The 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season saw the Oklahoma Sooners, led by head coach Barry Switzer, win the national championship.
The Sooners regrouped and went undefeated the rest of the way, finishing the season with a win over Penn State in the Orange Bowl.
2, the highest finish of a Bo Schembechler led team.
The team shined on defense, led by All-Americans Mike Hammerstein and Mark Messner.
This team won the school's first SEC championship in 16 years and was nicknamed the "Sugar Vols".
The Air Force Falcons, under Fisher DeBerry, were 12–1 with their highest poll rankings in school history, defeating Texas in the Bluebonnet Bowl and finishing No.
This year's edition of the Iron Bowl is widely considered to be one of the greatest ever.
Despite Auburn having Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson on its side, Alabama won this game with a last second field goal.
This would be the last year for the I-A/I-AA hybrid Missouri Valley Conference in football.
3 SMU's 35–23 victory over UTEP did not impress the AP voters enough to keep the Mustangs in the top five.
6 SMU were scheduled to play each other this weekend, but the game was postponed until December at the request of the television broadcasters.
6 Florida State, who defeated Memphis 19-10 and had beaten perennial power Nebraska a few weeks earlier, and No.
2 Oklahoma finally began their schedule with a 13–7 win at Minnesota, but the voters were more impressed by No.
1 Iowa got past Michigan State 35–31 on a bootleg run by quarterback Chuck Long for a touchdown with 27 seconds left.
2 Michigan, the Hawkeyes prevailed 12–10 on a field goal with two seconds left.
3 Oklahoma, playing their first home game of the year, lost 27–14 to Miami.
4 Arkansas also lost, falling 15–13 to Texas; both Iowa and the Longhorns scored all of their points on field goals in this weekend's victories.
7 Air Force moved up with a 31–10 victory over San Diego State, becoming the first service academy in two decades to be ranked in the top five: No.
2 Penn State grabbed the top spot in both polls with a 31–10 win at Cincinnati.
1 Penn State, the only remaining undefeated team, finished their season with a 31-0 blowout of Pittsburgh.
This year the Sooners had an easy time, clinching an Orange Bowl berth with a 27–7 defeat of the Cornhuskers.
3 Iowa earned the Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl berth with a 31–9 win over Minnesota.
8 UCLA, who lost 17–13 to USC this weekend but had already clinched the Pac-10 title.
6 Michigan from Big Ten contention, but the Wolverines still came away with a 27–17 win over their rival, No.
10 Tennessee shut out Vanderbilt 30–0 to tie Florida for the SEC title; even though the Gators had the head-to-head advantage, their probation barred them from postseason games and delivered the Sugar Bowl spot to the Volunteers.
18 Texas played each other for the SWC championship, and the Aggies dominated the Longhorns 42–10 to earn a Cotton Bowl berth.
4 Oklahoma finally played the game against SMU which had originally been scheduled for September 14, and the Sooners’ 35–13 victory moved them up one spot in the final poll of the regular season: No.
2 Miami, the only team to defeat Oklahoma in the regular season, matched up with No.
The Rose Bowl featured the traditional Big Ten vs. Pac-10 game with No.
7 Nebraska, the top-ranked teams which finished second in their respective conferences, would square off in the Fiesta Bowl.