The 1985 Oregon State vs. Washington football game was a college football game between the

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for ...

and

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-1 ...

that took place at Husky Stadium in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

on October 19,

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. The Pac-10 conference game featured the largest overcome

point spread Spread betting is any of various types of wagering on the outcome of an event where the pay-off is based on the accuracy of the wager, rather than a simple "win or lose" outcome, such as fixed-odds (or money-line) betting or parimutuel betting. ...

in college football history at the time when the Huskies, favored by 38 points at home, lost 21–20 after the Beavers blocked a punt and recovered the ball in the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...

with 1:29 left to play. It is considered one of the greatest upsets in college football history. Since this game, there have been two games in college football history with higher point spread upsets. On October 6, 2007, Stanford, a 41-point road underdog, defeated No. 2 USC 24–23. Ten years later in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

lost as a 45-point home favorite to Howard 43–40 on September 2, establishing a new record for the greatest point-spread upset in college football history.

Background

During the mid-1980s, the University of Washington Huskies were a powerhouse of American collegiate football, finishing the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

season

ranked A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...

#2 nationally.Brad Fuqua
"Oregon State Has Pulled Off Its Own Upsets Over the Years,"
''Corvallis Gazette-Times,'' Sept. 6, 2013. After a bit of a rough start, the Seattle team was on a roll again in 1985, feeling strong as a result of the four-game win streak that had returned the Huskies to the top of the Pac-10 standings. In stark contrast, the Beavers were coming off four straight losses including back to back blankings against USC and

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, where they allowed a total of 97 points. No team in Oregon State history had allowed that many points in back-to-back games. Prior to that, the Beavers lost to

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

team Grambling State 23–6 and 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 ...

33–24. To make matters worse for Oregon State, starting quarterback

Erik Wilhelm Erik Bradley Wilhelm (born November 19, 1965), is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) from 1989 to 1997. He played college football for four years with the Oregon State Bea ...

was out for the season, and Pac-10 leading receiver

Reggie Bynum Reginald Deshain Bynum (born February 10, 1964) is a former professional American football wide Receiver in the National Football League. He was the 9th-round draft pick (#222 overall) of the Buffalo Bills in the 1986 NFL Draft The 1986 NFL d ...

was also out due to injury. Additionally, the Beavers had lost the last ten games played against Washington by an average of 24 points. The game seemed a clear mismatch, with the Huskies as astounding 38-point favorites to win the game. When the Las Vegas betting odds were published the

media had a field day insulting the mighty Huskies' hapless foes. One reporter went so far as to say that "Oregon State plays football pretty much the way

Barney Fife Bernard "Barney" Fife is a fictional character in the American television program ''The Andy Griffith Show'', portrayed by comic actor Don Knotts. Barney Fife is a deputy sheriff in the slow-paced, sleepy southern community of Mayberry, North Car ...

played a deputy sheriff on Mayberry." In a television interview, UW head coach Don James said he expected to give his reserve quarterback Chris Chandler a chance for some playing time. First-year OSU head coach

Dave Kragthorpe Dave Kragthorpe (born May 1, 1933) is a former American football player He was the head football coach at South Dakota State University in 1969, Idaho State University from 1980 to 1982, and Oregon State University from 1985 to 1990, compiling a ...

used the media comments in his pre-game speech to the Beavers in an effort to motivate them to prove critics wrong before they went out on the field.

The game

Washington put the first points up on the board after a

Jeff Jaeger Jeff Todd Jaeger (born November 26, 1964) is a former American college and professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. Jaeger played college football fo ...

field goal put the Huskies up 3–0 in the first quarter. Oregon State backup quarterback Rich Gonzales responded by stunning the Huskies with a 43-yard

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

pass to Darvin Malone on the following drive, giving the Beavers the lead. Washington responded with an 80-yard drive and a touchdown of their own, regaining the lead 10–7. On the next drive, Washington forced Oregon State into a 4th and 20 position on their own 28-yard line. A Husky rush forced the punter to attempt to run for the first down instead of punting the ball, being stopped 10 yards short, turning the ball over on downs to the Huskies on the Beavers' 38 yard line. Washington drove to the 8-yard line, but Husky quarterback

Hugh Millen Hugh Breedlove Millen (born November 22, 1963) is a former professional football quarterback in the National Football League for the Los Angeles Rams, Atlanta Falcons, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos. He played college foo ...

threw an

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

in the end zone to give possession back to the Beavers. Oregon State then capped off an 80-yard drive with a 20-yard scramble for a touchdown by Gonzales, and the Beavers led 14–10 at halftime. Washington took the lead again the lead in the third quarter, going up 17–14. With 1:32 left in the quarter, Washington had first and goal at the one-yard line, twice trying to run the ball up the middle and failing to get the score. On third down, OSU

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

Osia Lewis

knocked out A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...

Washington

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

Vince Weathersby with his tackle, causing a fumble that Oregon State recovered. With 7:59 left, Washington's Jaeger hit another field goal to extend the lead to 20–14. With under two minutes remaining, Washington was forced to punt from right outside their own end zone. Oregon State's Andre Todd rushed Husky punter Thane Cleland and blocked the punt, sending the ball flying into Washington's end zone, nearly causing a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

. However, the bounce went Oregon State's way and the ball stayed in the end zone, allowing the Beavers' Lavance Northington to recover it for a touchdown. The extra point was good and the Beavers led 21–20, which was the final score, resulting in the biggest overcome point spread in college football history at the time.

Aftermath

Oregon State players celebrated, shouting "You can blame this one on your media" as they returned to the locker room. The Seattle media did not appear to ask Kragthorpe questions after the game. The loss had the effect of knocking the Huskies out of the Rose Bowl, which was won by conference champion

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. The Bruins lost their final game of the regular season to rival USC and finished with a conference record of 6–2, which would have been the same record of the 5–3 Huskies, had they handled Oregon State (or rival

; both losses were in Seattle by the same score). Having defeated UCLA at Husky Stadium in late September, Washington owned the tie-breaker and would have played in Pasadena with a 6–2 record. They finished the regular season at 6–5 overall, then defeated

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

in the

Freedom Bowl The Freedom Bowl was an annual post-season college football bowl game played at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California, from 1984 to 1994. The bowl frequently invited a team from the Western Athletic Conference to compete against an at-large op ...

in Anaheim on December 30. Oregon State did not win any more games for the rest of the season and ended at ninth place in the Pac-10. Their next win over the Huskies was in 2001 and the next win in Husky Stadium came in 2004. While some sports historians believe that the shocking 1921 defeat of mighty

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

by unheralded

Centre College Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky. It is an undergraduate college with an enrollment of approximately 1,400 students. Centre was officially chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819. The college is a ...

of Danville, Kentucky, constitutes the greatest upset in collegiate football history, the 1985 Oregon State defeat of 38-point favorite Washington constituted at the time the greatest outright loss of a Las Vegas favorite in American college football history.

Background

The game

Aftermath

See also

Footnotes

Further reading