The 1985 All-American Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

postseason

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 Subdivis ...

between the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Rambl ...

and the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

Background

The Spartans tied for fourth in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

while the Yellow Jackets finished 2nd in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

Game summary

Mark Ingram, Sr Mark Valentino Ingram Sr. (born August 23, 1965) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League who played for the New York Giants (1987– 1992), the Miami Dolphins (1993 to 1994), the Green Bay Packers (1995), ...

caught a touchdown pass from Dave Yarema to give the Spartans a 7–0 lead with 2:03 left in the first half. Todd Rampley responded early in the second half on a touchdown plunge with 11:14 left in the 3rd. Ingram scored his second touchdown on a 27-yard pass from Yarema to make it 14–7 with 4:41 in the quarter. Georgia Tech narrowed the lead on a field foal by David Bell with 7:08 left in the game. However, a fumble by the Spartans was recovered by the Yellow Jackets at the 42 with five minutes remaining, giving them the ball in Michigan State territory. Six plays later, Malcolm King scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 1:50 left to give Georgia Tech a 17–14 lead, which proved to be victory after Michigan State failed to get in range for the tie. Malcolm King rushed for 122 yards on 16 carries.

caught 3 passes for 70 yards for the Spartans.

Aftermath

Georgia Tech did not reach another bowl until

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

. Michigan State reached the Rose Bowl in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. The following year, the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame decided to relocate the game to

Tampa, FL Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

, beginning the

Hall of Fame Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, usually on New Year's Day. The event has been formerly called the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 t ...

(now the Outback for sponsorship reasons). The game in

Birmingham, AL Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fro ...

remained, though renamed as the

All-American Bowl The All-American Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama from 1977 to 1990. The game was known as the Hall of Fame Classic from 1977 to 1985. In 1986, the National Football Foundatio ...

Statistics

References

{{Michigan State Spartans bowl game navbox

All-American Bowl Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football bowl games Michigan State Spartans football bowl games December 1985 sports events in the United States