1988 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game

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1988 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship
I-AA National Championship Game
Georgia Southern Eagles Furman Paladins
(12–2)(12–2)
Independent SoCon
1217
Head coach: 
Erk Russell 		Head coach: 
Jimmy Satterfield
NCAA Seed
22
NCAA Seed
44
1234Total
Georgia Southern303612
Furman737017
DateDecember 17, 1988
Season 1988
Stadium Holt Arena
Location Pocatello, Idaho
Favorite Georgia Southern by 5 [1]
Referee Larry Farina [2]
Attendance9,714 [2]
United States TV coverage
Network ESPN
Announcers Tim Brando (play-by-play), Stan White (color) [3]
NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship
 ← 1987 1989 → 

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. [4]

Contents

Teams

The participants of the Championship Game were the finalists of the 1988 I-AA Playoffs, which began with a 16-team bracket. [5]

Georgia Southern Eagles

Georgia Southern finished their regular season with a 9–2 record; one of their losses was to Florida State of Division I-A. [6] Ranked second in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll [7] and seeded second in the tournament, the Eagles defeated The Citadel, Stephen F. Austin, and Eastern Kentucky to reach the final. This was the third appearance for Georgia Southern in a Division I-AA championship game, having won in 1985 and 1986.

Furman Paladins

Furman also finished their regular season with a 9–2 record (6–1 in conference); one of their losses was to Clemson of Division I-A. [8] Ranked fourth in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll [7] and seeded fourth in the tournament, the Paladins defeated Delaware, Marshall, and top-seed Idaho to reach the final. This was the second appearance for Furman in a Division I-AA championship game, having lost to Georgia Southern in 1985.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Scoring summary
QuarterTime Drive TeamScoring informationScore
Plays Yards TOP GSCFUR
17:139364:10GSC55-yard field goal by David Cool 30
10:5413886:19FURGreg Key 19-yard touchdown reception from Frankie DeBusk, Glenn Connally kick good37
21:098503:06FUR36-yard field goal by Connally310
35:0715295:34GSC48-yard field goal by Cool610
30:389804:29FURDwight Sterling 5-yard touchdown run, Connally kick good617
412:24GSCMark Giles returned blocked punt 30 yards for touchdown, 2-point pass incomplete1217
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.1217

[2]

Game statistics

1234Total
Eagles303612
Paladins737017
Holt Arena, site of the 1988 Division I-AA championship game Holt Arena, Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho.jpg
Holt Arena, site of the 1988 Division I-AA championship game
StatisticsGSCFUR
First downs1417
Plays–yards69–19865–355
Rushes–yards52–13454–231
Passing yards64124
Passing: comp–att–int5–17–27–11–1
Time of possession26:5133:09
TeamCategoryPlayerStatistics
Georgia SouthernPassingRaymond Gross5–17, 64 yds, 2 INT
RushingJoe Ross15 car, 58 yds
ReceivingDeryl Belser2 rec, 26 yds
FurmanPassing Frankie DeBusk 7–11, 124 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
RushingDwight Sterling12 car, 70 yds, 1 TD
ReceivingDonald Lipscomb3 rec, 53 yds

[2]

References

  1. ↑ "America's Line". New York Daily News . December 17, 1988. p. 32. Retrieved April 27, 2019– via newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "NCAA Official Scoring Summary" (PDF). December 17, 1988. Retrieved April 27, 2019– via Amazon Web Services.
  3. ↑ "1988 I-AA National Championship - Furman vs Ga. Southern". June 21, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2019– via YouTube.
  4. ↑ "Furman Edges Ga. Southern for Div. I-AA Title". Deseret News . Salt Lake City. December 18, 1988. Retrieved April 27, 2019.[ dead link ]
  5. ↑ Hardesty, Abe (November 21, 1988). "Citadel, Furman get I-AA berths". The Greenville News . Greenville, South Carolina. p. 5D. Retrieved April 27, 2019– via newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Georgia Southern Eagles 1988 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  7. 1 2 "Final I-AA poll". The Greenville News . Greenville, South Carolina. November 21, 1988. p. 5D. Retrieved April 27, 2019– via newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Furman Paladins 1988 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2019.

Further reading

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