1985 Florida State Seminoles football team

The 1985 Florida State Seminoles football team represented Florida State University in the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season.

1985 Florida State Seminoles football
Gator Bowl champion
Gator Bowl, W 34–23 vs. Oklahoma State
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 13
AP	No. 15
Record	9–3
Head coach	Bobby Bowden (10th season)
Offensive coordinator	Wayne McDuffie (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	No-huddle spread
Defensive coordinator	Mickey Andrews (2nd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Doak Campbell Stadium
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 Seminoles offense scored 402 points while the defense allowed 258 points. Florida State competed in the Gator Bowl.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 31	12:30 p.m.	at Tulane	No. 19	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA	TBS	W 38–12	37,478	^[1]
September 7	3:00 p.m.	at No. 10 Nebraska	No. 17	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	ABC	W 17–13	75,943
September 21	12:00 p.m.	Memphis State	No. 6	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	TBS	W 19–10	54,877
September 28	7:00 p.m.	Kansas	No. 4	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 24–20	57,135
October 12	12:30 p.m.	at No. 12 Auburn	No. 4	Jordan-Hare Stadium Auburn, AL	TBS	L 27–59	75,000	^[2]
October 19	7:00 p.m.	Tulsa	No. 13	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 76–14	53,500
October 26	1:00 p.m.	at North Carolina	No. 11	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		W 20–10	50,132	^[3]
November 2	3:30 p.m.	No. 11 Miami (FL)	No. 10	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)	ABC	L 27–35	61,250
November 9	7:45 p.m.	South Carolina	No. 16	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN	W 56–14	54,121	^[4]
November 16	7:00 p.m.	Western Carolina	No. 15	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 50–10	52,778
November 30	12:30 p.m.	at No. 6 Florida	No. 12	Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)		L 14–38	74,461	^[5]
December 30	8:00 p.m.	vs. No. 19 Oklahoma State	No. 18	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)	ABC	W 34–23	79,417	^[6]
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[7]

Rankings

Main article: 1985 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	19	17	7	6	4	4 (1)	4	13	11	10	16	16	14	12	18	18	15
Coaches	13 (1)	13 (1)	5 (1)	6 (1)	5	4 (1)	4	11	9	9	16	14	12	11	17	16	13

Game summaries

at Nebraska

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 17 Seminoles 7 10 0 0 17 No. 10 Cornhuskers 7 6 0 0 13 Date: September 7 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 75,943 Game weather: 93 °F (34 °C) (133 °F (56 °C) on the field)

See also: 1985 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

^[8]

Miami (FL)

#11 Miami (FL) at #10 Florida State

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 11 Hurricanes 14 0 7 14 35 No. 10 Seminoles 14 10 0 3 27 Date: November 2 Location: Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida Game attendance: 61,250 TV announcers (ABC): Tim Brant

Scoring summary 1 10:04 FSU Hassan Jones 8-yard pass from Chip Ferguson (Schmidt kick) FSU 7-0 1 7:23 Miami (FL) Brian Blades 10-yard pass from Vinny Testaverde (Cox kick) Tied 7-7 1 7:06 Miami (FL) Blades 38-yard pass from Testaverde (Cox kick) Miami (FL) 14-7 1 0:25 FSU Brian Davis blocked punt recovery in end zone (Schmidt kick) Tied 14-14 2 6:52 FSU Derek Schmidt 37-yard field goal FSU 17-14 2 2:39 FSU Pat Carter 26-yard pass from Chip Ferguson (Schmidt kick) FSU 24-14 3 8:15 Miami (FL) 2-yard fun (Cox kick) FSU 24-21 4 11:07 FSU Derek Schmidt 44-yard field goal FSU 27-21 4 9:55 Miami (FL) Michael Irvin 30-yard pass from Testaverde (Cox kick) Miami (FL) 28-27 4 3:06 Miami (FL) Brett Perriman 2-yard pass from Testaverde (Cox kick) Miami (FL) 35-27

See also: 1985 Miami Hurricanes football team and Florida State–Miami football rivalry

^[9]

at Florida

See also: 1985 Florida Gators football team and Florida–Florida State football rivalry

vs. No. 19 Oklahoma State (Gator Bowl)

#18 Florida State vs. #19 Oklahoma State

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 18 Seminoles 3 10 14 7 34 No. 19 Cowboys 0 0 17 6 23 Date: December 30 Location: Gator Bowl Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida Game attendance: 79,417 Referee: Jim Kemerling (Big Ten)

Main article: 1985 Gator Bowl

See also: 1985 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team

Roster

1985 Florida State Seminoles football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 5 Chip Ferguson Fr RB 27 Victor Floyd   Fr FB 42 Cletis Jones Sr G 64 Jamie Dukes Sr OT 77 John Ionata Sr TE 85 Pat Carter So WR 88 Hassan Jones Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 32 Martin Mayhew   So DT 45 Isaac Williams Sr LB 38 Paul McGowan So LB 57 Jesse Solomon Sr LB 84 Garth Jax Sr S 22 Kenny Kitchens Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 6 Louis Berry Jr K 18 Derek Schmidt So	Head coach Bobby Bowden Coordinators/assistant coaches Mickey Andrews – Defensive coordinator Wayne McDuffie – Offensive coordinator Chuck Amato – Defensive line Mark Richt – Graduate assistant Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible   Injured   Redshirt

Team players in the NFL

The following were selected in the 1986 NFL Draft.

Player	Position	Round	Overall	NFL team
Hassan Jones	Wide receiver	5	120	Minnesota Vikings
John Ionata	Guard	9	242	Dallas Cowboys
Cletis Jones	Running back	10	276	New England Patriots
Garth Jax	Linebacker	11	296	Dallas Cowboys
Jesse Solomon	Linebacker	12	318	Minnesota Vikings
Isaac Williams	Defensive tackle	12	326	Indianapolis Colts

^[10]

References

1. "For openers, FSU not too bad, 38–12". Tampa Bay Times. September 1, 1985. Retrieved October 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "Auburn routs FSU". The Index-Journal. October 13, 1985. Retrieved November 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Defense saves day for FSU in 20–10 win". St. Petersburg Times. October 27, 1985. Retrieved January 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Fla. State buries South Carolina". The Daily Advertiser. November 10, 1985. Retrieved January 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Gators top FSU in Consolation Bowl". The Palm Beach Post. December 1, 1985. Retrieved November 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Tom Kensler (December 31, 1985). "Seminoles Shock Cowboys, 34-23". The Daily Oklahoman. pp. 17, 20 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Florida State Football - 1985 Year In Review". nolefan.org. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
8. "Surprising Florida State Stuns No. 10 Nebraska". The Los Angeles Times. September 8, 1985. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
9. "Miami's Come-From-Behind Victory Really 'Special'". The Palm Beach Post via newspapers.com. November 3, 1985. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
10. . Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2017.

External links

• 1985 Media Guide