Conference Big Ten Conference AP No. 10 Head coach Hayden Fry (7th year) | Coaches No. 9 1985 record 10-2 (7–1 Big Ten) Offensive coordinator Bill Snyder (7th year) | |
The 1985 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa in the 1985 Big Ten Conference football season. The team was coached by Hayden Fry and played their home games at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa.
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Season
Chuck Long declared that he would return for his senior season. He became an instant Heisman Trophy candidate, and Iowa was a preseason top five team. After three weeks in 1985, the Hawkeyes ascended to #1 in the national rankings for the second time in team history (1960).
Three weeks later, in the sixth game of the season, #1 Iowa faced #2 Michigan in Kinnick Stadium. Iowa trailed 10-9 as the Hawkeyes regained possession of the football at their own 22-yard line with just 5:27 remaining in the game. Long drove the Iowa team to the 12-yard line with two seconds remaining to set up kicker Rob Houghtlin's game winning field goal as time expired. After a rout of Northwestern, the Hawkeyes were upset by the #8 Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus.
The loss to Ohio State cost Iowa their #1 ranking, but the Hawkeyes still won the Big Ten title outright for the first time in 27 years. Chuck Long won many major national awards as a senior, including the 1985 Maxwell Award, given to the nation's top player and the Davey O'Brien Award, given to the nation's top quarterback. He was the Big Ten Player of the Year and a consensus first team All-American. Finally, Chuck Long was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy to Bo Jackson of Auburn in what used to be the closest margin in Heisman history, losing by just 45 points.
Iowa lost in Chuck Long's final game in the 1986 Rose Bowl. Long's Iowa teams compiled a 35-13-1 record. He graduated with 10,461 passing yards and 74 touchdowns on 782 completions.