ULM edges Marshall 43-42 in closest FCS title game ever
Stan Humphries threw the winner with 7:19 left as ULM beat Marshall 43-42, the one-point finish that still defines FCS title drama.
Stan Humphries needed only 7:19 to turn a title game into the closest championship finish in subdivision history. His touchdown pass carried Northeast Louisiana, now ULM, past Marshall 43-42 on Dec. 19, 1987, at the Minidome in Pocatello, Idaho, before 11,513 fans.
The finish was every bit as narrow as the score. Humphries completed 436 yards worth of offense, threw three touchdown passes and did not have an interception, and ULM’s defense then stopped a pair of Marshall drives in the final minutes to protect the one-point lead. The Warhawks finished 13-2.
ULM did not reach that stage by accident. Its bracket run included wins over North Texas, Eastern Kentucky and Northern Iowa. Marshall, seeded No. 14, was in the I-AA playoffs for the first time in program history under second-year coach George Chaump and beat James Madison, Weber State and Appalachian State before falling one point short of the championship.
The NCAA championship started in 1978 as a four-team Division I-AA tournament, expanded to eight teams in 1981, 12 in 1982 and 16 in 1986. By the time ULM and Marshall met in Pocatello, the modern postseason structure was just beginning to settle, and the 43-42 final became an early benchmark for the pressure that defines FCS football.
ULM later inducted the 1987 team into its Hall of Fame in 2012 and reunited the group in 2017.
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