1986 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
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I-AA National Championship Game Diamond Bowl II | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Date | December 19, 1986 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Season | 1986 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stadium | Tacoma Dome | ||||||||||||||||||||
Location | Tacoma, Washington | ||||||||||||||||||||
Referee | Gary Peters [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 4,419 [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
Network | ESPN [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Announcers | Tim Brando and Kevin Kiley | ||||||||||||||||||||
The 1986 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Arkansas State Indians (now the Arkansas State Red Wolves) and the Georgia Southern Eagles. The game was played on December 19, 1986, at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. [1] The culminating game of the 1986 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Georgia Southern, 48–21. [3] Georgia Southern, the defending champion from 1985, became the first program to win consecutive Division I-AA titles.
Contemporary news reports also referred to this game as Diamond Bowl II, [4] as the NCAA had introduced Diamond Bowl branding for the Division I-AA championship game in 1985. [5] The on-field logo at midfield included "1986 Diamond Bowl" wording. [6] NCAA records list the game date as Saturday, December 20, 1986; [7] however, contemporary news reports are clear that the game was played on the evening of Friday, December 19, 1986. [4] [3]
The participants of the Championship Game were the finalists of the 1986 I-AA Playoffs, which began with a 16-team bracket. [8]
Georgia Southern finished their regular season with a 9–2 record; they played two Division I-A programs, losing to both Florida and East Carolina. [9] Ranked fourth in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll [10] and seeded fourth in the tournament, the Eagles defeated North Carolina A&T, Nicholls State, and top-seed Nevada to reach the final. This was the second appearance for Georgia Southern in a Division I-AA championship game, having won in 1985.
Arkansas State finished their regular season with a 9–1–1 record (5–0 in conference); they played three games against Division I-A programs, resulting in one win (Memphis), one loss (Mississippi State), and a tie (Ole Miss). [11] Ranked second in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll [10] and seeded second in the tournament, the Indians defeated Sam Houston State, Delaware, and Eastern Kentucky to reach the final. This was the first appearance for Arkansas State in a Division I-AA championship game.
Scoring summary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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Eagles | 10 | 16 | 15 | 7 | 48 |
Indians | 7 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 21 |
Statistics | GSC | stAte |
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First downs | 28 | 21 |
Plays–yards | 70–603 | 69–424 |
Rushes–yards | 58–297 | 51–343 |
Passing yards | 306 | 81 |
Passing: comp–att–int | 12–22–0 | 8–18–1 |
Time of possession | 35:43 | 24:17 |
Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
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Georgia Southern | Passing | Tracy Ham | 12–21, 306 yds, 1 TD |
Rushing | Tracy Ham | 24 car, 180 yds, 3 TD | |
Receiving | Ricky Harris | 3 rec, 143 yds, 1 TD | |
Arkansas State | Passing | Dwane Brown | 8–71, 81 yds, 1 INT |
Rushing | Richard Kimble | 13 car, 134 yds | |
Receiving | Andre Tate | 2 rec, 29 yds |
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The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was called the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship, during the period when the FCS was known as NCAA Division I-AA.
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The 1998 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Georgia Southern Eagles and the UMass Minutemen. The game was played on December 19, 1998, at Finley Stadium, home field of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The culminating game of the 1998 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by UMass, 55–43.
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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.
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 1981 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Eastern Kentucky Colonels and the Idaho State Bengals. The game was played on December 19, 1981, at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas. The culminating game of the 1981 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Idaho State, 34–23.
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