1987 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game

This article is about the Division I-AA (now FCS) championship game. For the Division I-A (now FBS) champions, see 1987 Miami Hurricanes football team.

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]

1987 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship
I-AA National Championship Game
Marshall Thundering Herd Northeast Louisiana Indians (10–4) (12–2) SoCon Southland 42 43 Head coach:  George Chaump Head coach:  Pat Collins NCAA Seed 14 – NCAA Seed 3 2
1 2 3 4 Total Marshall 3 10 29 0 42 Northeast Louisiana 7 14 7 15 43
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]
NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship  < 1986 1988 >

Teams

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 Indians

Main article: 1987 Northeast Louisiana Indians football team

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

See also: 1987 Marshall Thundering Herd football team

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

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP MU NLU 1 NLU Henry “Cisco” Richard 15-yard touchdown run, Teddy Garcia kick good 0 7 1 MU 33-yard field goal by Brian Mitchell 3 7 2 MU Keith Baxter 9-yard touchdown reception from Tony Petersen, Mitchell kick good 10 7 2 NLU Richard 7-yard touchdown run, Garcia kick good 10 14 2 MU 31-yard field goal by Mitchell 13 14 2 NLU Mike Manzullo 5-yard touchdown reception from Stan Humphries, Garcia kick good 13 21 3 MU Michael Barber 9-yard touchdown reception from Petersen, 2-point pass failed 19 21 3 MU Baxter 29-yard touchdown reception from Peterson, 2-point pass good (Bruce Hammond from Peterson) 27 21 3 NLU Chris Jones 9-yard touchdown reception from Humphries, Garcia kick good 27 28 3 MU Hammond 17-yard touchdown reception from Petersen, 2-point pass good (Sean Doctor from Peterson) 35 28 3 0:36 MU Ronald Darby 6-yard touchdown run, Mitchell kick good 42 28 4 13:34 74 NLU Kenneth Johnson 10-yard touchdown reception from Humphries, 2-point pass good (Jackie Harris from Humphries) 42 36 4 7:19 80 3:52 NLU Humphries 3-yard touchdown run, Garcia kick good 42 43 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 42 43

^{[1][8][9][10]}

Game statistics

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thundering Herd	3	10	29	0	42
Indians	7	14	7	15	43

Minidome, now Holt Arena, site of the 1987 Division I-AA championship game

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

^[1]

References

1. "Div. I-AA Championship". Billings Gazette. Billings, Montana. December 21, 1987. p. 5-B. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
2. van Thyn, Nico (December 19, 1987). "TV Sports". The Times. Shreveport, Louisiana. p. 27. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
3. "NE Louisiana wins I-AA championship". Great Falls Tribune. Great Falls, Montana. AP. December 20, 1987. p. 2H. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
4. "Southland foes meet in playoffs". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. November 23, 1987. p. B-1. Retrieved February 13, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
5. "ULM Warhawks 1987 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Retrieved April 30, 2019.^{[permanent dead link]}
6. "Div. I-AA poll". The San Francisco Examiner. November 24, 1987. p. F-6. Retrieved February 13, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
7. "Marshall Thundering Herd 1987 Schedule". cfbinfo.com. Retrieved April 30, 2019.^{[permanent dead link]}
8. "Humphries Rallies Northeast Louisiana". Carlsbad Current-Argus. Carlsbad, New Mexico. AP. December 21, 1987. p. 10. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
9. Campbell, Bill (December 21, 1987). "NLU had the will — and the way". The Times. Shreveport, Louisiana. p. 19. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
10. Campbell, Bill (December 21, 1987). "Humphries, Northeast pass the final test in I-AA". The Times. Shreveport, Louisiana. p. 20. Retrieved April 30, 2019 – via newspapers.com.

Further reading

• "1987 National Championship Team to be Inducted into ULM Hall of Fame". ulmwarhawks.com. March 26, 2012. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
• Hunsucker, Adam (September 27, 2017). "The Team of Destiny: An oral history of ULM's national title". The News-Star. Monroe, Louisiana. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
• Letlow, Paul (September 30, 2017). "1987 National Championship Reunion". ulmwarhawks.com. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
• Woodrum, Woody (October 26, 2006). "1987 Herd Team Returns For Homecoming Game". 247Sports.com. Retrieved April 30, 2019.

External links

• National Champions plaque on display at Malone Stadium via Yelp