1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3

1985 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

	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 college football season. The team was coached by Joe Paterno and played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Schedule

September 7at No. 7 MarylandNo. 19

• Byrd Stadium
• College Park, MD (Rivalry)

W 20–18 50,750 September 14TempleNo. 11

• Beaver Stadium
• University Park, PA

W 27–25 84,651 September 21East CarolinaNo. 10

• Beaver Stadium
• University Park, PA

W 17–10 84,266 September 28at RutgersNo. 9

• Giants Stadium
• East Rutherford, NJ

W 17–10 54,560 October 12No. 10 AlabamaNo. 8

• Beaver Stadium
• University Park, PA (Rivalry)

ABCW 19–17 85,444 October 19at SyracuseNo. 6

• Carrier Dome
• Syracuse, NY (Rivalry)

W 24–20 50,021 October 26West VirginiaNo. 3

• Beaver Stadium
• University Park, PA (Rivalry)

ABCW 27–0 85,534 November 2Boston CollegeNo. 3

• Beaver Stadium
• University Park, PA

W 16–12 82,000 November 9at CincinnatiNo. 2

• Riverfront Stadium
• Cincinnati, OH

W 31–10 33,528 November 16Notre DameNo. 1

• Beaver Stadium
• University Park, PA

ABCW 36–6 84,000 November 23at PittsburghNo. 1

• Pitt Stadium
• Pittsburgh, PA (Rivalry)

ESPNW 31–0 60,134 January 1, 1986vs. No. 3 OklahomaNo. 1

• Miami Orange Bowl
• Miami, FL (Orange Bowl)

NBCL 10–25 74,148

Game summaries

Maryland

1 2 3 4 Total • Penn St 10 7 3 0 20 Maryland 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

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	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 95 Rogers Alexander Sr DB 43 Mike Zordich Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Joe Paterno Coordinators/assistant coaches 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	–	Buffalo Bills
9th	14	235	Mike Zordich	Defensive back	San Diego Chargers