1988 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game
| 1988 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| I-AA National Championship Game | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 17, 1988 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | Network ESPN | | |||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Tim Brando (play-by-play), Stan White (color)[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||
The 1988 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason
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]
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
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
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Game statistics
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eagles | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| Paladins | 7 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 17 |
Holt Arena
, site of the 1988 Division I-AA championship game| Statistics | GSC | FUR |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 14 | 17 |
| Plays–yards | 69–198 | 65–355 |
| Rushes–yards | 52–134 | 54–231 |
| Passing yards | 64 | 124 |
| Passing: comp–att–int | 5–17–2 | 7–11–1 |
| Time of possession | 26:51 | 33:09 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia Southern | Passing | Raymond Gross | 5–17, 64 yds, 2 INT |
| Rushing | Joe Ross | 15 car, 58 yds | |
| Receiving | Deryl Belser | 2 rec, 26 yds | |
| Furman | Passing | Frankie DeBusk | 7–11, 124 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT |
| Rushing | Dwight Sterling | 12 car, 70 yds, 1 TD | |
| Receiving | Donald Lipscomb | 3 rec, 53 yds |
References
- ^ "America's Line". New York Daily News. December 17, 1988. p. 32. Retrieved April 27, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d "NCAA Official Scoring Summary" (PDF). December 17, 1988. Retrieved April 27, 2019 – via Amazon Web Services.
- ^ "1988 I-AA National Championship - Furman vs Ga. Southern". Retrieved April 27, 2019 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Furman Edges Ga. Southern for Div. I-AA Title". Deseret News. Salt Lake City. December 18, 1988. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Georgia Southern Eagles 1988 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ a b "Final I-AA poll". The Greenville News. Greenville, South Carolina. November 21, 1988. p. 5D. Retrieved April 27, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Furman Paladins 1988 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
Further reading
- Bainbridge, Judith (December 17, 2017). "In 1988, Furman won national title in football". The Greenville News. Retrieved April 27, 2019.