The 1995 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

game between the Marshall Thundering Herd and the Montana Grizzlies. The game was played on December 16, 1995, at Marshall University Stadium in

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

. The culminating game of the

1995 NCAA Division I-AA football season The 1995 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I-AA level, began in August 1995, and concluded with the 1995 NCAA Division I-AA ...

, it was won by Montana, 22–20.

Teams

The participants of the Championship Game were the finalists of the 1995 I-AA Playoffs, which began with a 16-team

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. The site of the title game, Marshall University Stadium, had been determined in March 1994.

Montana Grizzlies

Montana finished their regular season with a 9–2 record (6–1 in conference). One of their wins was over

Eastern New Mexico Eastern New Mexico is a physiographic subregion within the U.S. state of New Mexico. The region is sometimes called the "High Plains," or "Eastern Plains (of New Mexico)," and was historically referred to as part of the "Great American Desert". The ...

of Division II, while one of their losses was to Washington State of Division I-A. Seeded sixth in the playoffs, the Grizzlies defeated 10-seed Eastern Kentucky, 14-seed

Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hin ...

, and seventh-seed Stephen F. Austin to reach the final. This was the first appearance for Montana in a Division I-AA championship game.

Marshall Thundering Herd

Marshall also finished their regular season with a 9–2 record (7–1 in conference). One of their losses was to NC State of Division I-A. The Thundering Herd, seeded fifth, defeated 12-seed

Jackson State Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of studen ...

, 16-seed

Northern Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois ...

, and top-seed

McNeese State McNeese State University is a public university in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Founded in 1939 as Lake Charles Junior College, it was renamed McNeese Junior College after John McNeese, an early local educator. The present name was adopted in 1970. ...

to reach the final. This was the fifth appearance for Marshall in a Division I-AA championship game, having one prior win (1992) and three prior losses (1987, 1991, and 1993).

Game summary

Scoring summary

Game statistics

References

External links

#8 - Montana vs Marshall 1995 National Title Game , Big Sky 50 Greatest Moments
via YouTube {{1995–96 NCAA Division I championships navbox Championship Game NCAA Division I Football Championship Games Marshall Thundering Herd football games Montana Grizzlies football games Sports competitions in West Virginia NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game