1985 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

The 1985 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota in the 1985 Big Ten Conference football season. In their second and final year under head coach Lou Holtz, the Golden Gophers compiled a 7–5 record and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 293 to 240.[1]

1985 Minnesota Golden Gophers football
Independence Bowl, W 20–13 vs. Clemson
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1985 record	7–5 (4–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lou Holtz (2nd year, regular season) John Gutekunst (bowl game)
Home stadium	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

1985 Big Ten Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 10 Iowa $	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 2 Michigan	6	–	1	–	1			10	–	1	–	1
Illinois	5	–	2	–	1			6	–	5	–	1
No. 14 Ohio State	5	–	3	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Michigan State	5	–	3	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Minnesota	4	–	4	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Purdue	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Wisconsin	2	–	6	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Indiana	1	–	7	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Northwestern	1	–	7	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

When former Minnesota head coach Lou Holtz left the Golden Gophers to coach at the University of Notre Dame, assistant John Gutekunst was tapped to coach the Golden Gophers in the Independence Bowl.[2] Attendance was 42,845.[3]

Quarterback Rickey Foggie was named offensive player of the game, while linebacker Bruce Holmes was named defensive player of the game.[3] Center Ray Hitchcock, linebacker Peter Najarian, offensive guard Jon Lilleberg and strong safety Larry Joyner were named All-Big Ten second team. Running back David Puk was named Academic All-American second team. Puk and linebacker Peter Najarian were named Academic All-Big Ten.[4]

Quarterback Rickey Foggie was awarded the Bronko Nagurski Trophy. Ray Hitchcock was awarded the Bruce Smith Award. Peter Najarian was awarded the Carl Eller Award. Kicker Chip Lohmiller was awarded the Bobby Bell Award. Flanker . Andy Hare was awarded the Butch Nash Award. David Puk was awarded the Paul Giel Award.[4]

The total attendance was 426,918, which averaged out to 60,985 per game. The season high for attendance was against rival Wisconsin.[5]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 14	Wichita State*		Metrodome Minneapolis	W 28–14	56,094
September 21	Montana*		Metrodome Minneapolis	W 62–17	55,700
September 28	No. 2 Oklahoma*		Metrodome Minneapolis	L 7–13	62,446
October 5	Purdue		Metrodome Minneapolis	W 45–15	59,503
October 12	at Northwestern		Dyche Stadium Evanston, Illinois	W 21–10	24,512
October 19	at Indiana		Memorial Stadium Bloomington, Indiana	W 22–7	38,826
October 26	No. 9 Ohio State	No. 20	Metrodome Minneapolis	L 19–23	64,455
November 2	at Michigan State		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, Michigan	L 26–31	63,758
November 9	Wisconsin		Metrodome Minneapolis (Paul Bunyan's Axe)	W 27–18	64,571
November 16	No. 8 Michigan		Metrodome Minneapolis (Little Brown Jug)	L 7–48	64,129
November 23	at No. 3 Iowa		Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, Iowa (Floyd of Rosedale)	L 9–31	66,020
December 21	vs. Clemson*		Independence Stadium Shreveport, Louisiana (Independence Bowl)	W 20–13	-
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

1985 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB Rickey Foggie WR Andy Hare OG Jon Lilleberg (C) RB David Puk	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB Bruce Holmes S Larry Joyner LB Peter Najarian (C)	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 25 Chip Lohmiller	Head coach Lou Holtz Coordinators/assistant coaches John Gutekunst George Stewart Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

Game summaries

Oklahoma

Oklahoma at Minnesota

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 2 Oklahoma 3 7 0 3 13 Minnesota 0 0 0 7 7 Date: September 28 Location: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

Scoring summary 1 OU Lashar 21-yard field goal OU 3-0 2 OU E. Johnson 1-yard run (Lashar kick) OU 10-0 4 OU Lashar 21-yard field goal OU 13-0 4 MIN Starks 12-yard pass from Foggie (Lohmiller kick) OU 13-7

Ohio State

Ohio State at Minnesota

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 9 Buckeyes 0 10 0 13 23 No. 20 Golden Gophers 3 9 7 0 19 Date: October 26 Location: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

Wisconsin

Wisconsin at Minnesota

1 2 3 4 Total Badgers 3 9 0 6 18 • Golden Gophers 7 10 0 10 27 Date: November 9 Location: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Game attendance: 64,571

• Passing: WIS Howard 16/32, 167, MIN Foggie 5/19, 242, 2 INT
• Rushing: WIS Emery 25/124, MIN Baylor 11/43
• Receiving: WIS Vinci 2/51, MIN Couch 2/124

[6]

Michigan

Michigan at Minnesota

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 8 Wolverines 10 21 17 0 48 Golden Gophers 0 0 0 7 7 Date: November 16 Location: Metrodome, Minneapolis, MN Game attendance: 64,129

at Iowa

Minnesota at Iowa

1 2 3 4 Total Golden Gophers 3 0 0 6 9 • No. 3 Hawkeyes 7 10 7 7 31 Date: November 23 Location: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa Game start: 11:40 a.m. CST Elapsed time: 3:00 Game attendance: 66,020 Game weather: ~25 °F (−4 °C), Cloudy, Wind NNW 10–15 mph (16–24 km/h) Referee: John Nealon TV announcers (TBS Sports): Pete van Wieren and Ron Kramer

Scoring summary 1 9:48 Iowa Ronnie Harmon 5-yard run (Rob Houghtlin kick) IOWA 7-0 1 1:54 Minn Chip Lohmiller 35-yard field goal IOWA 7-3 2 5:15 Iowa Rob Houghtlin 26-yard field goal IOWA 10-3 2 1:40 Iowa Mike Flagg 4-yard pass from Chuck Long (Rob Houghtlin kick) IOWA 17-3 3 9:39 Iowa Kevin Harmon 10-yard run (Rob Houghtlin kick) IOWA 24-3 4 14:11 Iowa Rick Bayless 5-yard run (Rob Houghtlin kick) IOWA 31-3 4 2:01 Minn Gailord 16-yard pass from Holt (conversion failed) IOWA 31-9

vs. Clemson (Independence Bowl)

References

1. "1985 Minnesota Golden Gophers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
2. Bio: John Gutekunst, 2007, retrieved November 19, 2007
3. Year-by-Year Results, 2007, archived from the original on July 20, 2008, retrieved November 25, 2007
4. Keiser, Jeff (2007), 2007 Media Guide (PDF), pp. 179–182
5. Keiser, Jeff (2007), 2007 Media Guide (PDF), p. 160
6. Gainesville Sun. 1985 Nov 10. Retrieved 2019-Jan-29.