1985 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game

This article is about the Division I-AA (now FCS) championship game. For the Division I-A (now FBS) champions, see 1985 Oklahoma Sooners football team.

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
I-AA National Championship Game Diamond Bowl
Georgia Southern Eagles Furman Paladins (12–2) (12–1) Independent SoCon 44 42 Head coach:  Erk Russell Head coach:  Dick Sheridan NCAA Seed 9 – NCAA Seed 2 (tie) 3
1 2 3 4 Total Georgia Southern 0 6 22 16 44 Furman 7 14 7 14 42
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]
NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship  < 1984 1986 >

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

The 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

Main article: 1985 Georgia Southern Eagles football team

Georgia 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

Main article: 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.^[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

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

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP GSC FUR 1 2:50 12 80 5:25 FUR John Bagwell 1-yard touchdown run, Keven Esval kick good 0 7 2 13:33 10 61 4:17 GSC 44-yard field goal by Tim Foley 3 7 2 8:22 10 80 5:11 FUR Bagwell 9-yard touchdown run, Esval kick good 3 14 2 3:08 10 69 5:14 GSC 33-yard field goal by Foley 6 14 2 0:56 7 98 2:12 FUR Bobby Lamb 10-yard touchdown run, Esval kick good 6 21 3 10:57 5 74 2:34 FUR Larry Grady 33-yard touchdown reception from Lamb, Esval kick good 6 28 3 6:51 8 96 4:06 GSC Monte Sharpe 24-yard touchdown reception from Tracy Ham, 2-point run good by Ham 14 28 3 4:35 4 56 1:14 GSC Patrick Sulley 40-yard touchdown reception from Ham, Foley kick good 21 28 3 2:28 3 59 1:00 GSC Gerald Harris 52-yard touchdown run, Foley kick good 28 28 4 12:21 7 65 3:04 GSC Patrick Sulley 12-yard touchdown reception from Ham, Foley kick good 35 28 4 7:51 11 99 4:30 FUR Bagwell 7-yard touchdown run, Esval kick good 35 35 4 3:37 11 59 4:14 GSC 39-yard field goal by Foley 38 35 4 1:32 7 80 2:05 FUR Bagwell 4-yard touchdown run, Esval kick good 38 42 4 0:10 8 72 1:22 GSC Johnson 13-yard touchdown reception from Ham, Foley kick no good (wide right) 44 42 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 44 42

^[1]

Game statistics

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	6	22	16	44
Paladins	7	14	7	14	42

 

Tacoma Dome, site of the 1985 Division I-AA championship game

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

^[1]

References

1. "NCAA Official Scoring Summary" (PDF). December 21, 1985. Retrieved May 3, 2019 – via Amazon Web Services.
2. "1985 I-AA National Championship - Georgia Southern vs Furman". Retrieved May 4, 2019 – via YouTube. at 2:21:07
3. "Georgia Southern 44, Furman 42". AP. December 21, 1985. Retrieved May 3, 2018 – via apnews.com.
4. "I-AA championship moved to Tacoma". Billings Gazette. Billings, Montana. AP. January 5, 1985. p. 2-C. Retrieved May 1, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
5. 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.
6. "Georgia Southern Eagles 1985 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Retrieved May 3, 2019.^{[permanent dead link]}
7. "NCAA I-AA poll". The Salina Journal. Salina, Kansas. AP. November 27, 1985. p. 15. Retrieved May 3, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
8. "Furman Paladins 1985 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Retrieved May 3, 2019.^{[permanent dead link]}
9. "Newberry 24, Furman 21". Detroit Free Press. September 15, 1985. Retrieved May 3, 2019 – via newspapers.com.

Further reading

• "National Championship Rewind: 1985". gseagles.com. July 24, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2019.

External links

• 1985 I-AA National Championship - Georgia Southern vs Furman via YouTube