The 1985 Cotton Bowl Classic was the 49th

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of the college football

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

, played at the Cotton Bowl in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, on Tuesday, January 1. Part of the 1984–85 bowl game season, it matched the No. 8

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

(

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

) and the unranked Houston Cougars of the Boston College never trailed and won 45–28.

Teams

Boston College

Boston College quarterback

Doug Flutie Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CF ...

gained national attention on November 23, when he led the Eagles to a memorable win at

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, in what would be called

Hail Flutie The Hail Flutie game, also known as the Miracle in Miami, is a college football game in 1984 that took place between the Boston College Eagles and the Miami Hurricanes on November 23. It has been regarded by FOX Sports writer Kevin Hench a ...

. He left school as the NCAA’s all-time passing yardage leader with a consensus All-American, and the first quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy in This was BC's first Cotton Bowl

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in 45 years, since January

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * Januar ...

. Boston College finished the regular season with a 9–2 record, and was the recipient of the

Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy The Lambert Trophy is an annual award given to the best team in the East in Division I FBS (formerly I-A) college football. In affiliation with the Metropolitan New York Football Writers (founded 1935), the Lambert Trophy was established by brother ...

(emblematic of the 'Eastern championship' in

Division I FBS The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A ...

Houston

Houston shared the Southwest Conference title for the first time since

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

. By virtue of their defeat of conference co-champion SMU during the season, the Cougars made their first Cotton Bowl

in five years. SMU defeated Notre Dame in the

Aloha Bowl The Aloha Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision (then known as Division I-A) college football bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. History The Aloha Bowl was established in 1982 by Mack ...

on December 28; the Mustangs finished with ten wins and were eighth in the final AP poll. Houston was the first unranked team to represent the SWC in the Cotton Bowl in seventeen years.

Game summary

The game kicked off shortly after 12:30 p.m. CST, as did the

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. The game time temperature in Dallas was with gusty winds, freezing rain, and the artificial turf was slick. The Eagles rolled to a 31–14 lead at halftime on Flutie's three touchdown passes (to three different receivers) and a Steve Strachan 2-yard touchdown run, despite the Cougars' two quick ways of scoring touchdowns, one of which occurring when Larry Shepherd caught a Gerald Landry pass for a touchdown with 22 seconds left in the half. Raymond Tate narrowed the lead with his touchdown late in the third quarter.

Audray McMillian Audray Glenn McMillian (born August 13, 1962), is a former professional American football cornerback who played in eight NFL seasons from 1985 to 1993 for the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings. McMillian played football collegiately at the Un ...

intercepted a Flutie pass and returned it 25 yards to the end zone to make it 31–28 as the third quarter ended. But the Eagles scored with 5:45 remaining on a Strachan 4-yard touchdown run.

Troy Stradford Troy Edwin Stradford (born September 11, 1964) is a former professional American football running back who was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the fourth round of the 1987 NFL Draft. Stradford won the 1987 Offensive Rookie of the Year Award fo ...

sealed the game with a 18-yard touchdown run with 1:06 to go in the fourth quarter as Boston College won their first Cotton Bowl.

Scoring

;First quarter: *Boston College –

Kelvin Martin Kelvin Darnell Martin (July 24, 1964 – October 24, 1987), also known as 50 Cent, was an American criminal based in Brooklyn, New York. Martin is primarily known as the inspiration for the name of rapper 50 Cent. Biography Born in the Bronx bor ...

63-yard pass from

(Kevin Snow kick) *Boston College –

8-yard pass from Flutie (Snow kick) *Houston – Earl Allen 98-yard kickoff return ( Mike Clendenen kick) *Boston College – Snow 31-yard field goal ;Second quarter: *Boston College –

Gerard Phelan Gerard P. Phelan (born January 20, 1963) is a former college football player who played wide receiver for Boston College. Career Early years Phelan played high school football for Archbishop John Carroll High School in Radnor, Pennsylvania a ...

13-yard pass from Flutie (Snow kick) *Boston College – Steve Strachan 2-yard run (Snow kick) *Houston – Larry Shepherd 15-yard pass from Gerald Landry (Clendenen kick) ;Third quarter: *Houston – Raymond Tate 2-yard run (Clendenen kick) *Houston – Audray McMillan 25-yard interception return (Clendenen kick) ;Fourth quarter: *Boston College – Strachan 4-yard run (Snow kick) *Boston College – Stradford 18-yard run (Snow kick) :

Statistics

: :

Aftermath

Boston College improved to 10–2 and climbed to No. 5 in the final AP poll. Through , neither team has returned to the Cotton Bowl Classic.

References

{{Houston Cougars bowl game navbox Cotton Bowl Cotton Bowl Classic Houston Cougars football bowl games Boston College Eagles football bowl games

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...