The 1985 Bowling Green Falcons football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Bowling Green University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

(MAC) during the

1985 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season saw the Oklahoma Sooners, led by head coach Barry Switzer, win the national championship. Oklahoma finished the season 11–1, with their only loss to Miami at home, in a game in which future NFL star Tr ...

. In their ninth season under head coach

Denny Stolz Dennis Earl Stolz (born September 12, 1934) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Alma College (1965–1970), Michigan State University (1973–1975), Bowling Green State University (1977–1985), and San ...

, the Falcons compiled an 11–1 record (9–0 against MAC opponents), won the MAC championship, lost to

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

by a 51–7 score in the

1985 California Bowl The 1985 California Bowl, referred to as "The Bowling Green Massacre," was an American college football bowl game played on December 14, 1985 at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California. The game pitted the Fresno State Bulldogs and the Bowling Green ...

, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 355 to 223. The team's statistical leaders included

Brian McClure Brian McClure (born December 28, 1963) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Bowling Green. College career McClure played for the Falcons from 198 ...

with 2,674 passing yards, Bernard White with 949 rushing yards, and Stan Hunter with 761 receiving yards.

Schedule

References

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

Bowling Green Falcons football seasons Mid-American Conference football champion seasons

Bowling Green Falcons football The Bowling Green Falcons football program is the intercollegiate football team of Bowling Green State University. The team is a member of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level; BGSU football ...

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