1985 Florida Citrus Bowl

College football game
1985 Florida Citrus Growers Association Florida Citrus Bowl
BYU Cougars Ohio State Buckeyes
(11–2) (8–3)
WAC Big Ten
7 10
Head coach: 
LaVell Edwards
Head coach: 
Earle Bruce
APCoaches
99
APCoaches
1717
1234 Total
BYU 0700 7
Ohio State 0370 10
DateDecember 28, 1985
Season1985
StadiumFlorida Citrus Bowl
LocationOrlando, Florida
RefereeVincent Price (CIFOA)
Attendance50,920[1]
United States TV coverage
NetworkNBC
AnnouncersJay Randolph, Dave Rowe and Tom Hammond
Florida Citrus Bowl
 < 1984  1987 > 

The 1985 Florida Citrus Bowl was the 40th held. It featured the BYU Cougars and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Background

Both teams were ranked coming into the Citrus Bowl, with BYU playing in their eighth consecutive bowl game. The Cougars appeared in nine more before the streak ended in 1994. Ohio State was playing their second bowl game in 1985, having played in the 1985 Rose Bowl, in their 14th consecutive bowl season, that streak that ended in 1987. Robbie Bosco had 338 of 511 passes for 4,273 yards and 30 touchdowns for BYU, and finished third in Heisman Trophy voting. The game was to be predicted to be high scoring affair.[2]

Game summary

The game was anything but high scoring for the offense. BYU lead at halftime 7–3 after Robbie Bosco threw a touchdown pass to David Miles. Ohio State's offense could only muster a field goal by Rich Spangler late in the half. But it was in the third quarter when the game turned around for Ohio State. BYU was deep in their own territory at the 11-yard line when Bosco threw an interception to Larry Kolic, who returned it 14 yards for a touchdown and a 10–7 lead. BYU had three chances to rally in the fourth quarter, but were stopped each time. Their last drive went 50 yards (in 46 seconds), but with 10 seconds remaining, Bosco threw his fourth interception of the day, this time to Terry White. Bosco went 26 for 50 with only 261 yards in a game that saw eight combined turnovers.

The game was also known for an acrobatic sideline catch by Ohio State receiver Cris Carter caught a ball, one-handed, on a pass quarterback Jim Karsatos was meaning to throw away. Karsatos has claimed that catch by Carter was the greatest in the history of college football: "When I finally saw it on film, he was tiptoeing the sidelines and he jumped up and caught the ball left-handed by the point of the football at least a yard out of bounds. Then he somehow levitated back in bounds to get both his feet in bounds. I swear to this day he actually levitated to get back in bounds. When I saw it on film, it just blew me away."

Statistics

Statistics BYU Ohio State
First Downs 19 20
Yards Rushing 88 133
Yards Passing 261 196
Return Yards 51 26
Total Yards 400 355
Punts-Average 7-45 8-39
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-2
Interceptions 4 0
Penalties-Yards 6-54 10-61
Time of Possession 27:50 32:10

References

  1. ^ "Ohio State interceptions smother Cougars in Florida Citrus Bowl". Montgomery Advertiser. Montgomery, Alabama. AP. December 29, 1985. p. 3C. Retrieved January 1, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "1985 Citrus Bowl: Ohio State 10, BYU 7". Deseret News. December 4, 2000.
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1985–86 NCAA football bowl game season
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Tangerine / Florida Citrus / Capital One / Citrus Bowl
History & conference tie-ins
Tangerine Bowl
Florida Citrus Bowl
Capital One Bowl
Citrus Bowl
  • There were games in January and December of 1958, 1960, and 2016. As a result, there were no games in 1959, 1986 or 2017.
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BYU Cougars bowl games
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Ohio State Buckeyes bowl games

# denotes national championship game; † denotes College Football Playoff semifinal game


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