The 1985 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota in the

1985 Big Ten Conference football season The 1985 Big Ten Conference football season was the 90th season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season. The 1985 Big Ten champion was the 1985 Iowa H ...

. In their second and final year under head coach

Lou Holtz Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is an American former football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New York ...

, the Golden Gophers compiled a 7–5 record and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 293 to 240. When former Minnesota head coach

left the Golden Gophers to coach at the University of Notre Dame, assistant John Gutekunst was tapped to coach the Golden Gophers in the Independence Bowl. Attendance was 42,845. Quarterback Rickey Foggie was named offensive player of the game, while linebacker Bruce Holmes was named defensive player of the game. Center Ray Hitchcock, linebacker Peter Najarian, offensive guard Jon Lilleberg and strong safety Larry Joyner were named All-Big Ten second team. Running back David Puk was named Academic All-American second team. Puk and linebacker Peter Najarian were named Academic All-Big Ten. Quarterback Rickey Foggie was awarded the

Bronko Nagurski Trophy The Bronko Nagurski Trophy has been awarded annually since 1993 to the collegiate American football defensive player adjudged by the membership of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) to be the best in the National Collegiate Athle ...

. Ray Hitchcock was awarded the Bruce Smith Award. Peter Najarian was awarded the Carl Eller Award. Kicker Chip Lohmiller was awarded the Bobby Bell Award. Flanker . Andy Hare was awarded the Butch Nash Award. David Puk was awarded the Paul Giel Award. The total attendance was 426,918, which averaged out to 60,985 per game. The season high for attendance was against rival Wisconsin.

Schedule

Personnel

Season summary

Wichita State

Montana

Oklahoma

Purdue

At Northwestern

At Indiana

Ohio State

At Michigan State

Wisconsin

Michigan

At Iowa

Independence Bowl (vs Clemson)

References

{{Minnesota Golden Gophers football navbox Minnesota Minnesota Golden Gophers football seasons Independence Bowl champion seasons Minnesota Golden Gophers football