1986 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game

none the Division I-AA (now FCS) championship game the Division I-A (now FBS) champions 1986 Penn State Nittany Lions football team August 2023 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship I-AA National Championship GameDiamond Bowl II 1986 NCAA Division I-AA 1986 December 19 Georgia Southern College Georgia Southern Eagles 12–2 Independent Erk Russell 4 4 10 16 15 7 Arkansas State University Arkansas State Indians 12–1–1 Southland Larry Lacewell 2 2 7 0 8 6 Tacoma Dome Tacoma, Washington Gary Peters 4,419 ESPNhttps://www.newspapers.com/clip/31189284/quarterbacks_duel_in_division_iaa/ Quarterbacks duel in Division I-AA title game AP The San Bernardino Sun San Bernardino, California C2 December 19, 1986 May 2, 2019 newspapers.com Tim Brando and Kevin Kiley 1985 1987 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. 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. Contemporary news reports also referred to this game as Diamond Bowl II, as the NCAA had introduced Diamond Bowl branding for the Division I-AA championship game in 1985.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 The on-field logo at midfield included "1986 Diamond Bowl" wording.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6x8Zb7oAiI 1986 I-AA National Championship - Georgia Southern vs Arkansas State August 7, 2013 Lewis Sports Network May 2, 2019 YouTube NCAA records list the game date as Saturday, December 20, 1986;1986 NCAA Division I Football Championship http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_champs_records/2012/d1/2012FCSfbchamp.pdf NCAA.org December 29, 2013 14 however, contemporary news reports are clear that the game was played on the evening of Friday, December 19, 1986.https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31182822/georgia_southern_goes_for_2ndstraight/ Georgia Southern goes for 2nd-straight title AP The News-Press Fort Myers, Florida 5C December 19, 1986 May 2, 2019 newspapers.comhttps://www.newspapers.com/clip/31182882/georgia_southern_wins_iaa_football/ Georgia Southern wins I-AA football crown Reno Gazette-Journal Reno, Nevada 1B December 20, 1986 May 2, 2019 newspapers.com Teams The participants of the Championship Game were the finalists of the 1986 I-AA Playoffs, which began with a 16-team bracket.https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28121512/iaa_playoffs/ I-AA playoffs Daily Press Newport News, Virginia C5 November 24, 1986 February 6, 2019 newspapers.com Georgia Southern Eagles 1986 Georgia Southern Eagles football team 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.http://cfbinfo.com/team/georgia-southern-eagles/1986 Georgia Southern Eagles 1986 Schedule cfbinfo.com May 2, 2019 December 11, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20241211074456/http://cfbinfo.com/team/georgia-southern-eagles/1986 dead Ranked fourth in the final NCAA I-AA in-house pollhttps://www.newspapers.com/clip/31181799/division_iaa_poll/ Division I-AA Poll The Times Shreveport, Louisiana 4-C November 25, 1986 May 2, 2019 newspapers.com 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 Indians 1986 Arkansas State Indians football team 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). https://astateredwolves.com/sports/football/schedule/1986 1986 Football Schedule astateredwolves.com November 8, 2024 Ranked second in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll 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. Game summary Scoring summary GSC stAte 1 11:03 GSC 7 31 3:43 FG 20 Tim Foley 3 0 1 6:08 GSC 9 62 4:04 RushTD Gerald Harris 1 good Foley 10 0 1 3:08 stAte 8 97 3:00 RushTD Boris Whiteside 15 good Scott Roper 10 7 2 13:21 GSC 10 64 4:40 FG 30 Foley 13 7 2 6:53 GSC 9 69 4:28 FG 25 Foley 16 7 2 1:33 GSC 9 95 3:37 RushTD Tracy Ham 25 good Foley 23 7 2 0:06 GSC 5 32 0:39 FG 36 Foley 26 7 3 12:11 GSC 6 77 2:49 RushTD Ham 31 pass good (Herman Barron from Ham) 34 7 3 8:55 stAte SafetyOther Safety: GSC snapped ball out of end zone on a punt attempt 34 9 3 8:17 GSC 2 50 0:14 RushTD Ham 11 good Foley 41 9 3 5:36 stAte 6 76 2:41 RushTD Whiteside 15 pass failed 41 15 4 10:52 GSC 2 73 0:49 RecTD Ricky Harris Ham 79 good Foley 48 15 4 5:15 stAte 3 67 0:43 RushTD Cazzy Francis 44 pass failed 48 21 48 21 Game statistics Eagles 10 16 15 7 Indians 7 0 8 6 thumb|right|Tacoma Dome, site of the 1986 Division I-AA championship game Georgia Southern Eagles GSC Arkansas State Indians stAte 28 70–603 58–297 306 12–22–0 35:43 21 69–424 51–343 81 8–18–1 24:17 Georgia Southern Eagles Georgia Southern Arkansas State Indians Arkansas State Tracy Ham 12–21, 306 yds, 1 TD Tracy Ham 24 car, 180 yds, 3 TD Ricky Harris 3 rec, 143 yds, 1 TD Dwane Brown 8–71, 81 yds, 1 INT Richard Kimble 13 car, 134 yds Andre Tate 2 rec, 29 yds https://s3.amazonaws.com/gatadb/gamereports/1986/19861220_arkansas_state_complete.pdf NCAA Official Scoring Summary December 19, 1986 May 2, 2019 Amazon Web Services References Further reading https://gseagles.com/news/2016/10/2/football-national-championship-rewind-1986.aspx National Championship Rewind: 1986 gseagles.com October 2, 2016 May 2, 2019 External links 1986 I-AA National Championship - Georgia Southern vs Arkansas State via YouTube Championship Game Category:NCAA Division I Football Championship Games Category:Arkansas State Red Wolves 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