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]
| 1985 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| I-AA National Championship Game Diamond Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 21, 1985 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1985 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Tacoma Dome | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Tacoma, Washington | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Mike Standley[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 5,306[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Mike Patrick (play-by-play), Sam Adkins (color)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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
editThe 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
editGeorgia 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
editFurman 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
editFurman 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
edit| Scoring summary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Game statistics
edit| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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| Eagles | 0 | 6 | 22 | 16 | 44 |
| Paladins | 7 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 42 |
| Statistics | GSC | FUR |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 28 | 28 |
| Plays–yards | 77–640 | 67–498 |
| Rushes–yards | 40–221 | 45–288 |
| Passing yards | 419 | 210 |
| Passing: comp–att–int | 23–37–1 | 14–22–0 |
| Time of possession | 31:33 | 28:27 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia Southern | Passing | Tracy Ham | 23–37, 419 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT |
| Rushing | Gerald Harris | 10 car, 92 yds, 1 TD | |
| Receiving | Patrick Sulley | 7 rec, 148 yds, 2 TD | |
| Furman | Passing | Bobby Lamb | 14–22, 210 yds, 1 TD |
| Rushing | John Bagwell | 15 car, 73 yds, 4 TD | |
| Receiving | Larry Grady | 3 rec, 67 yds, 1 TD |
References
edit- ^ a b c d "NCAA Official Scoring Summary" (PDF). December 21, 1985. Retrieved May 3, 2019 – via Amazon Web Services.
- ^ "1985 I-AA National Championship - Georgia Southern vs Furman". August 6, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2019 – via YouTube.
at 2:21:07
- ^ a b "Georgia Southern 44, Furman 42". AP. December 21, 1985. Retrieved May 3, 2018 – via apnews.com.
- ^ "I-AA championship moved to Tacoma". Billings Gazette. Billings, Montana. AP. January 5, 1985. p. 2-C. Retrieved May 1, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Georgia Southern Eagles 1985 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Retrieved May 3, 2019.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b "NCAA I-AA poll". The Salina Journal. Salina, Kansas. AP. November 27, 1985. p. 15. Retrieved May 3, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Furman Paladins 1985 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Retrieved May 3, 2019.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Newberry 24, Furman 21". Detroit Free Press. September 15, 1985. Retrieved May 3, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
Further reading
edit- "National Championship Rewind: 1985". gseagles.com. July 24, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2019.