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(Top) 1 Schedule 2 Rankings 3 Game summaries 3.1 At Maryland 3.2 At Pittsburgh 3.3 Vs. Oklahoma (Orange Bowl) 4 Roster 5 NFL Draft 6 References

1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

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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
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.3Penn 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.3Penn State		–		–		11	–	1	–	0
No.9Miami (FL)		–		–		10	–	2	–	0
Army		–		–		9	–	3	–	0
No.15Florida 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 StadiuminUniversity Park, Pennsylvania.

Schedule[edit]

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

Rankings[edit]

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[edit]

At Maryland[edit]

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

^[6]

At Pittsburgh[edit]

Vs. Oklahoma (Orange Bowl)[edit]

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

^[7]

Roster[edit]

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[edit]

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

References[edit]

^ "Penn State Yearly Results (1985-1989)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on August 5, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.

^ "Nittany Lions maintain mastery". The Courier-Journal. September 8, 1985. Retrieved January 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.

^ "PSU foils Carolina upset bid, 17–10". The Pittsburgh Press. September 22, 1985. Retrieved March 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.

^ "Penn State rolls, 19–17, over Bama". The Pittsburgh Press. October 13, 1985. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.

^ "Penn State blanks West Virginia". The Tyler Courier-Times. October 27, 1985. Retrieved January 30, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.

^ Gainesville Sun. 1985 September 8.

^ "Orange Bowl; Oklahoma Upends Penn State, Stakes Claim to No. 1". The New York Times. January 2, 1986. Retrieved January 18, 2020.

v t e Penn State Nittany Lions football
Venues	Old Main lawn (until 1891) Beaver Field (1892–1908) New Beaver Field (1909–1959) Beaver Stadium (1960–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Alabama Maryland Michigan Michigan State Ohio State Old Ironsides Pittsburgh Syracuse West Virginia
Culture & lore	Nittany Lion "Fight On, State" Penn State Blue Band Uplifting Athletes Joe Paterno statue Something for Joey 1982 Nebraska game Child sex abuse scandal 2016 Ohio State game Paterno White Out 2021 Illinois game
People	Head coaches All-Americans Statistical leaders NFL draftees
Seasons	1881 1882–1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

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