1985 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

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.

1985 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Conference	Independent
1985 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)

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

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 14	2:30 p.m.	at Michigan	No. 13	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	CBS	L 12–20	105,523
September 21	7:30 p.m.	Michigan State		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (Megaphone Trophy)	ESPN	W 27–10	59,075
September 28	12:00 p.m.	at Purdue		Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (Shillelagh Trophy)	TBS	L 17–35	69,338
October 5	3:30 p.m.	at No. 17 Air Force		Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO	ABC	L 15–21	52,123
October 19	12:00 p.m.	No. 19 Army		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	United States, WGN	W 24–10	59,075
October 26	2:00 p.m.	USC		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (Jeweled Shillelagh)		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.	Mississippi		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	USA, WGN	W 37–14	59,075
November 16	3:30 p.m.	at No. 1 Penn State		Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	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
November 30	3:30 p.m.	at No. 4 Miami		Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL	CBS	L 7–58	49,236
Rankings from Coaches' 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

See also: 1985 Michigan Wolverines football team and Michigan–Notre Dame football rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–8	1982	W 23–17

Michigan State

See also: 1985 Michigan State Spartans football team, Michigan State–Notre Dame football rivalry, and Megaphone Trophy

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
32–17–1	1984	ND, 20–17

at Purdue

See also: 1985 Purdue Boilermakers football team

at Air Force

See also: 1985 Air Force Falcons football team

[2]

Army

1 2 3 4 Total Army 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

See also: 1985 Army Cadets football team

[3]

USC

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:

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

See also: 1985 USC Trojans football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
29–23–4	1984	W 19–7

Navy

See also: 1985 Navy Midshipmen football team

Ole Miss

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

See also: 1985 Ole Miss Rebels football team

[4]

at Penn State

See also: 1985 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

[5]

LSU

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 attendance: 59,075 Referee: Raymond Bower TV announcers: 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

See also: 1985 LSU Tigers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–1	1984	W, 30–22

[6]

at Miami (FL)

Notre Dame at Miami (FL)

1 2 3 4 Total Fighting Irish 0 7 0 0 7 • Hurricanes 13 14 10 21 58 Date: November 30 Location: Miami Orange Bowl, Miami 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

See also: 1985 Miami Hurricanes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–4–1	1984	L 13–31

[7]

Awards and honors

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

Team players drafted into the NFL

Main article: 1986 NFL Draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Club

[9]

References

1. "Notre Dame Yearly Results (1985-1989)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
2. "NOTRE DAME KICKS ONE AWAY TO AIR FORCE". Chicago Tribune. October 6, 1985. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
3. "Irish upset No. 19 Army to answer critics." Gainesville Sun. 1985 Oct 20.
4. Gainesville Sun. 1985 Nov 10.
5. "PENN STATE TROUNCES NOTRE DAME TO STAY UNBEATEN". The New York Times. November 17, 1985. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
6. "Wickersham Passes LSU to 10-7 Victory Over Irish". Los Angeles Times. November 24, 1985. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
7. "FAUST ERA AT NOTRE DAME ENDS IN 58-7 HUMILIATION". The New York Times. December 10, 1985. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2008-12-30.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
9. "1986 NFL Draft". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved November 22, 2019.