1985 Furman Paladins football team

The 1985 Furman Paladins football team was an American football team that represented Furman University as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon) during the 1985 NCAA Division I-AA football season. In their eighth year under head coach Dick Sheridan, the Paladins compiled an overall record of 12–2 with a conference mark of 6–0, winning the SoCon title. Furman advanced to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship playoffs, where they defeated Rhode Island in the quarterfinals, Nevada in the semifinals, and were upset by Georgia Southern in the NCAA Division I-AA Championship Game.

1985 Furman Paladins football
SoCon champion
NCAA Division I-AA Championship Game, L 42–44 vs. Georgia Southern
Conference	Southern Conference
Record	12–2 (6–0 SoCon)
Head coach	Dick Sheridan (8th season)
Captains	Gene Reeder Chas Fox Bobby Lamb
Home stadium	Paladin Stadium
Seasons ← 1984 1986 →

1985 Southern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. T–2 Furman $^	6	–	0	–	0			12	–	2	–	0
No. T–12 Appalachian State	6	–	1	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Chattanooga	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Marshall	3	–	3	–	1			7	–	3	–	1
The Citadel	2	–	4	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Western Carolina	2	–	4	–	1			4	–	6	–	1
VMI	1	–	4	–	1			3	–	7	–	1
East Tennessee State	0	–	7	–	0			0	–	10	–	1
Davidson	0	–	2	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 7	at South Carolina State*		State College Stadium Orangeburg, SC	W 38–31		[1]
September 14	Newberry*		Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	L 21–24		[2]
September 21	at Western Carolina		Whitmire Stadium Cullowhee, NC	W 31–27	12,635	[3]
September 28	at NC State*	No. 18	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC	W 42–20	36,600	[4]
October 5	at Davidson*A	No. 10	Richardson Stadium Davidson, NC	W 58–7	4,000	[5]
October 12	No. 7 Marshall	No. 9	Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	W 34–3	11,072	[6]
October 19	East Tennessee State	No. 5	Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	W 35–31		[7]
October 26	No. 15 Appalachian State	No. 5	Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	W 21–7	12,224	[8]
November 2	Mars Hill*	No. 2	Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	W 34–10	13,854	[9]
November 16	at The Citadel	No. 2	Johnson Hagood Stadium Charleston, SC (rivalry)	W 42–0	29,592	[10]
November 23	Chattanooga	No. 2	Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC	W 28–0	13,134	[11]
December 7	No. 7 Rhode Island*	No. 2	Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC (NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinal)	W 59–15	9,454	[12]
December 14	at No. T–2 Nevada*	No. T–2	Paladin Stadium Greenville, SC (NCAA Division I-AA Semifinal)	W 35–12	10,461	[13]
December 21	vs. No. 9 Georgia Southern*	No. T–2	Tacoma Dome Tacoma, WA (NCAA Division I-AA Championship Game)	L 42–44	5,306	[14]
*Non-conference game Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee Poll released prior to the game

A.^ Before the start of the season, Southern Conference directors elected to make this game count as a conference game for Davidson, but not for Furman.^[15]