1985 BYU Cougars football team

1985 BYU Cougars football
WAC co-champion
Florida Citrus Bowl, L 7–10 vs. Ohio State
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 17
AP	No. 16
Record	11–3 (7–1 WAC)
Head coach	LaVell Edwards (14th season)
Offensive coordinator	Roger French (5th season)
Offensive scheme	West Coast
Defensive coordinator	Dick Felt (11th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Cougar Stadium
Seasons ←  1984 1986  →

1985 Western Athletic Conference football standings

v t e	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

The 1985 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University during the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Cougars were led by 14th-year head coach LaVell Edwards and played their home games at Cougar Stadium in Provo, Utah. The team competed as a member of the Western Athletic Conference, winning a share of their 10th consecutive conference title with a conference record of 7–1, sharing the title with Air Force. BYU was invited to the 1985 Florida Citrus Bowl, where they lost to Ohio State. The Cougars were ranked 16th in the final AP Poll with an overall record of 11–3. Their loss to UTEP is considered to be one of the biggest upsets in college football history, with it being tied for the fifth biggest by points spread. ^[1]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result
August 29	vs. Boston College *	No. 10	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, New Jersey (Kickoff Classic)	Raycom	W 28–14
September 7	No. 20 UCLA *	No. 8	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah	ESPN	L 24–27
September 14	Washington *	No. 16	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah	ABC	W 31–3
September 21	at Temple *	No. 13	Veterans Stadium Philadelphia	KSL (1 hour tape delay)	W 26–24
October 5	at Colorado State	No. 15	Hughes Stadium Fort Collins, Colorado		W 42–7
October 12	San Diego State	No. 11	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah		W 28–0
October 19	at New Mexico	No. 9	University Stadium Albuquerque, New Mexico	KSL	W 45–23
October 26	at UTEP	No. 7	Sun Bowl El Paso, Texas		L 16–23
November 2	Wyoming	No. 17	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah		W 59–0
November 9	at Utah State *	No. 18	Romney Stadium Logan, Utah (The Old Wagon Wheel)	KSL	W 44–0
November 16	No. 4 Air Force	No. 16	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah	KSL	W 28–21
November 23	Utah	No. 11	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah (Holy War)		W 38–28
December 7	at Hawaii	No. 9	Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI		W 26–6
December 28	vs. No. 17 Ohio State *	No. 9	Citrus Bowl Orlando, Florida (Florida Citrus Bowl)	NBC	L 7–10
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[2]

Personnel

1985 BYU Cougars football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB Robbie Bosco RB Bruce Hansen Jr WR 7 Glen Kozlowski	Defense Pos. # Name Class OLB 42 Darin Nelson LB 53 Cary Whittingham Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach LaVell Edwards Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Game summaries

Vs. Boston College (Kickoff Classic)

See also: 1985 Boston College Eagles football team

No. 10 BYU Cougars vs. Boston College Eagles (Kickoff Classic) – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Cougars	0	14	7	7	28
Eagles	0	7	7	0	14

at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey

• Date: August 29
• Game time: 6:00 p.m. MDT/8:00 p.m. EDT
• Game weather: Partly cloudy, 80 °F (27 °C)
• Game attendance: 51,227
• Box score

Game information

First quarter No scoring plays Second quarter BYU – Mark Bellini 6-yard pass from Robbie Bosco (kick failed), 13:11. Cougars 6–0. BYU – Lakei Heimuli 1-yard run (Robbie Bosco pass to Kelly Smith), 9:34. Cougars 14–0. BC – John Mihalik 1-yard run (Tim George kick), 5:40. Cougars 14–7. Third quarter BC – Troy Stradford 5-yard run (Tim George kick), 5:33. Tied 14–14. BYU – Mark Bellini 12-yard pass from Robbie Bosco (Gary Webster kick), 3:38. Cougars 21–14. Fourth quarter BYU – Glen Kozlowski 22-yard pass from Robbie Bosco (Gary Webster kick), 8:32. Cougars 28–14.

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
BYU	Passing	Robbie Bosco	35/53, 508 yards, 3 TD, 4 INT
	Rushing	Vai Sikahema	7 rushes, 27 yards
	Receiving	Glen Kozlowski	10 receptions, 241 yards, TD
Boston College	Passing	Shawn Halloran	18/37, 159 yards, 3 INT
	Rushing	Troy Stradford	21 rushes, 101 yards, TD
	Receiving	Scott Gieselman	9 receptions, 78 yards

No. 20 UCLA

See also: 1985 UCLA Bruins football team

No. 20 UCLA Bruins at No. 8 BYU Cougars – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Bruins	10	3	3	11	27
No. 8 Cougars	3	14	0	7	24

at Cougar Stadium, Provo, Utah

• Date: September 7
• Game time: 5:45 p.m. MDT
• Game weather: Partly cloudy, 76 °F (24 °C)
• Game attendance: 65,455
• Box score

Game information

First quarter UCLA – John Lee 25-yard field goal, 8:57. Bruins 3–0. BYU – Gary Webster 24-yard field goal, 3:23. Tied 3–3. UCLA – Craig Rutledge 65-yard interception return (Gary Webster kick), 1:26. Bruins 10–3. Second quarter BYU – Mark Bellini 10-yard pass from Robbie Bosco (Gary Webster kick), 13:47. Tied 10–10. UCLA – John Lee 35-yard field goal, 6:28. Bruins 13–10. BYU – Glen Kozlowski 7-yard pass from Robbie Bosco (Gary Webster kick), 3:29. Cougars 17–13. Third quarter UCLA – John Lee 20-yard field goal, 5:29. Cougars 17–16. Fourth quarter UCLA – John Lee 25-yard field goal, 9:01. Bruins 19–17. BYU – Robbie Bosco 1-yard run (Gary Webster kick), 2:57. Cougars 24–19. UCLA – Gaston Green 2-yard run (Gaston Green run), 1:02. Bruins 27–24.

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
UCLA	Passing	Matt Stevens	6/11, 113 yards
	Rushing	Marcus Greenwood	13 rushes, 71 yards
	Receiving	Mike Sherrard	6 receptions, 98 yards
BYU	Passing	Robbie Bosco	29/41, 340 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Vai Sikahema	6 rushes, 54 yards
	Receiving	Vai Sikahema	8 receptions, 129 yards

At UTEP

See also: 1985 UTEP Miners football team

No. 7 BYU Cougars at UTEP Miners – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Cougars	10	0	6	0	16
Miners	10	10	3	0	23

at Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas

• Date: October 26
• Game weather: Clear, 75 °F (24 °C)
• Game attendance: 22,121
• Box score

Game information

First quarter BYU – Scott Norberg 11-yard pass from Robbie Bosco (Gary Webster kick), 11:29. Cougars 7–0. UTEP – Clarence Seay 52-yard pass from Sammy Garza (Hugo Castellanos kick), 9:33. Tied 7–7. BYU – Gary Webster 45-yard field goal, 6:03. Cougars 10–7. UTEP – Hugo Castellanos 50-yard field goal, 1:08. Tied 10–10. Second quarter UTEP – Danny Taylor 100-yard interception return (Hugo Castellanos kick), 5:52. Miners 17–10. UTEP – Hugo Castellanos 31-yard field goal, 0:13. Miners 20–10. Third quarter BYU – Lakei Heimuli 1-yard run (kick failed), 9:44. Miners 20–16. UTEP – Hugo Castellanos 29-yard field goal, 6:00. Miners 23–16.

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
BYU	Passing	Robbie Bosco	15/34, 151 yards, TD, 4 INT
	Rushing	Lakei Heimuli	30 rushes, 154 yards, TD
	Receiving	Kelly Smith	7 receptions, 60 yards
UTEP	Passing	Sammy Garza	8/16, 147 yards, TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	John Harvey	25 rushes, 112 yards
	Receiving	Larry Linne	3 receptions, 56 yards

No. 4 Air Force

See also: 1985 Air Force Falcons football team

No. 4 Air Force Falcons at No. 16 BYU Cougars – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Falcons	14	7	0	0	21
No. 16 Cougars	0	7	14	7	28

at Cougar Stadium, Provo, Utah

• Date: November 16
• Game weather: Cloudy, 35 °F (2 °C)
• Game attendance: 65,393
• Box score

Game information

First quarter AFA – Randy Jones 22-yard pass from Bart Weiss (Tom Ruby kick), 12:29. Falcons 7–0. AFA – Tom Rotello 25-yard interception return (Tom Ruby kick), 12:09. Falcons 14–0. Second quarter BYU – Mark Bellini 22-yard pass from Robbie Bosco (Gary Webster kick), 12:46. Falcons 14–7. AFA – Dwan Wilson 58-yard interception return (Tom Ruby kick), 8:36. Falcons 21–7. Third quarter BYU – Vai Sikahema 72-yard punt return (kick failed), 12:47. Falcons 21–13. BYU – Mark Bellini 25-yard pass from Robbie Bosco (Robbie Bosco pass to Lance Lindley), 4:42. Tied 21–21. Fourth quarter BYU – Vai Sikahema 69-yard pass from Robbie Bosco (Gary Webster kick), 5:41. Cougars 28–21.

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Air Force	Passing	Bart Weiss	9/18, 101 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Pat Evans	18 rushes, 65 yards
	Receiving	Randy Jones	2 receptions, 25 yards, TD
BYU	Passing	Robbie Bosco	29/49, 343 yards, 3 TD, 4 INT
	Rushing	Tom Tuipulotu	3 rushes, 15 yards
	Receiving	Mark Bellini	9 receptions, 143 yards, 2 TD

Robbie Bosco wore number 7 in honor of injured teammate Glen Kozlowski.

Vs. No. 17 Ohio State (Florida Citrus Bowl)

See also: 1985 Ohio State Buckeyes football team and 1985 Florida Citrus Bowl

1985 Florida Citrus Bowl
No. 9 BYU Cougars vs. No. 17 Ohio State Buckeyes

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Cougars	0	7	0	0	7
No. 17 Buckeyes	0	3	7	0	10

at Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

• Date: December 28
• Game time: 12:30 p.m. MST/10:30 p.m. EST
• Game weather: Clear, 63 °F (17 °C)
• Game attendance: 50,920
• Referee: Vincent Price
• TV announcers (NBC): Jay Randolph, Dave Rowe, and Tom Hammond
• Box score

Game information
First quarter No scoring plays Second quarter OSU – Rich Spangler 47-yard field goal, 10:32. Buckeyes 3–0. BYU – David Miles 38-yard pass from Robbie Bosco (Gary Webster kick), 0:52. Cougars 7–3. Third quarter OSU – Larry Kolic 14-yard interception return (Rich Spangler kick), 13:52. Buckeyes 10–7. Fourth quarter No scoring plays

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
BYU	Passing	Robbie Bosco	26/50, 261 yards, TD, 4 INT
	Rushing	Tom Tuipulotu	9 rushes, 43 yards
	Receiving	Mark Bellini	5 receptions, 87 yards
Ohio State	Passing	Jim Karsatos	19/35, 196 yards
	Rushing	John Wooldridge	25 rushes, 109 yards
	Receiving	Cris Carter	6 receptions, 85 yards

References

1. "The 30 Biggest College Football Point Spread Upsets Since 1980 | The Action Network". Action Network. November 14, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
2. College Football @ Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Dec-24.