Factoid 254 - College Football in 1985

In 1985 there were 110 teams in Division 1, there were 18 bowl games played, Bo Jackson (running back for Auburn) won the Heisman, Oklahoma was the AP preseason number one as well as the Consensus National Champion at the end of the season. Florida and Michigan were also chosen by a few selectors to as National Champions.

Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma team lost early in the season by a score of 27-14 to Miami. However, after that Oklahoma would roll through the Big 8, winning convincingly in every game. Their Orange Bowl victory against number one Penn State was also a decisive victory, winning by a score of 25-10, and a deciding factor in being voted the number one team in the country.

National Champions

• Florida 9–1–1 Galen Hall (SR) *
• Michigan 10–1–1 Bo Schembechler (MGR) *
• Oklahoma 11–1 Barry Switzer (AP, B(QPRS), BR, CFRA, DeS, DuS, FN, FWAA, NCF, NFF, NYT, R(FACT), SN, UPI, USAT/CNN) */**

• The Internet's Domain Name System was created.
• Mikhail Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and de facto leader of the Soviet Union.
• Coca-Cola changed its formula and released New Coke (the response was overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula was back on the market in less than 3 months).