1985 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game

Postseason college football game the Division I-AA (now FCS) championship game the Division I-A (now FBS) champions 1985 Oklahoma Sooners football team August 2023 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship I-AA National Championship GameDiamond Bowl 1985 NCAA Division I-AA 1985 December 21 Georgia Southern College Georgia Southern Eagles 12–2 Independent Erk Russell 9 – 0 6 22 16 Furman University Furman Paladins 12–1 SoCon Dick Sheridan 2 (tie) 3 7 14 7 14 Tacoma Dome Tacoma, Washington Mike Standley 5,306 ESPN Mike Patrick (play-by-play), Sam Adkins (color)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAb8UqQwi28 1985 I-AA National Championship - Georgia Southern vs Furman August 6, 2013 YouTube May 4, 2019 at 2:21:07 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.https://apnews.com/3a404ca1f557b661a6d6d12bb7da0e01 Georgia Southern 44, Furman 42 AP December 21, 1985 May 3, 2018 apnews.com Contemporary news reports also referred to this game as the Diamond Bowl, as the NCAA had introduced Diamond Bowl branding for the Division I-AA championship game earlier in the year.https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31148618/iaa_championship_moved_to_tacoma/ I-AA championship moved to Tacoma AP Billings Gazette Billings, Montana 2-C January 5, 1985 May 1, 2019 newspapers.com Teams The participants of the Championship Game were the finalists of the 1985 I-AA Playoffs, which began with a 12-team bracket.https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31193180/furman_in_iaa_playoffs/ Furman in I-AA playoffs Abe Hardesty The Greenville News Greenville, South Carolina 1C November 25, 1985 May 3, 2019 newspapers.com Georgia Southern Eagles 1985 Georgia Southern Eagles football team Georgia Southern finished their regular season with a 9–2 record.http://cfbinfo.com/team/georgia-southern-eagles/1985 Georgia Southern Eagles 1985 Schedule cfbinfo.com May 3, 2019 December 19, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20241219140220/http://cfbinfo.com/team/georgia-southern-eagles/1985 dead Ranked ninth in the final NCAA I-AA in-house pollhttps://www.newspapers.com/clip/31193077/ncaa_iaa_poll/ NCAA I-AA poll AP The Salina Journal Salina, Kansas 15 November 27, 1985 May 3, 2019 newspapers.com 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 1985 Furman Paladins football team 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.http://cfbinfo.com/team/furman-paladins/1985 Furman Paladins 1985 Schedule cfbinfo.com May 3, 2019 December 19, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20241219140311/http://cfbinfo.com/team/furman-paladins/1985 dead https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31193522/newberry_24_furman_21/ Newberry 24, Furman 21 Detroit Free Press September 15, 1985 May 3, 2019 newspapers.com Tied for second in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll 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 GSC FUR 1 2:50 FUR 12 80 5:25 RushTD John Bagwell 1 good Keven Esval 0 7 2 13:33 GSC 10 61 4:17 FG 44 Tim Foley 3 7 2 8:22 FUR 10 80 5:11 RushTD Bagwell 9 good Esval 3 14 2 3:08 GSC 10 69 5:14 FG 33 Foley 6 14 2 0:56 FUR 7 98 2:12 RushTD Bobby Lamb 10 good Esval 6 21 3 10:57 FUR 5 74 2:34 RecTD Larry Grady Lamb 33 good Esval 6 28 3 6:51 GSC 8 96 4:06 RecTD Monte Sharpe Tracy Ham 24 run good by Ham 14 28 3 4:35 GSC 4 56 1:14 RecTD Patrick Sulley Ham 40 good Foley 21 28 3 2:28 GSC 3 59 1:00 RushTD Gerald Harris 52 good Foley 28 28 4 12:21 GSC 7 65 3:04 RecTD Patrick Sulley Ham 12 good Foley 35 28 4 7:51 FUR 11 99 4:30 RushTD Bagwell 7 good Esval 35 35 4 3:37 GSC 11 59 4:14 FG 39 Foley 38 35 4 1:32 FUR 7 80 2:05 RushTD Bagwell 4 good Esval 38 42 4 0:10 GSC 8 72 1:22 RecTD Johnson Ham 13 no good (wide right) Foley 44 42 44 42 Game statistics Eagles 0 6 22 16 Paladins 7 14 7 14 thumb|right|Tacoma Dome, site of the 1985 Division I-AA championship game Georgia Southern Eagles GSC Furman Paladins FUR 28 77–640 40–221 419 23–37–1 31:33 28 67–498 45–288 210 14–22–0 28:27 Georgia Southern Eagles Georgia Southern Furman Paladins Furman Tracy Ham 23–37, 419 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT Gerald Harris 10 car, 92 yds, 1 TD Patrick Sulley 7 rec, 148 yds, 2 TD Bobby Lamb 14–22, 210 yds, 1 TD John Bagwell 15 car, 73 yds, 4 TD Larry Grady 3 rec, 67 yds, 1 TD https://s3.amazonaws.com/gatadb/gamereports/1985/19851221_furman_complete.pdf NCAA Official Scoring Summary December 21, 1985 May 3, 2019 Amazon Web Services References Further reading https://gseagles.com/story.aspx?filename=FB_0724142801&file_date=7/24/2014 National Championship Rewind: 1985 gseagles.com July 24, 2014 May 5, 2019 External links 1985 I-AA National Championship - Georgia Southern vs Furman via YouTube Championship Game Category:NCAA Division I Football Championship Games Category:Furman Paladins football games Category:Georgia Southern Eagles football games Category:Sports competitions in Tacoma, Washington Category:American football competitions in Washington (state) NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game