1990 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game

Postseason college football game between the Georgia Southern Eagles and the Nevada Wolf Pack

This article is about the Division I-AA (now FCS) championship game. For the Division I-A (now FBS) champions, see 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season.

College football game

1990 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship

I-AA National Championship Game
| Nevada Wolf Pack | Georgia Southern Eagles

|

(13–1) | (11–3)
Big Sky | Independent
13 | 36
Head coach:
Chris Ault | Head coach:
Tim Stowers
| NCAA| Seed

|

4| 4
| NCAA| Seed

|

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

|
|
|
|
|

Nevada | 3| 3| 0| 7 | 13
Georgia Southern | 7| 7| 6| 16 | 36
Date| December 15, 1990
Season| 1990
Stadium| Paulson Stadium
Location| Statesboro, Georgia
Referee| L. V. McGinty[1]
Attendance| 23,204[1]
United States TV coverage
Network| CBS Sports
Announcers| Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Tim Brant (color), John Dockery (sideline)[2]
|  NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship

< 1989 | 1991 >

The 1990 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Georgia Southern Eagles and the Nevada Wolf Pack. The game was played on December 15, 1990, at Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia. The culminating game of the 1990 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Georgia Southern, 36–13.[3] It was the second consecutive Division I-AA title, and fourth overall, for Georgia Southern.

## Teams

[edit]

The participants of the Championship Game were the finalists of the 1990 I-AA Playoffs, which began with a 16-team bracket.[4] The location of the final, the Georgia Southern Eagles' Paulson Stadium, had been predetermined via a three-year agreement the university reached with the NCAA in February 1989.[5]

### Georgia Southern Eagles

[edit]

Main article: 1990 Georgia Southern Eagles football team

Georgia Southern finished their regular season with an 8–3 record, with one of their losses coming against Florida State of Division I-A.[6] Ranked third in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll[7] and seeded third in the tournament, the Eagles defeated The Citadel, Idaho, and UCF to reach the final. This was the fifth appearance for Georgia Southern in a Division I-AA championship game, having three prior wins (1985, 1986, and 1989) and one prior loss (1988).

### Nevada Wolf Pack

[edit]

Main article: 1990 Nevada Wolf Pack football team

Nevada finished their regular season with a 10–1 record (7–1 in conference); their only loss was an away game against Boise State.[8] Ranked fourth in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll[7] and seeded fourth in the tournament, the Wolf Pack defeated Northeast Louisiana, Furman, and Boise State to reach the final. Both the Furman and Boise State games went to triple overtime. This was the first appearance for Nevada in a Division I-AA championship game.

## Game summary

[edit]

### Scoring summary

[edit]

Scoring summary

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

|
|
|
|
|

Plays | Yards  | TOP | NEV  | GSU
1  | 11:34  | 7  | 43  | 3:26  | GSU  | Joe Ross 14-yard touchdown run, Mike Dowis kick good  | 0  | 7
1  | 5:05  | 7  | 24  | 3:34  | NEV  | 37-yard field goal by Kevin McKelvie  | 3  | 7
2  | 2:38  | 3  | 57  | 0:41  | GSU  | Raymond Gross 8-yard touchdown run, Dowis kick good  | 3  | 14
2  | 0:03  | 10  | 47  | 2:35  | NEV  | 44-yard field goal by McKelvie  | 6  | 14
3  | 2:23  | 8  | 70  | 2:47  | GSU  | Darryl Hopkins 3-yard touchdown run, Dowis kick no good (wide right)  | 6  | 20
4  | 14:52  | 5  | 35  | 1:23  | GSU  | Hopkins 18-yard touchdown run, Dowis kick good  | 6  | 27
4  | 6:22  | 14  | 85  | 4:11  | NEV  | Russ Ortega 3-yard touchdown reception from Chris Vargas, McKelvie kick good  | 13  | 27
4  | 1:06  | 11  | 48  | 5:16  | GSU  | 41-yard field goal by Dowis  | 13  | 30
4  | 0:44  |  |  |  | GSU  | Interception returned 15 yards for touchdown by Alex Mash, Dowis kick no good (blocked)  | 13  | 36
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | 13  | 36

[1]

### Game statistics

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

|
|
|
|
|

Wolf Pack  | 3  | 3  | 0  | 7 | 13
Eagles | 7  | 7  | 6  | 16 | 36
Nevada head coach Chris Ault in 2009 Statistics  | NEV  | GSU

|
|

First downs | 21 | 20
Plays–yards | 86–321 | 63–392
Rushes–yards | 33–56 | 58–323
Passing yards | 265 | 69
Passing: comp–att–int | 27–53–2 | 2–5–0
Time of possession | 34:30 | 25:30
Team | Category | Player | Statistics

|
|
|

Nevada  | Passing | Fred Gatlin | 17–32, 156 yds
Rushing | Ray Whalen | 24 car, 71 yds
Receiving | Russ Ortega | 10 rec, 82 yds, 1 TD
Georgia Southern  | Passing | Raymond Gross | 2–5, 69 yds
Rushing | Raymond Gross | 31 car, 145 yds, 1 TD
Receiving | Terrance Sorrell | 1 rec, 49 yds

[1]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d "NCAA Official Scoring Summary" (PDF). December 15, 1990. Retrieved April 20, 2019 - via Amazon Web Services.
2. ^ Baden, Larry (December 15, 1990). "CBS treating I-AA title game as I-A special". Reno Gazette-Journal. Reno, Nevada. p. 1D. Retrieved April 20, 2019 - via newspapers.com.
3. ^ "Georgia Southern Wins I-AA Title". Los Angeles Times. AP. December 16, 1990. Retrieved April 20, 2019.
4. ^ "1990 NCAA Division 1-AA Playoffs". Reno Gazette-Journal. Reno, Nevada. November 24, 1990. p. 83. Retrieved April 20, 2019 - via newspapers.com.
5. ^ "Georgia Southern to host NCAA title". Rocky Mount Telegram. Rocky Mount, North Carolina. AP. February 24, 1989. p. 11. Retrieved April 21, 2019 - via newspapers.com.
6. ^ "Georgia Southern Eagles 1990 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Retrieved April 20, 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
7. ^ a b "NCAA Division I-AA Final Poll". The Evening Sun. Hanover, Pennsylvania. AP. November 19, 1990. p. B-6. Retrieved April 20, 2019 - via newspapers.com.
8. ^ "Nevada Wolf Pack 1990 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Retrieved April 20, 2019.[permanent dead link‍]

## Further reading

[edit]

* "National Championship Rewind: 1990". gseagles.com. August 14, 2014. Retrieved April 20, 2019.

## External links

[edit]

* 1990 I-AA National Championship - Nevada vs Georgia Southern via YouTube

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