The 1986 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason

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game between the Arkansas State Indians (now the

Arkansas State Red Wolves The Arkansas State Red Wolves are the athletic teams of Arkansas State University. They are a member of the Sun Belt Conference in all sports except women's bowling, a sport not sponsored by that league, competing at the National Collegiate Athleti ...

) and the

Georgia Southern Eagles The Georgia Southern Eagles are the athletic team(s) of Georgia Southern University (GS). The Eagles compete in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A) and are members of the NCAA Division I Sun Belt Conference. Prior to jo ...

. The game was played on December 19, 1986, at the Tacoma Dome in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

. 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. The on-field logo at midfield included "1986 Diamond Bowl" wording. NCAA records list the game date as Saturday, December 20, 1986; however, contemporary news reports are clear that the game was played on the evening of Friday, December 19, 1986.

Teams

The participants of the Championship Game were the finalists of the 1986 I-AA Playoffs, which began with a 16-team

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Georgia Southern Eagles

Georgia Southern finished their regular season with a 9–2 record; they played two

Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

programs, losing to both

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

. Ranked fourth in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll and seeded fourth in the tournament, the Eagles defeated

North Carolina A&T North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Caro ...

, Nicholls State, and top-seed

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

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

Arkansas State finished their regular season with a 9–1–1 record (5–0 in conference); they played four games against Division I-A programs, resulting in two wins (

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

and

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

), one loss (

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univers ...

), and a tie ( Ole Miss). Ranked second in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll and seeded second in the tournament, the Indians defeated

Sam Houston State Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, and

Eastern Kentucky Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 * Eastern Air ...

to reach the final. This was the first appearance for Arkansas State in a Division I-AA championship game.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Game statistics

References

External links

1986 I-AA National Championship - Georgia Southern vs Arkansas State
via

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{{1986–87 NCAA Division I championships navbox

Championship Game In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

NCAA Division I Football Championship Games Arkansas State Red Wolves football games Georgia Southern Eagles football games Sports competitions in Tacoma, Washington American football competitions in Washington (state) NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game