1985 Kansas State Wildcats football team

The 1985 Kansas State Wildcats football team represented Kansas State University in the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season. Eighth-year head coach Jim Dickey was forced to resign after opening the season with two consecutive losses including one to an NCAA Division I-AA team.^[1] Assistant athletic director Lee Moon took over as interim coach for the rest of the season. The Wildcats played their home games in KSU Stadium. They finished with a record of 1–10 overall and a 1–6 in Big Eight Conference play.

1985 Kansas State Wildcats football
Conference	Big Eight Conference
Record	1–10 (1–6 Big 8)
Head coach	Jim Dickey (8th season; first 2 games) Lee Moon (interim; final 9 games)
Offensive coordinator	Al Sandahl (1st season)
Home stadium	KSU Stadium
Seasons ← 1984 1986 →

1985 Big Eight Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 1 Oklahoma $	7	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 11 Nebraska	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Oklahoma State	4	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Colorado	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Iowa State	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Kansas	2	–	5	–	0			6	–	6	–	0
Kansas State	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
Missouri	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 7	Wichita State*	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	L 10–16	30,300	[2]
September 14	Northern Iowa*	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	L 6–10	17,550
September 21	TCU*	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	L 21–24	15,500
September 28	North Texas State*	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	L 10–22	22,000	[3]
October 5	No. 2 Oklahoma	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	L 6–41	23,500
October 19	at Kansas	Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS (rivalry)	L 7–38	40,000
October 26	at Missouri	Faurot Field Columbia, MO	W 20–17	40,221
November 2	No. 5 Nebraska	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS (rivalry)	L 3–41	41,200
November 9	at No. 10 Oklahoma State	Lewis Field Stillwater, OK	L 3–35	50,000
November 16	Iowa State	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS (rivalry)	L 14–21	17,500
November 23	at Colorado	Folsom Field Boulder, CO (rivalry)	L 0–30	28,210
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[4]

Game summaries

#Oklahoma

#2 Oklahoma Sooners at Kansas State Wildcats

1 2 3 4 Total • #2 Oklahoma 0 14 13 14 41 Kansas State 0 0 6 0 6 Date: October 5 Location: KSU Stadium Game attendance: 23,500

^[5]

#5 Nebraska

#5 Nebraska at Kansas State [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • #5 Nebraska 7 17 3 14 41 Kansas State 3 0 0 0 3 Date: 1985-11-02 Location: KSU Stadium, Manhattan, Kansas Game attendance: 41,200

Kansas State managed to prevent any single Nebraska runner from exceeding 100 yards, and even though Nebraska only completed six passes, it made no difference as the Wildcats were held to just a 1st-quarter field goal while the Cornhuskers had little trouble putting up 41 points. Nebraska PK Dale Klein set a Nebraska and personal record when he kicked a 50-yard field goal, his 12th of the season.

References

1. "Kansas State Fires Coach Jim Dickey". Gainesville Sun. September 16, 1985.
2. "Call it 'Miracle in Manhattan'". The Wichita Eagle. September 8, 1985. Retrieved February 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Wildcats stumble to 0–4". The Salina Journal. September 29, 1985. Retrieved October 30, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
4. DeLassus, David. "Kansas State University coaching records by game (1985)". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
5. SoonerStats.com. Retrieved 2018-Feb-18.