New Year’s Day bowl memories: Part 5

The University of Washington Huskies celebrate winning the 1985 Orange Bowl. The victory vaulted them into second place in the year-end polls.

Source: Facebook/Ghosts of the Orange Bowl

(May be subject to copyright)

The 1984 college football season was a strange one. After all the teams in the “Power Five” conferences battled it out all season, not one was left undefeated leaving the pollsters who selected the national champion with a tough decision. What made it even tougher was that Brigham Young University, a team outside those “Power Five” conferences was undefeated. Pollsters were reluctant to vote BYU number one because they had by far the weakest schedule of any team in the top 20, and had only beaten two teams with winning records. They did take care of business though, defeating Michigan in the Holiday Bowl.

So, going into the New Year’s Day bowl games, all eyes were on the top-ranked teams to see if any would be impressive enough to garner their vote for the national championship.

Big game
The team with the best chance was the Oklahoma Sooners who were ranked second, and facing the number four ranked Washington Huskies in the 1985 Orange Bowl. If the Sooners defeated the Huskies they would make a very good case to be number one, and give pollsters a solid choice instead of BYU. I read that the Orange Bowl organizers even marketed the game as the actual national championship game.

That year, I was in Grade 10, and I had just received a ghetto blaster for Christmas. LA-107, one of the radio stations in Lethbridge, was broadcasting a Top 100 albums show all day long, and I decided to tape the songs I liked. I would periodically check in on the ghetto blaster, while I was watching the game, to hear what song was on.

Once again, I was cheering heavily for Oklahoma, and remember a lot of their players. Their quarterback was Danny Bradley, and he was a good one, effectively running the Sooners’ wishbone offence. They had solid receivers in Derrick Shepard and Buster Rhymes, great runningbacks in Spencer Tillman, Patrick Collins and Lydell Carr, and Keith Jackson, a tight end who was one of the best. They also had a kicker I liked named Tim Lashar. On defence they had All-American defensive tackle Tony Casillas; linebackers Dante Jones and Brian Bosworth who, as a freshman, led the team in tackles; and defensive backs Sonny Brown, Tony Rayburn and Jim Rockford.

I didn’t pay much attention to the Huskies beyond runningback Jacque Robinson who was now two years older than the last time I saw him, and again had a great game.

Washington went up 14-0 and seemingly took control. Robinson scored the second of those touchdowns. Before halftime, Bradley scored then hit a bomb to Shepard for a 61-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14-14. There was no scoring in the third quarter. Lashar kicked a field goal later to give the Sooners a 17-14 lead, and I was stoked.

Then Washington scored on a long drive to take a 21-17 lead. Then tragedy struck, and I remember this play very well. On the ensuing kick-off, Rhymes caught the ball and without thinking, stepped out of bounds at the two-yard line. Soon after, the Huskies tipped a Bradley pass and intercepted it. They scored soon after to make the final score 28-17.

That was also the game where the Sooner Schooner, Oklahoma’s mascot, was accidentally caught on the field when play was supposed to resume, resulting in the Sooners being penalized.

The Sooners had their national championship hopes dashed, the Huskies finished second in the polls, and BYU was voted the national champion.

Danny Bradley would play for Detroit in the NFL but that was in an era when teams did not think blacks could play quarterback so he was converted to runningback.

Derrick Shepard would play for Washington, New Orleans and Dallas. His son Sterling would not only also play for the Sooners but in the NFL for the New York Giants.

Buster Rhymes would come north to the CFL and help Winnipeg win a Grey Cup in 1988. His nephew Dominique currently plays for the B.C. Lions.

Spencer Tillman would play for Houston and San Francisco; and Keith Jackson would be an all-star tight end with the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers.

Tony Casillas would play for Atlanta, Dallas, and the New York Jets. Brian Bosworth would become a controversial figure, much hyped, but hobbled by injury and play just a few games over three seasons with Seattle.

Jim Rockford would also come to the CFL, helping Hamilton win a Grey Cup in 1986 and even blocked a punt in the championship game. He would also play for Edmonton and Toronto, winning a Grey Cup with the Argos in 1991.

Rose Bowl
The USC Trojans were once more playing the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl. USC had Tim Green playing quarterback and Fred Crutcher running the ball. On defence they had linebackers Duane Bickett, Jack Del Rio and Marcus Cotton. Ohio State still had quarterback Mike Tomczak, receiver Chris Carter, and runningback Keith Byars was still there too. I also liked linebacker Chris Spielman and punter Tom Tupa.

USC would jump out to a 17-6 halftime lead and 20-9 after three quarters. The Buckeyes rallied, with a touchdown pass from Tomczak to Carter and a two-point convert by Tomczak in the fourth quarter to make the score 20-17. Ohio State could get no closer and USC won by that 20-17 score. Green would be the offensive most valuable player and Del Rio the defensive MVP.

Bickett would play for the Indianapolis Colts; Cotton would play for Atlanta, Cleveland, and Seattle.

Jack Del Rio would not only play for New Orleans, Kansas City, Dallas, and Minnesota but be a head coach for Jacksonville and Oakland. He was most recently the defensive coordinator for Washington.

Carter would go on to a Hall of Fame career in the NFL with Phialdelphia, Minnesota and Miami; and Spielman would be a standout with Detroit, but also play with Buffalo and Cleveland.

Cotton Bowl
The only reason I tuned in to the Cotton Bowl on CBC that year was to see Doug Flutie. He had won the Heisman Trophy that year, and cemented his legend with a last-play hail-mary touchdown pass to beat the Miami Hurricanes. Flutie also finished his college career as the all-time leader in passing yards. That year his Boston College Eagles were playing the Houston Cougars. The Eagles took control and never trailed as they cruised to victory.

Fiesta Bowl
The Miami Hurricanes were the defending national champions, but snake bitten in 1984. Not only did they lose that heartbreaker to Boston College, but also gave up the biggest lead in college football history, to that point, to lose to Maryland. So they entered the 1985 Fiesta Bowl against UCLA with a chip on their shoulder and a real will to win.

Miami still had a lot of players from the previous year including quarterback Bernie Kosar and receiver Eddie Brown, as well as players I had not see before such as receiver Brian Blades and runningback Melvin Bratton. The Bruins had receiver Mike Sherrard back, Steve Bono at quarterback and freshman Gaston Green at runningback, as well as All-American kicker John Lee.

Again, this was a game I only saw the tail end of when CTV picked up the NBC feed. By that time, the game was still in the balance. Kosar had just engineered a drive to give Miami the lead. Then Bono took the Bruins right back down the field setting up Lee’s go-ahead field goal.

Kosar had one more chance, and I recall distinctly the camera on him as he prepared to go back on the field. There was a Catholic priest beside him, and Kosar knelt and made the sign of the cross then ran on the field.

He moved the ball, but fumbled when he was sacked and the game was over. UCLA had won 39-37.

Gaston Green was named offensive most valuable player, after rushing for 144 yards. That I remember clearly.

As for Miami, they really were snake bitten that year.

Parting thoughts
It was the last year a non “Power Five” conference team won the national championship. It was unfortunate the New Year’s Day bowl games did not really, in the end, have any impact on the national championship vote. Still, those games provided a lot of thrills and excitement.

The next year, New Year’s Day bowls would again figure prominently in the national championship.