1985 Air Force Falcons football team

The 1985 Air Force Falcons football team represented the United States Air Force Academy in the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Falcons came within one victory of playing for the national championship. After beating the Texas Longhorns in the Bluebonnet Bowl, the Falcons ended the year 12-1 and ranked #5 in the country.

1985 Air Force Falcons football
WAC co-champion Bluebonnet Bowl champion
Bluebonnet Bowl, W 24–16 vs. Texas
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 8
1985 record	12–1 (7–1 WAC)
Head coach	Fisher DeBerry
Home stadium	Falcon Stadium

1985 Western Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 8 Air Force +	7	–	1	–	0			12	–	1	–	0
No. 16 BYU +	7	–	1	–	0			11	–	3	–	0
Utah	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Hawaii	4	–	3	–	1			4	–	6	–	2
Colorado State	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	7	–	0
San Diego State	3	–	4	–	1			5	–	6	–	1
New Mexico	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Wyoming	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
UTEP	1	–	7	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	UTEP		Falcon Stadium Air Force Academy, Colorado		W 48–6	38,500
September 14	at Wyoming		War Memorial Stadium Laramie, Wyoming		W 49–7	29,134
September 21	Rice*		Falcon Stadium Air Force Academy, Colorado		W 59–17	33,868
September 28	New Mexico	No. 19	University Stadium Albuquerque, New Mexico		W 49–12	27,124
October 5	No. 15 Notre Dame*	No. 17	Falcon Stadium Air Force Academy, Colorado	ABC	W 21–15	52,153
October 12	Navy*	No. 13	Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Annapolis, Maryland		W 24–7	35,663
October 19	at Colorado State	No. 10	Hughes Stadium Fort Collins, Colorado (Ram–Falcon Trophy)		W 35–19	31,127
October 26	Utah	No. 8	Falcon Stadium Air Force Academy, Colorado		W 37–15	32,269
November 2	San Diego State	No. 7	Falcon Stadium Air Force Academy, Colorado		W 31–10	36,503
November 9	Army*	No. 5	Falcon Stadium Air Force Academy, Colorado		W 45–7	51,103
November 16	at No. 16 BYU	No. 4	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah		L 21–28	65,393
November 23	at Hawaii*	No. 13	Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI (rivalry)	Prime	W 27–20	50,000
December 31	vs. Texas	No. 10	Rice Stadium Houston, Texas (Bluebonnet Bowl)		W 24–16	42,000
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[1]

Roster

1985 Air Force Falcons football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR Hugh Brennan QB Troy Calhoun Fr WR 83 Ken Carpenter Sr RB Pat Evans WR Tyrone Jeffcoat QB 6 Brian Knorr Sr RB Marc Munafo RB Greg Pshsniak RB Kelly Pittman RB Chris Vellanti QB Bart Weiss	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 60 Mike Chandler Sr NG Dick Clark LB Brady Glick DT 85 Chad Hennings So LB Terry Maki Jr LB 48 Pat Malackowski Jr CB Tom Rotello Jr DB A. J. Scott S 29 Scott Thomas Sr DT 74 John Ziegler Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Tom Ruby P Mark Simon	Head coach Fisher DeBerry Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Season summary

Notre Dame

See also: 1985 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

[2] [3] [4]

Army

See also: 1985 Army Cadets football team

Army Cadets (7–1) at #5 Air Force Falcons (9–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Army	0	0	0	7	7
Air Force	7	7	14	7	35

at Falcon Stadium • Colorado Springs, Colorado

• Date: November 9
• Game attendance: 52,103
• [5]

Game information
Army Rob Healy 4/7, 18 Yds Clarence Jones 7 Rush, 39 Yds, TD Doug Black 1 Rec, 10 Yds Air Force Bart Weiss 4/9, 105 Yds, TD 19 Rush, 114 Yds, 2 TD Ken Carpenter 3 Rec, 93 Yds, TD

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP ARMY AFA 1 Air Force Greg Pshsniak 1-yard touchdown run, Tomislav Ruby kick good 0 7 2 Air Force Ken Carpenter 64-yard touchdown reception from Bart Weiss, Tomislav Ruby kick good 0 14 3 Air Force Bart Weiss 54-yard touchdown run, Tomislav Ruby kick good 0 21 3 Air Force Bart Weiss 1-yard touchdown run, Tomislav Ruby kick good 0 28 4 Air Force 22-yard field goal by Tomislav Ruby 0 31 4 Army Clarence Jones 7-yard touchdown run, Craig Stopa kick good 7 31 4 Air Force Chris Vellanti 57-yard touchdown run, Tomislav Ruby kick good 7 38 4 Air Force Marc Munafo 1-yard touchdown run, Tomislav Ruby kick good 7 45 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 7 45

Team players in the NFL

• Sophomore Chad Hennings' rookie season in the NFL was in 1992 with the Dallas Cowboys.[6]

Awards and honors

• Pat Malackowski, Bullard Award[7]

References

1. College Football @ Sports-Reference.com
2. "Air Force Stops Notre Dame Again, 21-15". Los Angeles Times. October 6, 1985. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
3. "AIR FORCE BEATS NOTRE DAME". The New York Times. October 6, 1985. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
4. "NOTRE DAME KICKS ONE AWAY TO AIR FORCE". Chicago Tribune. October 6, 1985. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
5. Gainesville Sun. 1985 Nov 10. Retrieved 2019-Jan-29.
6. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HennCh20.htm
7. http://www.airforcesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3000&KEY=&ATCLID=157958&SPID=804&SPSID=22383