1985 Miami Hurricanes football team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1985 Miami Hurricanes football
Sugar Bowl, L 7–35 vs. Tennessee
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
CoachesNo. 8
APNo. 9
Record10–2
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorGary Stevens (3rd season)
Offensive schemePro-style
Defensive coordinatorPaul Jette (1st season)
Base defense4–3
Home stadiumMiami Orange Bowl
Seasons
← 1984
1986 →
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

The 1985 Miami Hurricanes football team represented the University of Miami during the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Hurricanes' 60th season of football. The Hurricanes were led by second-year head coach Jimmy Johnson and played their home games at the Miami Orange Bowl. They finished the season 10–2 overall. They were invited to the Sugar Bowl, where they lost to Tennessee, 35–7.

Schedule[edit]

DateOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendanceSource
September 7No. 5 FloridaL 23–3580,227[1]
September 14at RiceW 48–2015,411
September 28at Boston CollegeW 45–1031,864
October 5at East CarolinaW 27–1534,511[2]
October 12Cincinnati
  • Miami Orange Bowl
  • Miami, FL
W 38–030,164
October 19at No. 3 OklahomaABCW 27–1473,102
October 26LouisvilleNo. 15
  • Miami Orange Bowl
  • Miami, FL
W 45–731,761
November 2at No. 10 Florida StateNo. 11ABCW 35–2761,250
November 9at MarylandNo. 8CBSW 29–2262,350[3]
November 23Colorado StatedaggerNo. 4
  • Miami Orange Bowl
  • Miami, FL
W 24–335,035
November 30Notre DameNo. 4
  • Miami Orange Bowl
  • Miami, FL (rivalry)
CBSW 58–749,236
January 1vs. No. 8 TennesseeNo. 2ABCL 7–3577,432[4]
  • daggerHomecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel[edit]

Roster[edit]

Player Class Pos Summary
Vinny Testaverde* QB 216 Cmp, 352 Att, 3238 Yds, 21 TD
Geoff Torretta QB 11 Cmp, 16 Att, 263 Yds, 3 TD
Alonzo Highsmith* RB 117 Att, 451 Yds, 3.9 Avg
Warren Williams* RB 89 Att, 522 Yds, 5.9 Avg
Melvin Bratton RB 67 Att, 285 Yds, 4.3 Avg
Darryl Oliver RB 66 Att, 264 Yds, 4.0 Avg
J.C. Penny RB 21 Att, 181 Yds, 8.6 Avg
Todd Stanish RB 11 Att, 31 Yds, 2.8 Avg
Steve Staffier RB 2 Att, 8 Yds, 4.0 Avg
Michael Irvin* WR 46 Rec, 840 Yds, 18.3 Avg
Brian Blades* WR 30 Rec, 657 Yds, 21.9 Avg
Brett Perriman WR 14 Rec, 263 Yds, 18.8 Avg
Kenny Oliver WR 5 Rec, 125 Yds, 25.0 Avg
Andre Brown WR 2 Rec, 23 Yds, 11.5 Avg
Willie Smith* TE 48 Rec, 669 Yds, 13.9 Avg
Charles Henry TE 4 Rec, 48 Yds, 12.0 Avg
Alfredo Roberts TE 1 Rec, 4 Yds, 4.0 Avg
Dave Alekna* OL
Paul Bertucelli* OL
Ed Davis* OL
Paul O'Connor* OL
Greg Rakoczy* OL
John O'Neill OL
Matt Patchan OL
Jerome Brown* DL
Kevin Fagan* DL
Derwin Jones* DL
John McVeigh* DL
Victor Morris DL
Dan Sileo DL
Daniel Stubbs DL
Rod Carter* LB
Bruce Fleming* LB
Randy Shannon* LB
Winston Moss LB
Tolbert Bain* DB
Selwyn Brown* DB
Donald Ellis* DB
Darrell Fullington* DB
Bennie Blades DB
Jeff Feagles P
1985 Miami Hurricanes football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
QB 14 Vinny Testaverde Jr
RB 5 Melvin Bratton So
RB 43 Cleveland Gary Fr
RB 30 Alonzo Highsmith Jr
RB 24 Warren Williams So
WR 9 Brian Blades So
WR 83 Andre Brown Fr
WR 47 Michael Irvin Fr
WR 33 Brett Perriman So
OL 52 Darren Bruce Fr
OL 75 John O'Neill Fr
TE 87 Alfredo Roberts So
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
LB 91 Rod Carter Fr
DB 19 Darrell Fullington So
LB 22 Randy Shannon Fr
DB 36 Bennie Blades So
LB 45 George Mira Jr. So
DE 96 Daniel Stubbs So
DL 93 John McVeigh Sr
DT 95 Kevin Fagan Sr
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
K 25 Greg Cox So
P 38 Jeff Feagles So
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Recruits[edit]

Jimmy Johnson and his staff had the key recruit in the 1985 class QB Steve Walsh Jimmy also continued collecting talent from Florida, "Ten of the 19 signees are from Florida. Last year, 18 of the 25 high school players who signed letters were from Florida (11 from Dade and Broward), and 19 of 26 who signed in 1983 were from Florida (nine from Dade and Broward)."[5]

Coaching staff[edit]

Name Position Seasons Alma mater
Jimmy Johnson Head coach 2nd Arkansas (1965)
Gary Stevens Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks 6th John Carroll (1965)
Paul Jette Defensive Coordinator/defensive backs 1st Texas (1977)
Hubbard Alexander Wide receivers 7th Tennessee State (1962)
Joe Brodsky Running backs 8th Florida (1956)
Butch Davis Defensive line 2nd Arkansas (1973)
Art Kehoe Assistant offensive line 1st Miami (1982)
Don Soldinger Tight ends 2nd Memphis (1967)
Tony Wise Offensive line 1st Ithaca (1972)
Mike Knoll Linebackers 2nd Missouri Western State (1975)

Support staff[edit]

Name Position Seasons Alma mater
Bill Foran Strength & conditioning 1st Central Michigan (1977)
Tom Ciskowski Volunteer assistant
Mark Gibson Volunteer assistant

[citation needed]

Rankings[edit]

Game summaries[edit]

No. 5 Florida[edit]

At Rice[edit]

At Boston College[edit]

At East Carolina[edit]

Cincinnati[edit]

at No. 3 Oklahoma[edit]

1 234Total
Hurricanes 7 7130 27
No. 3 Sooners 7 007 14

[6]

Louisville[edit]

[7]

at No. 10 Florida State[edit]

#11 Miami (FL) at #10 Florida State
1 234Total
No. 11 Hurricanes 14 0714 35
No. 10 Seminoles 14 1003 27

Despite being sacked seven times, Vinny Testaverde passed the Hurricanes to victory with 339 yards and four touchdowns.[8]

at Maryland[edit]

Miami (FL) at Maryland
1 234Total
No. 8 Hurricanes 0 1379 29
Terrapins 10 390 22

[9]

Colorado State[edit]

Colorado State at Miami (FL)
1 234Total
Rams 0 030 3
No. 4 Hurricanes 0 3714 24
  

Notre Dame[edit]

Notre Dame at Miami (FL)
1 234Total
Fighting Irish 0 700 7
No. 4 Hurricanes 13 141021 58

Miami scored the most points in a game since 1967. The Hurricanes scored on their first four possessions, the fifth was ended when time ran out at halftime, and then they scored the first four times they got the ball in the second half.[10]

vs. No. 8 Tennessee (Sugar Bowl)[edit]

Miami (FL) vs. Tennessee
1 234Total
No. 2 Hurricanes 7 000 7
No. 8 Volunteers 0 14147 35

[11][12]

1986 NFL Draft[edit]

Player Position Round Pick NFL club
Kevin Fagan Defensive tackle 4 102 San Francisco 49ers
Reggie Sutton Defensive back 5 115 New Orleans Saints
Willie Smith Tight end 10 265 Cleveland Browns
John McVeigh Linebacker 12 321 Seattle Seahawks

[13]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Bell passes Gators over Hurricanes". St. Lucie News Tribune. September 8, 1985. Retrieved November 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Terrific, terrible Testaverde propels Hurricanes, 27–15". The Miami Herald. October 6, 1985. Retrieved March 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "No miracles; Terps left with 'what if?'". The Baltimore Sun. November 10, 1985. Retrieved January 31, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Orange crush, but Tennessee, not Miami, does the damage". The Shreveport Journal. January 2, 1986. Retrieved November 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Um Gets 10 Floridians, Goes Out Of State For Qbs - Sun Sentinel". Archived from the original on July 20, 2014.
  6. ^ "MIAMI BEATS SOONERS, 27-14". The New York Times. October 20, 1985. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  7. ^ "UM Pummels Louisville, 45-7". Sun Sentinel. October 27, 1985. Retrieved December 10, 2023.
  8. ^ "Miami's Come-From-Behind Victory Really 'Special'". The Palm Beach Post via newspapers.com. November 3, 1985. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  9. ^ "MIAMI DEFEATS TERPS, 29-22". The New York Times. November 10, 1985. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  10. ^ "FAUST ERA AT NOTRE DAME ENDS IN 58-7 HUMILIATION". The New York Times. December 10, 1985. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  11. ^ "52nd Annual Sugar Bowl Classic ~ January 1, 1986". Sugar Bowl. January 1, 1986. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  12. ^ "SUGAR BOWL; MIAMI SURPRISED BY TENNESSEE, 35-7". The New York Times. January 2, 1986. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  13. ^ "1986 NFL Draft". pro-football-reference.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007. Retrieved August 23, 2019.