1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

1985 Division I-A independents football records
	Rankings from AP Poll

Penn State Nittany Lions football
1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Orange Bowl, L 10-25 vs. Oklahoma
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	#3
AP	#3
1985 record	11–1
Head coach	Joe Paterno (20th year)
Offensive coordinator	Fran Ganter
Defensive coordinator	Jerry Sandusky
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium; (Capacity: 83,370)
« 1984	1986 »

The 1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 1985 college 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 #7 Maryland	#19	Byrd Stadium • College Park, MD (Rivalry)		W 20–18	50,750
September 14	Temple	#11	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA		W 27–25	84,651
September 21	East Carolina	#10	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA		W 17–10	84,266
September 28	at Rutgers	#9	Giants Stadium • East Rutherford, NJ		W 17–10	54,560
October 12	#10 Alabama	#8	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA (Rivalry)	ABC	W 19–17	85,444
October 19	at Syracuse	#6	Carrier Dome • Syracuse, NY (Rivalry)		W 24–20	50,021
October 26	West Virginia	#3	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA (Rivalry)	ABC	W 27–0	85,534
November 2	Boston College	#3	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA		W 16–12	82,000
November 9	at Cincinnati	#2	Riverfront Stadium • Cincinnati, OH		W 31–10	33,528
November 16	Notre Dame	#1	Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA	ABC	W 36–6	84,000
November 23	at Pittsburgh	#1	Pitt Stadium • Pittsburgh, PA (Rivalry)	ESPN	W 31–0	60,134
January 1, 1986	vs. #3 Oklahoma	#1	Miami Orange Bowl • Miami, FL (Orange Bowl)	NBC	L 10–25	74,148
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. ^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

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

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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 State Minnesota Ohio State 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
People	Head coaches All-Americans Statistical leaders NFL draftees
Seasons	1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 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
National championship seasons in bold

1985 Division I-A independents football records
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#3 Penn State		–		–		11	–	1	–	0
#9 Miami (FL)		–		–		10	–	2	–	0
Army		–		–		9	–	3	–	0
#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		–		–		2	–	7	–	2
Rutgers		–		–		2	–	8	–	1
East Carolina		–		–		2	–	9	–	0
Louisville		–		–		2	–	9	–	0
Tulane		–		–		1	–	10	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll