1987 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game
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| 1987 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| I-AA National Championship Game | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 19, 1987 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1987 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Minidome | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Pocatello, Idaho | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 11,513[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Denny Schreiner (play-by-play), Stan White (color)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
The 1987 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Northeast Louisiana Indians (now the Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks) and the Marshall Thundering Herd. The game was played on December 19, 1987, at the Minidome (now known as Holt Arena) in Pocatello, Idaho. The culminating game of the 1987 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Northeast Louisiana, 43–42.[3]
Northeast Louisiana Indians
The participants of the Championship Game were the finalists of the 1987 I-AA Playoffs, which began with a 16-team bracket.[4]
Northeast Louisiana finished their regular season with a 9–2 record (6–0 in conference); one of their losses was to the Ragin' Cajuns of the then University of Southwestern Louisiana, a Division I-A program.[5] Ranked third in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll[6] and seeded second in the tournament, the Indians defeated North Texas State, Eastern Kentucky, and third-seed Northern Iowa to reach the final. This was the first appearance for Northeast Louisiana in a Division I-AA championship game.
Marshall Thundering Herd
Marshall finished their regular season with a 7–4 record (4–2 in conference); one of their losses was to Ohio of Division I-A.[7] Ranked 14th in the final NCAA I-AA in-house poll[6] and unseeded in the tournament, the Thundering Herd defeated James Madison, Weber State, and top-seed Appalachian State to reach the final. This was also the first appearance for Marshall in a Division I-AA championship game.
Game summary
Scoring summary
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Game statistics
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thundering Herd | 3 | 10 | 29 | 0 | 42 |
| Indians | 7 | 14 | 7 | 15 | 43 |
| Statistics | MU | NLU |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 28 | 28 |
| Plays–yards | 85–576 | 85–570 |
| Rushes–yards | 31–102 | 42–134 |
| Passing yards | 474 | 436 |
| Passing: comp–att–int | 28–54–3 | 26–43–0 |
| Time of possession | 28:55 | 31:05 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marshall | Passing | Tony Petersen | 28–54, 474 yds, 4 TD, 3 INT |
| Rushing | Ronald Darby | 24 car, 136 yds, 1 TD | |
| Receiving | Michael Barber | 9 rec, 195 yds, 1 TD | |
| Northeast Louisiana | Passing | Stan Humphries | 26–43, 436 yds, 3 TD |
| Rushing | Henry “Cisco” Richard | 15 car, 77 yds, 2 TD | |
| Receiving | Mike Manzullo | 7 rec, 101 yds, 1 TD |