The 1985 Iowa Hawkeyes football team was an American football team that represented the University of Iowa as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1985 Big Ten Conference football season. In their seventh year under head coach Hayden Fry, the Hawkeyes compiled a 10âÂÂ2 record (7âÂÂ1 in conference games), won the Big Ten championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 304 to 184. They lost to UCLA in the 1986 Rose Bowl and were ranked No. 10 in the final AP poll and No. 9 in the final UPI poll.
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 No. 1 in the national rankings for the second time in team history (1960). Three weeks later, in the sixth game of the season, No. 1 Iowa faced No. 2 Michigan at Kinnick Stadium. Iowa trailed 10âÂÂ9 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 No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio. The loss to Ohio State cost Iowa their No. 1 ranking, but the Hawkeyes still won the Big Ten title outright for the first time in 27 years.
Long won a number of major national awards, including the Maxwell Award, given to the nation's top player and the Davey O'Brien Award, given to the nation's top quarterback, and the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the top player in the Big Ten. He was a consensus first-team selection to the 1985 College Football All-America Team and the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy to Bo Jackson of Auburn, losing by just 45 points.
Iowa lost Long's final game, the 1986 Rose Bowl, to UCLA by a score of 45âÂÂ28. Long's Iowa teams compiled a 35âÂÂ13âÂÂ1 record. He graduated with 10,461 passing yards and 74 touchdowns on 782 completions.
Senior WR Bill Happel had a big day with 207 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns. The yardage total marked the first time a Hawkeye had more than 200 yards receiving in a single game and stood as the school record for two years.
The Hawkeyes earned the third of 15 consecutive wins over their in-state rivals. To date, this remains the largest margin of victory in the series. The convincing win vaulted Iowa to the #1 ranking in the country, a spot they would occupy for five consecutive weeks.
In their first game since ascending to the #1 ranking, the Hawkeyes survived a wild, back and forth thriller. The teams combined for well over 1,000 yards of total offense. Chuck Long (30âÂÂ39, 380 yards, 4 TD) scored the winning touchdown on a 2-yard bootleg with 27 seconds remaining.
The #1 Hawkeyes dominated the game statistically — holding major advantages in total yards (422âÂÂ182), offensive plays (84âÂÂ41), and time of possession (38:05-21:55) — but could not find the end zone. Rob Houghtlin kicked a 29-yard field goal as time expired to lift the top-ranked Hawkeyes to victory over the #2 "Wolverdinks", as Houghtlin referred to them.
On a windy day in Evanston, Chuck Long went 19-26 for 399 yards and a Big Ten record-tying 6 TDs. Bill Happel hauled in three touchdowns, finishing with 117 yards on 5 receptions.
In the battle for the Floyd of Rosedale, Iowa beat the Golden Gophers in Lou Holtz's last game as Minnesota's head coach. Chuck Long, in his final game at Kinnick Stadium, became the first player in Big Ten history to eclipse 10,000 career passing yards.