	at No. 7 Maryland	No. 19	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD (rivalry)		W 20–18	50,750
September 14	Temple	No. 11	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)		W 27–25	84,651
September 21	East Carolina	No. 10	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 17–10	84,266
September 28	at Rutgers	No. 9	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ		W 17–10	54,560
October 12	No. 10 Alabama	No. 8	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 19–17	85,444
October 19	at Syracuse	No. 6	Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY (rivalry)		W 24–20	50,021
October 26	West Virginia	No. 3	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 27–0	85,534
November 2	Boston College	No. 3	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 16–12	82,000
November 9	at Cincinnati	No. 2	Riverfront Stadium Cincinnati, OH		W 31–10	33,528
November 16	Notre Dame	No. 1	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	W 36–6	84,000
November 23	at Pittsburgh	No. 1	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ESPN	W 31–0	60,134
January 1, 1986	vs. No. 3 Oklahoma	No. 1	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (Orange Bowl)	NBC	L 10–25	74,148
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster[]

1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class 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. # Name Class 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. # Name Class PK 10 Massimo Manca Jr	Head coach Joe Paterno 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 2 3 4 Total • No. 19 Nittany Lions 10 7 3 0 20 No. 7 Terrapins 0 10 8 0 18 Date: September 7 Location: Byrd Stadium, College Park, MD Game attendance: 50,750 TV announcers (TCS): George Paterno and Stan Savran

Scoring summary Q1 PSU Zordich 32 yard interception return (Manca kick) PSU 7–0 Q1 PSU Manca 28 yard field goal PSU 10–0 Q2 PSU Williams 2 yard pass from Shaffer (Manca kick) PSU 17–0 Q2 MD Paredes 22 yard field goal PSU 17–3 Q2 MD Badanjek 8 yard run (Paredes kick) PSU 17–10 Q3 MD Badanjek 5 yard run (Knight pass from Henning) MD 18–17 Q3 9:46 PSU Manca 46 yard field goal PSU 20–18

^[2]

at Pittsburgh[]

vs. Oklahoma (Orange Bowl)[]

Penn State vs. Oklahoma

1 2 3 4 Total No. 1 Nittany Lions 7 3 0 0 10 • No. 3 Sooners 0 16 3 6 25 Date: January 1, 1986 Location: Orange Bowl Game attendance: 74,178 TV announcers (NBC): Don Criqui (play-by-play), Bob Trumpy (analyst), Bob Griese (sideline), and Jimmy Cefalo (sideline)

Scoring summary 1 8:17 PSU Tim Manoa 1-yard run (Massimo Manca kick) PSU 7-0 2 14:35 OU Tim Lashar 26-yard field goal PSU 7-3 2 12:26 OU Keith Jackson 71-yard pass from Jamelle Holieway (Tim Lashar kick) OU 10-7 2 5:20 OU Tim Lashar 31-yard field goal OU 13-7 2 1:49 OU Tim Lashar 21-yard field goal OU 16-7 2 0:01 PSU Massimo Manca 27-yard field goal OU 16-10 3 3:09 OU Tim Lashar 22-yard field goal OU 19-10 4 1:42 OU Lydell Carr 61-yard run (Lashar kick failed) OU 25-10

^[3]

NFL Draft[]

Three Nittany Lions were drafted in the 1986 NFL Draft.

Round	Pick	Overall	Name	Position	Team
4th	23	105	Rogers Alexander	Linebacker	New York Jets
7th	2	168		–	Buffalo Bills
9th	14	235	Mike Zordich	Defensive back	San Diego Chargers

References[]