1985 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

1985 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Conference	Independent
Record	5–6
Head coach	Gerry Faust (5th season)
Defensive coordinator	A. J. Christoff
Captains	Tony Furjanic Mike Larkin Allen Pinkett Tim Scannell
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium (c. 59,075, grass)
Seasons ← 1984 1986 →

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

The 1985 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season.^[1] The team was coached by Gerry Faust and played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 14	2:30 p.m.	at Michigan	No. 13	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	CBS	L 12–20	105,523	[2]
September 21	7:30 p.m.	Michigan State		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	ESPN	W 27–10	59,075
September 28	12:00 p.m.	at Purdue		Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (rivalry)	TBS	L 17–35	69,338
October 5	3:30 p.m.	at No. 17 Air Force		Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO (rivalry)	ABC	L 15–21	52,123
October 19	12:00 p.m.	No. 19 Army		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	USA, WGN	W 24–10	59,075
October 26	2:00 p.m.	USC		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 37–3	59,075
November 2	3:30 p.m.	Navy		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	ABC	W 41–17	59,075
November 9	12:00 p.m.	Ole Miss		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	USA, WGN	W 37–14	59,075	[3]
November 16	3:30 p.m.	at No. 1 Penn State		Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	L 6–36	84,000
November 23	12:00 p.m.	No. 17 LSU		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	USA, WGN	L 7–10	59,075	[4]
November 30	3:30 p.m.	at No. 4 Miami (FL)		Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (rivalry)	CBS	L 7–58	49,236
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster

1985 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 2 Terry Andrysiak So QB 7 Steve Beuerlein Jr WR 81 Tim Brown So RB 20 Allen Pinkett Sr FB 30 Frank Stams Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class SS 40 Pat Ballage Sr LB 43 Rick DiBernardo Sr DE 71 Eric Dorsey Sr LB 48 Cedric Figaro So LB 58 Tony Furjanic Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 18 John Carney Jr	Head coach Gerry Faust Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Game summaries

at Michigan

Notre Dame at Michigan

1 2 3 4 Total No. 13 Fighting Irish 3 6 3 0 12 • Wolverines 0 3 14 3 20 Date: September 14 Location: Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, MI Game start: 3:30 pm Game attendance: 105,523 TV announcers (CBS): Brent Musburger (play-by-play) and Ara Parseghian (analyst)

Scoring summary 1 ND John Carney 34-yard field goal ND 3–0 2 ND John Carney 37-yard field goal ND 6–0 Mich Mike Gillette 21-yard field goal ND 6–3 ND John Carney 47-yard field goal ND 9–3 3 Mich Jim Harbaugh 10-yard run (Gillette kick) Michigan 10–9 ND John Carney 25-yard field goal ND 12–10 Mich Gerald White 3-yard run (Gillette kick) Mich 17–12 4 5:12 Mich Mike Gillette 22-yard field goal Mich 20–12

Michigan State

At Purdue

at No. 17 Air Force

^[5]

Army

1 2 3 4 Total Cadets 0 7 3 0 10 • Notre Dame 14 0 7 3 24 Date: Saturday, October 19 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Game attendance: 59,075

Scoring summary 1 ND Pernell Taylor 1-yard run (John Carney kick) ND 7-0 1 ND Tim Brown 19-yard pass from Steve Beuerlein (John Carney kick) ND 14-0 2 ARMY Bill Lampley 4-yard run (Craig Stopa kick) ND 14-7 3 ARMY Craig Stopa 22-yard field goal ND 14-10 3 ND Allen Pinkett 1-yard run (John Carney kick) ND 21-10 4 6:23 ND John Carney 21-yard field goal ND 24-10

^[6]

USC

Notre Dame played the first half in navy blue jerseys and changed into green jerseys for the second half.

USC at Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total Trojans 0 0 3 0 3 • Fighting Irish 14 13 3 7 37 Date: October 26 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN Source: [1]

Scoring summary 1 ND Pinkett 2-yard run (Carney kick) ND 7-0 1 ND Beuerlein 6-yard run (Carney kick) ND 14-0 2 ND Carney 26-yard field goal ND 17-0 2 ND Stams 5-yard run (Carney kick) ND 24-0 2 ND Carney 33-yard field goal ND 27-0 3 USC Shafer 39-yard field goal ND 27-3 3 ND Carney 43-yard field goal ND 30-3 4 ND Williams 8-yard pass from Andrysiak (Carney kick) ND 37-3

Navy

Ole Miss

Notre Dame finally had the opportunity to exact revenge on the Rebels for a 20-13 loss at Jackson eight years earlier.

Ole Miss at Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total Rebels 0 0 0 14 14 • Fighting Irish 3 14 14 7 38 Date: November 9 Location: Notre Dame Stadium • South Bend, Indiana

Scoring summary 1 ND Carney 41-yard field goal Notre Dame 3-0 2 ND Pinkett 1-yard run (Carney kick) Notre Dame 10-0 2 ND Brown 14-yard pass from Beuerlein (Carney kick) Notre Dame 17-0 3 ND Pinkett 2-yard run (Carney kick) Notre Dame 24-0 3 ND Redher 22-yard pass from Beuerlein (Carney kick) Notre Dame 31-0 4 MISS Meyers 10-yard pass from Osgood (Owen kick) Notre Dame 31-7 4 MISS Cleveland 1-yard run (Owen kick) Notre Dame 31-14 4 ND Southall 7-yard run (Carney kick) Notre Dame 38-14

^[7]

at No. 1 Penn State

Notre Dame at Penn State

1 2 3 4 Total Fighting Irish 0 0 0 6 6 • No. 1 Nittany Lions 7 13 10 6 36 Date: November 16 Location: Beaver Stadium, College Pennsylvania, PA Game attendance: 84,000 TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson (play-by-play), Frank Broyles (analyst), and Tim Brant (sideline)

^[8]

No. 17 LSU

Ironically, Gerry Faust's last game in Notre Dame Stadium was against the same school he faced in his first game as Irish coach four years earlier.

LSU at Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 17 Tigers 0 3 0 7 10 Fighting Irish 7 0 0 0 7 Date: November 23 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana Game start: 12:30 p.m. EST Game attendance: 59,075 Game weather: 33 degrees, cloudy with snow flurries Referee: Raymond Bower TV announcers (USA): Harry Kalas and Jack Ham

Scoring summary 1 9:26 ND Tim Brown 18-yard run (John Carney kick) ND 7–0 2 0:00 LSU Matt DeFrank 27-yard field goal ND 7–3 4 3:26 Garry James 2-yard run (Ron Lewis kick) LSU 10–7

^[9]

at No. 4 Miami (FL)

Notre Dame at Miami (FL)

1 2 3 4 Total Fighting Irish 0 7 0 0 7 • No. 4 Hurricanes 13 14 10 21 58 Date: November 30 Location: Miami Orange Bowl, Miami Game start: 3:30 p.m. EST TV announcers (CBS): Brent Musburger and Ara Parseghian

Scoring summary 1 MIA Greg Cox 39-yard field goal MIA 3-0 1 MIA W. Williams 6-yard run (Greg Cox kick) MIA 10-0 1 MIA Greg Cox 47-yard field goal MIA 13-0 2 MIA Bennie Blades 61-yard interception return (Cox kick) MIA 20-0 2 ND Allen Pinkett 3-yard run (John Carney kick) MIA 20-7 2 MIA Melvin Bratton 7-yard pass from Vinny Testaverde (Cox kick) MIA 27-7 3 MIA Greg Cox 48-yard field goal MIA 30-7 3 MIA Michael Irvin 15-yard pass from Vinny Testaverde (Greg Cox kick) MIA 37-7 4 MIA Vinny Testaverde 1-yard run (Greg Cox kick) MIA 44-7 4 MIA Andre Brown 17-yard pass from Geoff Torretta (Seelig kick) MIA 51-7 4 4:44 MIA Bill Hawkins recovered blocked punt in end zone (Greg Cox kick) MIA 58-7

^[10]

Awards and honors

• Allen Pinkett finished 8th in voting for the Heisman Trophy.^[11]
• Former Fighting Irish players Paul Hornung and Jim Martin were inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame

Team players drafted into the NFL

Player

Position

Round

Pick

NFL club

^[12]

References