1988 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game

Postseason college football game between the Georgia Southern Eagles and the Furman Paladins

This article is about the Division I-AA (now FCS) championship game. For the Division I-A (now FBS) champions, see 1988 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team.

College football game

1988 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship

I-AA National Championship Game
| Georgia Southern Eagles | Furman Paladins

|

(12–2) | (12–2)
Independent | SoCon
12 | 17
Head coach:
Erk Russell | Head coach:
Jimmy Satterfield
| NCAA| Seed

|

2| 2
| NCAA| Seed

|

4| 4
|  | 1| 2| 3| 4 | Total

|
|
|
|
|

Georgia Southern | 3| 0| 3| 6 | 12
Furman | 7| 3| 7| 0 | 17
Date| December 17, 1988
Season| 1988
Stadium| Holt Arena
Location| Pocatello, Idaho
Favorite| Georgia Southern by 5[1]
Referee| Larry Farina[2]
Attendance| 9,714[2]
United States TV coverage
Network| ESPN
Announcers| Tim Brando (play-by-play), Stan White (color)[3]
|  NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship

< 1987 | 1989 >

The 1988 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Georgia Southern Eagles and the Furman Paladins. The game was played on December 17, 1988, at 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

[edit]

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

[edit]

Main article: 1988 Georgia Southern Eagles football team

Georgia Southern finished their regular season with a 9–2 record; one of their losses was to Florida State of 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

[edit]

Main article: 1988 Furman Paladins football team

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

[edit]

### Scoring summary

[edit]

Scoring summary

| Quarter  | Time  | Drive | Team  | Scoring information  | Score

|
|
|
|
|

Plays | Yards  | TOP | GSC  | FUR
1  | 7:13  | 9  | 36  | 4:10  | GSC  | 55-yard field goal by David Cool | 3  | 0
1  | 0:54  | 13  | 88  | 6:19  | FUR  | Greg Key 19-yard touchdown reception from Frankie DeBusk, Glenn Connally kick good  | 3  | 7
2  | 1:09  | 8  | 50  | 3:06  | FUR  | 36-yard field goal by Connally  | 3  | 10
3  | 5:07  | 15  | 29  | 5:34  | GSC  | 48-yard field goal by Cool  | 6  | 10
3  | 0:38  | 9  | 80  | 4:29  | FUR  | Dwight Sterling 5-yard touchdown run, Connally kick good  | 6  | 17
4  | 12:24  |  |  |  | GSC  | Mark Giles returned blocked punt 30 yards for touchdown, 2-point pass incomplete  | 12  | 17
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | 12  | 17

[2]

### Game statistics

[edit]

| 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

[2]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "America's Line". New York Daily News. December 17, 1988. p. 32. Retrieved April 27, 2019 - via newspapers.com.
2. ^ a b c d "NCAA Official Scoring Summary" (PDF). December 17, 1988. Retrieved April 27, 2019 - via Amazon Web Services.
3. ^ "1988 I-AA National Championship - Furman vs Ga. Southern". June 21, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2019 - via YouTube.
4. ^ "Furman Edges Ga. Southern for Div. I-AA Title". Deseret News. Salt Lake City. December 18, 1988. Retrieved April 27, 2019.[dead link‍]
5. ^ 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.
6. ^ "Georgia Southern Eagles 1988 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
7. ^ a b "Final I-AA poll". The Greenville News. Greenville, South Carolina. November 21, 1988. p. 5D. Retrieved April 27, 2019 - via newspapers.com.
8. ^ "Furman Paladins 1988 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2019.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Bainbridge, Judith (December 17, 2017). "In 1988, Furman won national title in football". The Greenville News. Retrieved April 27, 2019.

## External links

[edit]

* 1988 I-AA National Championship - Furman vs Ga. Southern via YouTube

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