1985 USC Trojans football team

1985 USC Trojans football
Aloha Bowl, L 3–24 vs. Alabama
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Record	6–6 (5–3 Pac-10)
Head coach	Ted Tollner (3rd season)
Captains	Matt Koart Hank Norman
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Seasons ←  1984 1986  →

1985 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 7 UCLA $	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	2	–	1
Arizona	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	3	–	1
Arizona State	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Washington	5	–	3	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
USC	5	–	3	–	0			6	–	6	–	0
Oregon	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Washington State	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Stanford	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Oregon State	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
California	2	–	7	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1985 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California during the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 7	at No. 11 Illinois *	No. 6	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 20–10	76,369	[1]
September 21	Baylor *	No. 3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	L 13–20	52,544	[2]
September 28	at Arizona State	No. 18	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	L 0–24	70,710	[3]
October 5	Oregon State		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 63–0	50,624	[4]
October 19	Stanford		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	W 30–6	56,837	[5]
October 26	at Notre Dame *		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	L 3–37	59,075	[6]
November 2	Washington State		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 31–13	46,954	[7]
November 9	at California		California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 6–14	63,500	[8]
November 16	at Washington		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 17–20	59,417	[9]
November 23	No. 8 UCLA		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)	W 17–13	90,064	[10]
November 30	vs. Oregon		Olympic Memorial Stadium Tokyo, Japan (Mirage Bowl)	W 20–6	65,000	[11]
December 28	vs. No. 15 Alabama *		Aloha Stadium Halawa, HI (Aloha Bowl)	L 3–24	65,000	[12]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Rankings

Further information: 1985 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Game summaries

At No. 11 Illinois

USC at Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total •No. 6 Trojans 14 3 3 0 20 No. 11 Fighting Illini 0 0 7 3 10 Date: September 7 Location: Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois Game attendance: 76,639 Game weather: 90 °F (32 °C)

Scoring summary 1 USC Hank Norman 9-yard pass from Sean Salisbury (Don Shafer kick) USC 7–0 USC Randy Tanner 46-yard pass from Sean Salisbury (Don Shafer kick) USC 14–0 2 USC Don Shafer 46-yard field goal USC 17–0 3 USC Don Shafer 23-yard field goal USC 20–0 Illinois Cap Boso 83-yard pass from Jack Trudeau (Chris White kick) USC 20–7 4 Illinois Chris White 28-yard field goal USC 20–10

See also: 1985 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

^{[13] [14]}

Baylor

1 2 3 4 Total •Bears 0 10 7 3 20 No. 3 Trojans 7 0 0 6 13 Date: September 21 Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, California Game attendance: 53,246 TV announcers (Lorimar): Geoff Witcher (play-by-play) and Jim Perry (analyst)

Scoring summary 1 USC Hank Norman 9-yard pass from Sean Salisbury (Don Shafer kick) USC 7–0 2 2:46 Baylor Tom Muecke 3-yard run (Terry Syler kick) Tied 7–7 Baylor Terry Syler 39-yard field goal Baylor 10–7 3 9:49 Baylor Derrick McAdoo 22-yard pass from Tom Muecke (Terry Syler kick) Baylor 17–7 4 USC Randy Tanner 19-yard pass from Sean Salisbury (kick blocked) Baylor 17–13 6:06 Baylor Terry Syler 32-yard field goal Baylor 20–13

See also: 1985 Baylor Bears football team

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UCLA

See also: 1985 UCLA Bruins football team and Victory Bell (UCLA–USC)

#8 UCLA Bruins (8–1–1) at USC Trojans (4–5)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
UCLA	7	6	0	0	13
USC	7	0	3	7	17

at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California

• Date: November 23
• Game attendance: 90,064
• ^[16]

Game information

First quarter UCLA – Eric Ball 1-yard run (John Lee kick). UCLA 7–0. Drive: USC – Joe Cormier 34-yard pass from Rodney Peete (Don Shafer kick). Tie 7–7. Drive: Second quarter UCLA – John Lee 22-yard field goal. UCLA 10–7. Drive: UCLA – John Lee 34-yard field goal. UCLA 13–7. Drive: Third quarter USC – Don Shafer 38-yard field goal. UCLA 13–10. Drive: Fourth quarter USC – Rodney Peete 1-yard run (Don Shafer kick). USC 17–13. Drive: Top passers UCLA – David Norrie – 14/21, 178 yards, 2 INT USC – Rodney Peete – 8/15, 101 yards, TD, INT Top rushers UCLA – Gaston Green – 28 rushes, 145 yards USC – Ryan Knight – 32 rushes, 147 yards Top receivers UCLA – Karl Dorrell – 5 receptions, 61 yards USC – Joe Cormier – 8 receptions, 101 yards

Vs. Oregon

Oregon vs. USC

1 2 3 4 Total Ducks 3 0 3 0 6 •Trojans 7 10 0 3 20 Date: November 30 Location: Korakuen Stadium, Tokyo, Japan Source:

Scoring summary 1 ORE MacLeod 32-yard field goal ORE 3-0 1 USC Knight 2-yard run (Shafer kick) USC 7-3 2 USC Shafer 32-yard field goal USC 10-3 2 USC Norman 5-yard pass from Peete (Shafer kick) USC 17-3 3 ORE MacLeod 36-yard field goal USC 17-6 4 USC Shafer 44-yard field goal USC 20-6

See also: 1985 Oregon Ducks football team and Mirage Bowl (college football)

Aloha Bowl (vs. Alabama)

Main article: 1985 Aloha Bowl

See also: 1985 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

Personnel

1985 USC Trojans football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR Gene Arrington G 79 Jeff Bregel Jr G 66 Dave Cadigan So TE Martin Chesley TE Joe Cormier OL Tom Cox RB Fred Crutcher RB Andy Eddy RB Aaron Emmanuel OL James Fitzpatrick TE Paul Green OL John Guerrero  Fr WR Ken Henry RB Ryan Knight OL Gaylord Kuamoo RB 34 Zephrini Lee Sr TE Eric McKee QB Kevin McLean WR 83 Hank Norman Sr QB 16 Rodney Peete Fr RB Kennedy Pola G Mark Sager QB 7 Sean Salisbury Sr RB Todd Steele WR Randy Tanner WR Al Washington RB 25 Steven Webster	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB Sam Anno LB Garrett Breeland DB 38 Louis Brock DL Tony Colorito LB Marcus Cotton LB Keith Davis DB 8 Matt Johnson DT 91 Matt Koart Sr S 6 Tim McDonald Jr DL Brent Moore DB 1 Jerome Tyler Sr DL Gary Willison	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P Troy Richardson K 10 Don Shafer Jr P Chris Sperle	Head coach Ted Tollner Coordinators/assistant coaches Craig Ver Steeg (GA) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

1986 NFL draft

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise

^[17]

References

1. "No. 6 Southern Cal stops Illinois". The Charlotte Observer. September 8, 1985. Retrieved April 18, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
2. "Baylor stuns #3 USC, 20–13". Waco Tribune-Herald. September 22, 1985. Retrieved April 18, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
3. "Sun Devils burn USC, 24–0". Ventura County Star. September 29, 1985. Retrieved April 18, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
4. "Trojans roll over Beavers". The Columbian. October 6, 1985. Retrieved April 18, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
5. "Tollner impressed as Trojans rip Stanford". Daily Times-Advocate. October 20, 1985. Retrieved April 18, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
6. "Irish whip USC, 37–3". The Billings Gazette. October 27, 1985. Retrieved April 18, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
7. "Knight leads Trojans past Cougars, 31–13". The Los Angeles Times. November 3, 1985. Retrieved April 18, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
8. "Hicks stars as Bears upset USC". The Peninsula Times Tribune. November 10, 1985. Retrieved April 18, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
9. "Sophomore QB directs UW victory drive". The Columbian. November 17, 1985. Retrieved April 18, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
10. "Trojans shock Bruins 17–13". The Sacramento Bee. November 24, 1985. Retrieved April 17, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
11. "Trojans go from sayonara to aloha with win over Oregon". The Los Angeles Times. December 1, 1985. Retrieved January 18, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
12. "Crimson Tide washes over USC, 24–3". The Honolulu Advertiser. December 29, 1985. Retrieved February 20, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
13. "Upsets: UCLA Takes Bosco, and USC Hoists Champaign". Los Angeles Times . September 8, 1985. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
14. Reilly, Rick (September 16, 1985). "...And Then They Had To Play". Sports Illustrated . Retrieved July 17, 2022.
15. "Unranked Baylor Tops USC". The Orlando Sentinel . September 21, 1985. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
16. UCLA-Southern Cal Box Score. Gainesville Sun. 1985 Nov 24. Pg. 4 °F (−16 °C). Retrieved 2020-Dec-12.
17. "1986 NFL Draft". Pro Football Reference . Retrieved November 22, 2019.