1985 Oklahoma Sooners football team The 1985 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the college football season of 1985 - 1986 . This year was Barry Switzer ' s 13th season as head coach . The Sooners ended this season with 11 wins and a sole loss coming to the Miami Hurricanes in Norman , in a game in which the Sooners lost starting quarterback Troy Aikman for the season . The Sooners were forced to place their trust in lightning - quick true freshman quarterback Jamelle Holieway and a physical defense featuring three All - Americans , who led them to a Big 8 Conference title and a national championship . This was Oklahoma ' s sixth national championship and 34th conference championship in school history . Season recap . After struggling in the 1985 Orange Bowl to a scrappy Washington Huskies football team and letting any National Championship aspirations for that year disappear in a puff of smoke ( and be awarded to the BYU Cougars ) , the defending Big 8 Champion Sooners came into the 1985 season on a mission . Led by an aggressive and punishing defense ( which later drew comparisons to their NFL counterpart Chicago Bears ) and budding superstar quarterback sophomore Troy Aikman , the Sooners seemed poised for a run at the Orange Bowl and the National Championship . Nothing seemed to indicate otherwise , as the Sooners rolled past Minnesota and Kansas State before beating the Longhorns in the annual Red River Shootout . Minnesota . Texas . The Sooners ' offense didn ' t have a banner day in the 80th edition of the Red River Rivalry although they still rolled up 220 yards rushing and Troy Aikman completed four of nine passes for 67 yards . Lydell Carr led all rushers with 80 yards on 23 carries , and Patrick Collins added 61 yards on four carries . Keith Jackson had 49 yards on his two receptions . On the game ' s third play , Oklahoma ' s All - American nose guard Tony Casillas went down with a sprained right knee . The Oklahoma defense , even without Casillas , manhandled Texas . The Sooners held the Longhorns to just 70 yards in total offense , 17 on the ground for an average of less than half a yard per their 35 carries , and just four first downs . They got into Oklahoma territory only three times , twice to the 49 - yard line and once to the 46 , and one of those trips was thanks to another fumble . In addition , the Sooners picked off three passes , and Texas was held to no first downs in the second half . Brian Bosworth finished the game with 14 tackles , 11 of them unassisted , and a leaping interception of quarterback Todd Dodge . Miami . The third - ranked Sooners ( 3 - 0 ) returned home to play their first game in Norman , hosting unranked Miami ( 4 - 1 ) . The game made local headlines as a homecoming for Hurricanes coach Jimmy Johnson who was an Oklahoma defensive line coach with Switzer from ' 70 - ' 72 and went 0 - 5 against the Sooners as the Oklahoma State head coach . Oklahoma came into the contest with the nation ' s most aggressive defense ( leading to their comparisons to the Monsters of the Midway ) , which seemingly got better each week , and was led up front by All - American nose tackle Tony Casillas , whose injury against Texas forced him to miss the game . The line featured sophomore tackle Troy Johnson , sophomore end Darrell Reed , and senior end Kevin Murphy , himself an All - American candidate . Lining up behind the group was the menacing Brian Bosworth , with fellow linebackers Paul Migliazzo and Dante Jones ( another talented sophomore ) . This group had permitted an average of only 32 yards rushing per game . Juniors Tony Rayburn and Sonny Brown , and sophomores Rickey Dixon and Derrick White , patrolled the secondary , allowing only 91 yards passing per game . In three games , the defense had allowed only 16 first downs and had permitted an average of 6 . 6 points per game . Miami had lost their ' 85 opener to Florida , 35 - 23 , before reeling off four straight wins against unranked opponents . The Hurricanes were the nation ' s top offensive team , and they were sporting a pro - style passing attack , orchestrated by junior quarterback Vinny Testaverde , who had backed up Bernie Kosar the last time the Hurricanes had won the National Championship . Alonzo Highsmith and Melvin Bratton lined up in the backfield , and the acrobatics of top - flight wide receivers Michael Irvin and Brian Blades helped the team average 36 . 2 points per game . The Hurricane defense came in after a shutout of Cincinnati , permitting an average of only 16 points per game , featuring junior tackle Jerome Brown and cornerback Bennie Blades . In front of a sellout crowd of 75 , 008 at Memorial Stadium , Miami ' s Jerome Brown broke through and sacked Aikman on the 29 - yard line with 9 : 18 left in the first half and broke his ankle . Aikman , who had been six of eight passing for 131 yards , would be lost for the season . Testaverde and company took over , scorching the Oklahoma secondary with 270 yards passing and the ' Canes rambled for 105 on the ground . They played mistake - free football and didn ' t give up any turnovers . Brown led the Miami defensive effort with 16 tackles , a blocked field goal , and the sack on Aikman . And on the other side , pressed into duty as a true freshman , Holieway had rushed for only 57 yards on 17 carries and attempted just six passes . Furious about the loss , both of the game and their starting quarterback , Oklahoma proceeded to go on a rampage , pasting Iowa State , Kansas , Missouri and Colorado by a combined score of 189 - 26 , before playing host to Nebraska in a game that would ultimately decide the Big 8 Championship . Nebraska . Nebraska came into Norman ranked second in the nation , with the nation ' s highest scoring offense and the best rushing attack in the country with 395 yards per game . This high - powered offense was led by fullback Tom Rathman , one of the best in Nebraska history who had rushed for over 800 yards that season . Together with quarterback McCathorn Clayton and junior I - back Doug DuBose , whose 1 , 115 rushing yards made 1985 his second straight season over 1 , 000 , the Cornhuskers were poised for a national title run . Junior linebacker Marc Munford was the leading tackler for the Huskers for the second straight year and led the defense , together with tackle Jim Skow and defensive back Brian Washington . The home team struck quickly . On their second possession of the game , Oklahoma was faced with a second down - and - six at its 12 , and they ran a Tight End reverse . Freshman quarterback Jamelle Holieway , starting just his fifth game and in charge of a wishbone that was the third best rushing offense in the land , optioned to the left and gave a reverse handoff to big sophomore tight end Keith Jackson , who raced untouched down the right sideline 88 yards for a touchdown , the sixth longest run in school history . Tom Osborne was forced to reach into his bag of tricks in the second quarter , as Nebraska executed a perfect double reverse . Clayton flipped the ball to DuBose who headed right , and DuBose handed the ball to wingback Van Sheppard who carried it 52 yards before being brought down inside the Sooner ten . The Oklahoma defense , led by senior nose tackle Tony Casillas and sophomore linebacker Brian Bosworth , did not budge . The Cornhuskers , stifled at the point of attack , were forced to kick a field goal . Sophomore kicker Dale Klein missed a 23 - yard field goal attempt and the Huskers were kept off the board after their best offensive series of the game . In fact , the only time the Huskers would score that day was on defense , and then only as a side note . Freshman backup quarterback Eric Mitchel bobbled a handoff , and Nebraska defensive tackle Chris Spachman caught the Sooner fumble in midair and rambled 63 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown with only 26 seconds left . The Sooners had won 27 - 7 . The Oklahoma defense was devastating , holding the nation ' s highest scoring offense without a point . Bosworth had nine tackles , Murphy sacked the quarterback twice , including the stopper on one of the goal line stands , and Casillas was all over the Nebraska backfield . They held the Huskers to just 161 yards on 42 carries , led by Sheppard ' s 65 yards and with DuBose gaining only 46 on 16 carries . It was the second straight year that the Sooners had held the Huskers to just a touchdown and the first time they had accomplished that feat in back - to - back games in 27 years . Holieway was spectacular , directing the wishbone as if he were far more experienced than his true freshman status . He was virtually flawless as he rushed for 110 yards on 25 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns . Keith Jackson ran for 136 yards on just three carries and scored once . Together they accounted for 246 yards on the ground , representing more than half the team ' s 461 total yards . This marked the first time in 11 years that two Sooners had crossed the century mark rushing against the Huskers . Winning against Oklahoma State and SMU was icing on the cake for the Big 8 Champions . The Sooners were headed to the Orange Bowl in Miami to take on Joe Paterno ' s # 1 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions . Penn State . Earlier in the day , UCLA had crushed # 4 Iowa 45 - 28 in the Rose Bowl . SEC Champion Tennessee and Miami were playing in the Sugar Bowl , with the Hurricanes allowed an outside shot at the title with a Penn State loss . The Sooners needed either a win combined with a Miami loss or a blowout victory to claim the title during the 1986 Orange Bowl . On their opening possession , Oklahoma reached into their bag of tricks and a handoff to Keith Jackson was flipped to Anthony Stafford , but linebacker Shane Conlan was ready for it , stuffing the play for a two - yard loss . This set the initial tempo of the game , as the Penn State defense showed itself to be ready for the speedy Sooner wishbone option . The game was very close , and remained a defensive struggle into the 4th quarter , but Oklahoma proved to be too much for the Lions , particularly after it was announced at the half that Tennessee was pounding Miami to the tune of 28 - 7 in the Sugar Bowl . The Sooner defense played inspired football , Tim Lashar nailed four critical field goals , Keith Jackson caught a 71 - yard bomb from Jamelle Holieway in stride , and Lydell Carr put the nail in the coffin with a brilliant 61 - yard touchdown scamper with 1 : 42 remaining on the clock . The Sooners had avenged their loss in the 1985 Orange Bowl game to Washington with a 25 - 10 victory over the top team in the land in the 1986 Orange Bowl and the team ' s sixth National Championship .