1985 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game

Last updated
1985 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship
I-AA National Championship Game
Diamond Bowl
1234Total
Georgia Southern06221644
Furman71471442
DateDecember 21, 1985
Season 1985
Stadium Tacoma Dome
Location Tacoma, Washington
Referee Mike Standley [1]
Attendance5,306 [1]
United States TV coverage
Network ESPN
Announcers Mike Patrick (play-by-play), Sam Adkins (color) [2]
NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship
 < 1984 1986 > 

The 1985 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Furman Paladins and the Georgia Southern Eagles. The game was played on December 21, 1985, at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. The culminating game of the 1985 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Georgia Southern, 44–42. [3]

Contents

Contemporary news reports also referred to this game as the Diamond Bowl, [3] as the NCAA had introduced Diamond Bowl branding for the Division I-AA championship game earlier in the year. [4]

Teams

The participants of the Championship Game were the finalists of the 1985 I-AA Playoffs, which began with a 12-team bracket. [5]

Georgia Southern Eagles

Georgia Southern finished their regular season with a 9–2 record. [6] Ranked ninth in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll [7] and unseeded in the tournament, the Eagles defeated Jackson State, top-seed Middle Tennessee State, and fourth-seed Northern Iowa to reach the final. This was the first appearance for Georgia Southern in a Division I-AA championship game.

Furman Paladins

Furman finished their regular season with a 10–1 record (6–0 in conference); one of their wins came against NC State, a Division I-A program, and their only defeat was an upset loss to Newberry, an NAIA program. [8] [9] Tied for second in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll [7] and seeded third in the tournament, the Paladins received a first-round bye then defeated Rhode Island and second-seed Nevada to reach the final. This was also the first appearance for Furman in a Division I-AA championship game.

Game summary

Furman built a 28–6 lead with just under 11 minutes left in the third quarter. By the time that quarter had ended, Georgia Southern had fought back to tie the score, 28–28. The two teams traded touchdowns in the first half of the fourth quarter, remaining tied, 35–35. A Georgia Southern field goal was answered by a Furman touchdown, giving Furman a 42–38 lead with just over two minutes to play. Georgia Southern then staged a 72-yard drive in 82 seconds, scoring the winning touchdown with just 10 seconds left on the clock.

Scoring summary

Scoring summary
QuarterTime Drive TeamScoring informationScore
Plays Yards TOP GSCFUR
12:5012805:25FURJohn Bagwell 1-yard touchdown run, Keven Esval kick good07
213:3310614:17GSC44-yard field goal by Tim Foley37
28:2210805:11FURBagwell 9-yard touchdown run, Esval kick good314
23:0810695:14GSC33-yard field goal by Foley614
20:567982:12FUR Bobby Lamb 10-yard touchdown run, Esval kick good621
310:575742:34FURLarry Grady 33-yard touchdown reception from Lamb, Esval kick good628
36:518964:06GSCMonte Sharpe 24-yard touchdown reception from Tracy Ham, 2-point run good by Ham1428
34:354561:14GSCPatrick Sulley 40-yard touchdown reception from Ham, Foley kick good2128
32:283591:00GSCGerald Harris 52-yard touchdown run, Foley kick good2828
412:217653:04GSCPatrick Sulley 12-yard touchdown reception from Ham, Foley kick good3528
47:5111994:30FURBagwell 7-yard touchdown run, Esval kick good3535
43:3711594:14GSC39-yard field goal by Foley3835
41:327802:05FURBagwell 4-yard touchdown run, Esval kick good3842
40:108721:22GSCJohnson 13-yard touchdown reception from Ham, Foley kick no good (wide right)4442
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.4442

[1]

Game statistics

1234Total
Eagles06221644
Paladins71471442
Tacoma Dome, site of the 1985 Division I-AA championship game Tacoma Dome.jpg
Tacoma Dome, site of the 1985 Division I-AA championship game
StatisticsGSCFUR
First downs2828
Plays–yards77–64067–498
Rushes–yards40–22145–288
Passing yards419210
Passing: comp–att–int23–37–114–22–0
Time of possession31:3328:27
TeamCategoryPlayerStatistics
Georgia SouthernPassing Tracy Ham 23–37, 419 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT
RushingGerald Harris10 car, 92 yds, 1 TD
ReceivingPatrick Sulley7 rec, 148 yds, 2 TD
FurmanPassing Bobby Lamb 14–22, 210 yds, 1 TD
RushingJohn Bagwell15 car, 73 yds, 4 TD
ReceivingLarry Grady3 rec, 67 yds, 1 TD

[1]

Related Research Articles

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The 2001 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Montana Grizzlies and the Furman Paladins. The game was played on December 21, 2001, at Finley Stadium, home field of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The culminating game of the 2001 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Montana, 13–6.

The 1999 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Georgia Southern Eagles and the Youngstown State Penguins. The game was played on December 18, 1999, at Finley Stadium, home field of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The culminating game of the 1999 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Georgia Southern, 59–24.

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The 1996 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Marshall Thundering Herd and the Montana Grizzlies. The game was played on December 21, 1996, and was the last I-AA title game contested at Marshall University Stadium, now known as Joan C. Edwards Stadium, in Huntington, West Virginia. The culminating game of the 1996 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was a rematch of the prior season's final, and was won by Marshall, 49–29. It was also Marshall's final game in Division I-AA, now known as Division I FCS; the Herd would move to Division I-A the following July, joining the Mid-American Conference.

The 1993 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Youngstown State Penguins and the Marshall Thundering Herd. The game was played on December 18, 1993, at Marshall University Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia. The culminating game of the 1993 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Youngstown State, 17–5. This was the third consecutive season that these two teams met in the championship game.

The 1991 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Youngstown State Penguins and the Marshall Thundering Herd. The game was played on December 21, 1991, at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia. The culminating game of the 1991 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Youngstown State, 25–17.

The 1990 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Georgia Southern Eagles and the Nevada Wolf Pack. The game was played on December 15, 1990, at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia. The culminating game of the 1990 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Georgia Southern, 36–13. It was the second consecutive Division I-AA title, and fourth overall, for Georgia Southern.

The 1989 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Georgia Southern Eagles and the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks. The game was played on December 16, 1989, at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia. The culminating game of the 1989 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Georgia Southern, 37–34.

The 1988 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Georgia Southern Eagles and the Furman Paladins. The game was played on December 17, 1988, at Holt Arena in Pocatello, Idaho. The culminating game of the 1988 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Furman, 17–12.

The 1987 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Northeast Louisiana Indians and the Marshall Thundering Herd. The game was played on December 19, 1987, at the Minidome in Pocatello, Idaho. The culminating game of the 1987 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Northeast Louisiana, 43–42.

The 1986 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Arkansas State Indians and the Georgia Southern Eagles. The game was played on December 19, 1986, at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. The culminating game of the 1986 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Georgia Southern, 48–21. Georgia Southern, the defending champion from 1985, became the first program to win consecutive Division I-AA titles.

The 1984 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Montana State Bobcats and the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. The game was played on December 15, 1984, at Johnson Hagood Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina. The culminating game of the 1984 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Montana State, 19–6.

The 1983 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Southern Illinois Salukis and the Western Carolina Catamounts. The game was played on December 17, 1983, at Johnson Hagood Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina. The culminating game of the 1983 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Southern Illinois, 43–7.

The 1978 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Florida A&M Rattlers and the UMass Minutemen. The game was played on December 16, 1978, at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas. The culminating game of the 1978 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Florida A&M, 35–28.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "NCAA Official Scoring Summary" (PDF). December 21, 1985. Retrieved May 3, 2019 via Amazon Web Services.
  2. "1985 I-AA National Championship - Georgia Southern vs Furman" . Retrieved May 4, 2019 via YouTube. at 2:21:07
  3. 1 2 "Georgia Southern 44, Furman 42". AP. December 21, 1985. Retrieved May 3, 2018 via apnews.com.
  4. "I-AA championship moved to Tacoma". Billings Gazette . Billings, Montana. AP. January 5, 1985. p. 2-C. Retrieved May 1, 2019 via newspapers.com.
  5. Hardesty, Abe (November 25, 1985). "Furman in I-AA playoffs". The Greenville News . Greenville, South Carolina. p. 1C. Retrieved May 3, 2019 via newspapers.com.
  6. "Georgia Southern Eagles 1985 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Retrieved May 3, 2019.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. 1 2 "NCAA I-AA poll". The Salina Journal . Salina, Kansas. AP. November 27, 1985. p. 15. Retrieved May 3, 2019 via newspapers.com.
  8. "Furman Paladins 1985 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Retrieved May 3, 2019.[ permanent dead link ]
  9. "Newberry 24, Furman 21". Detroit Free Press . September 15, 1985. Retrieved May 3, 2019 via newspapers.com.

Further reading