1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

The 1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University as an independent during the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by 20th-year head coach Joe Paterno, the Nittany Lions compiled a record of 11–1. Penn State was invited to the Orange Bowl, where the Nittany Lions lost to Oklahoma. The team played home games at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Eastern champion
Orange Bowl, L 10–25 vs. Oklahoma
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3
Record	11–1
Head coach	Joe Paterno (20th season)
Offensive coordinator	Fran Ganter (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Jerry Sandusky (9th season)
Base defense	4–3
Captains	Rogers Alexander Todd Moules Mike Zordich
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium
Seasons ← 1984 1986 →

1985 Major eastern college football independents records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 3 Penn State $	6	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
West Virginia	4	–	1	–	1			7	–	3	–	1
Syracuse	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Boston College	3	–	3	–	0			4	–	8	–	0
Pittsburgh	2	–	3	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Temple	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Rutgers	0	–	6	–	0			2	–	8	–	1
$ – Lambert Trophy Winner Rankings from AP Poll

1985 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

v t e	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

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 7	12:20 p.m.	at No. 7 Maryland	No. 19	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD (rivalry)	USA	W 20–18	50,750	[1]
September 14	12:20 p.m.	Temple	No. 11	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	TCS	W 27–25	84,651	[2]
September 21	1:30 p.m.	East Carolina	No. 10	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 17–10	84,266	[3]
September 28	1:00 p.m.	at Rutgers	No. 9	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ		W 17–10	54,560	[4]
October 12	3:30 p.m.	No. 10 Alabama	No. 8	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 19–17	85,444	[5]
October 19	1:30 p.m.	at Syracuse	No. 6	Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY (rivalry)		W 24–20	50,021	[6]
October 26	3:30 p.m.	West Virginia	No. 3	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 27–0	85,534	[7]
November 2	12:30 p.m.	Boston College	No. 3	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA		W 16–12	82,000	[8]
November 9	2:00 p.m.	at Cincinnati	No. 2	Riverfront Stadium Cincinnati, OH		W 31–10	33,528	[9]
November 16	3:30 p.m.	Notre Dame	No. 1	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	W 36–6	84,000	[10]
November 23	7:45 p.m.	at Pittsburgh	No. 1	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ESPN	W 31–0	60,134	[11]
January 1, 1986	8:00 p.m.	vs. No. 3 Oklahoma	No. 1	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (Orange Bowl)	NBC	L 10–25	74,148	[12]
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Rankings

Further information: 1985 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = 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 (44)	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

Team	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

See also: 1985 Maryland Terrapins football team

^[13]

At Pittsburgh

See also: 1985 Pittsburgh Panthers football team

Vs. Oklahoma (Orange Bowl)

Penn State vs. Oklahoma

Team	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

Main article: 1986 Orange Bowl

See also: 1985 Oklahoma Sooners football team

^[14]

Roster

1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 9 Mike Alexander Jr OT 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 RB 32 Blair Thomas Fr WR 5 Michael Timpson Fr G 66 Steve Wisniewski Fr	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 Tom Bradley Ron Dickerson Fran Ganter Nick Gasparato Bob Phillips Frank Rocco Joe Sarra Jerry Sandusky Jim Williams Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

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	Bob Williams	Tight end	Buffalo Bills
9th	14	235	Mike Zordich	Defensive back	San Diego Chargers