1985 College Football Recap
The parade of first-timers to the national championship ended in 1985 as Oklahoma claimed its sixth AP title (one less than Notre Dame).
Like Georgia in 1980, Oklahoma was led by a freshman back—quarterback Jamelle Holieway, who took over for injured starter Troy Aikman (broken ankle) four games into the season. Aikman went down in OU's only loss, a 27–14 beating at Miami.
Under Holieway, the Sooners climbed to No.3 in the polls by winning seven straight games and reaching the Orange Bowl. In Miami, they met No.1 Penn State for the championship. The Lions scored first, but Oklahoma had the lead by halftime and won 25–10.
Miami went into the Sugar Bowl ranked second and needing a convincing win over SEC champ Tennessee to keep its title hopes alive should Penn State lose. Instead, the Hurricanes suffered their worst defeat of the year, 35–7.
Back on Oct. 19, Iowa and Michigan met in Iowa City for the season's only No.1 vs No.2 showdown. The largest crowd ever to see a sporting event in Iowa (66,350) saw the top-ranked Hawkeyes win, 12–10, in the last two seconds on Rob Houghtlin's fourth field goal. Two weeks later, Iowa lost to Ohio State.
Auburn running back Bo Jackson beat out well-named Iowa QB Chuck Long by 45 points in the closest Heisman vote to date. And Grambling's Eddie Robinson passed Bear Bryant as the winningest coach of all time with 329 victories.
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