1987 NCAA Division I-AA football season

1987 NCAA Division I-AA season
Regular season
Number of teams	87
Duration	August–November
Payton Award	Kenny Gamble (RB, Colgate)
Playoff
Duration	November 28–December 19
Championship date	December 19, 1987
Championship site	Minidome Pocatello, Idaho
Champion	Northeast Louisiana
NCAA Division I-AA football seasons
«1986 1988»

The 1987 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 1987, and concluded with the 1987 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game on December 19, 1987, at the Minidome in Pocatello, Idaho. The Northeast Louisiana Indians won their first I-AA championship, defeating the Marshall Thundering Herd by a score of 43–42.

Conference changes and new programs

• The Gulf Star Conference folded after the 1986 season when four of its founding members, Northwestern State, Sam Houston State, Southwest Texas State, and Stephen F. Austin, joined the Southland Conference. The Gulf Star's remaining football member, Nicholls State, opted to become an Independent. Three former Southland Conference members, Arkansas State, Lamar, and Louisiana Tech, moved to D-IAA Independent status after joining the newly formed (non-football) American South Conference as charter members.

School	1986 Conference	1987 Conference
Akron	Ohio Valley (I-AA)	Independent (I-A)
Arkansas State	Southland	I-AA Independent
Davidson	D-III Independent	Colonial (I-AA)
Eastern Washington	I-AA Independent	Big Sky
Lamar	Southland	I-AA Independent
Louisiana Tech	Southland	I-AA Independent
Nicholls State	Gulf Star	I-AA Independent
Northwestern State	Gulf Star	Southland
Sam Houston State	Gulf Star	Southland
Southwest Texas State	Gulf Star	Southland
Stephen F. Austin	Gulf Star	Southland
Towson State	D-II Independent	I-AA Independent
Villanova	Revived Program+	I-AA Independent

+ "unclassified" for 1985 (partial season) and 1986 (full season)

Conference standings

1987 Big Sky Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 5 Idaho $^ 7 – 1 – 0 9 – 3 – 0 No. 10 Weber State ^ 7 – 1 – 0 10 – 3 – 0 Montana 5 – 3 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Boise State 4 – 4 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Nevada 4 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Northern Arizona 4 – 4 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 Idaho State 3 – 5 – 0 3 – 7 – 1 Eastern Washington 2 – 6 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 Montana State 0 – 8 – 0 1 – 10 – 0 $ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Poll	1987 Colonial League football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 1 Holy Cross $ 4 – 0 – 0 11 – 0 – 0 Lehigh 3 – 1 – 1 5 – 5 – 1 Colgate 2 – 2 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 Lafayette 2 – 3 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 Bucknell 1 – 3 – 1 4 – 5 – 1 Davidson 0 – 3 – 0 1 – 10 – 0 $ – Conference champion Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll	1987 Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 4 Northern Iowa $^ 6 – 0 – 0 10 – 4 – 0 Western Illinois 5 – 1 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 Eastern Illinois 3 – 3 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 SW Missouri State 3 – 3 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Indiana State 2 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Southern Illinois 2 – 4 – 0 3 – 8 – 0 Illinois State 0 – 6 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 $ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll
1987 Ivy League football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Harvard $ 6 – 1 – 0 8 – 2 – 0 Brown 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 Yale 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 Princeton 4 – 3 – 0 6 – 4 – 0 Cornell 4 – 3 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Penn 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 Dartmouth 1 – 6 – 0 2 – 8 – 0 Columbia 0 – 7 – 0 0 – 10 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1987 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 20 Delaware State $ 5 – 0 – 0 9 – 1 – 0 No. 18 Howard 4 – 1 – 0 8 – 2 – 0 South Carolina State 3 – 2 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Bethune–Cookman 2 – 3 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 North Carolina A&T 1 – 4 – 0 3 – 8 – 0 Morgan State 0 – 5 – 0 1 – 9 – 0 Florida A&M 0 – 0 – 0 5 – 5 – 1 $ – Conference champion Florida A&M games did not count as conference games in 1987; records adjusted for Howard and Arkansas Pine–Bluff forfeits to Delaware State Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll	1987 Ohio Valley Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 7 Eastern Kentucky +^ 5 – 1 – 0 9 – 3 – 0 No. 15 Youngstown State +^ 5 – 1 – 0 8 – 4 – 0 Middle Tennessee 4 – 2 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Murray State 3 – 3 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Tennessee Tech 2 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Morehead State 1 – 5 – 0 2 – 8 – 0 Austin Peay 1 – 5 – 0 2 – 9 – 0 + – Conference co-champions ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll
1987 Southern Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 2 Appalachian State $^ 7 – 0 – 0 11 – 3 – 0 No. 14 Marshall ^ 4 – 2 – 0 10 – 5 – 0 Furman 4 – 3 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 Chattanooga 4 – 3 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 VMI 2 – 4 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 Western Carolina 2 – 4 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 East Tennessee State 2 – 5 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 The Citadel 1 – 5 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 $ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll	1987 Southland Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 3 Northeast Louisiana $^ 6 – 0 – 0 13 – 2 – 0 No. 19 Sam Houston State 5 – 1 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 No. 16 North Texas State ^ 5 – 1 – 0 7 – 5 – 0 Northwestern State 3 – 3 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 SW Texas State 2 – 4 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 Stephen F. Austin 1 – 5 – 0 3 – 7 – 1 McNeese State 1 – 5 – 0 2 – 9 – 0 $ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll	1987 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 9 Jackson State $^ 7 – 0 – 0 8 – 3 – 1 Southern 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 Alcorn State 5 – 2 – 0 6 – 3 – 0 Alabama State 4 – 3 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 Grambling State 3 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Texas Southern 3 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Prairie View A&M 1 – 6 – 0 3 – 8 – 0 Mississippi Valley State 0 – 7 – 0 1 – 10 – 0 $ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll
1987 Yankee Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 13 Maine +^ 6 – 1 – 0 8 – 4 – 0 No. 17 Richmond +^ 6 – 1 – 0 7 – 5 – 0 Connecticut 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 New Hampshire 4 – 3 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 Delaware 2 – 5 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 UMass 2 – 5 – 0 3 – 8 – 0 Boston University 2 – 5 – 0 3 – 8 – 0 Rhode Island 1 – 6 – 0 1 – 10 – 0 + – Conference co-champions ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll	1987 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 6 Georgia Southern ^   –   9 – 4 – 0 No. 8 James Madison ^   –   9 – 3 – 0 No. 12 Arkansas State ^   –   8 – 4 – 1 No. 11 Western Kentucky ^   –   7 – 4 – 0 Villanova   –   6 – 4 – 0 Northeastern   –   6 – 5 – 0 Nicholls State   –   5 – 5 – 1 William & Mary   –   5 – 6 – 0 Towson   –   4 – 6 – 0 Tennessee State   –   3 – 7 – 1 Lamar   –   3 – 8 – 0 Louisiana Tech   –   3 – 8 – 0 ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll

Conference champions

See also: List of NCAA Division I-AA/FCS football seasons

Conference Champions
Big Sky Conference – Idaho Colonial League – Holy Cross Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference – Northern Iowa Ivy League – Harvard Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – Howard Ohio Valley Conference – Eastern Kentucky and Youngstown State Southern Conference – Appalachian State Southland Conference – Northeast Louisiana Southwestern Athletic Conference – Jackson State Yankee Conference – Richmond

Postseason

The playoff bracket of sixteen teams had four seeded teams; Appalachian State, Northeast Louisiana, Northern Iowa, and Idaho were first through fourth, respectively. Undefeated and top-ranked Holy Cross, featuring Heisman Trophy candidate Gordie Lockbaum, did not participate in the postseason, per the rules of their conference, the Colonial League (known as the Patriot League since 1990).

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) conference champion Howard Bison (9–1) did not receive an invitation to the I-AA playoffs and filed a lawsuit against the NCAA and sought a temporary restraining order to delay the start of the playoffs. The lawsuit asserted "unlawful and racially motivated reasons" for the team being passed over. Two days later, the request for a temporary restraining order was rejected by federal judge John Garrett Penn. Howard then advocated that they, plus three other teams, should be added to the second round of the playoffs; the proposal was rejected by the NCAA, who said that Howard had played a weak schedule. In September 1989, MEAC stripped Howard of their 1987 conference championship, retroactively awarding it to Delaware State, after finding that Howard had used some players beyond their four years of NCAA eligibility.

The I-AA playoff field remained at sixteen through the 2009 season, expanding to twenty in 2010 and 24 in 2013.

NCAA Division I-AA playoff bracket

	First round					Quarterfinals					Semifinals					National Championship Game
	November 28 – Boone, NC
		Richmond	3
						December 5 – Boone, NC
	1	Appalachian State*	20
						1	Appalachian State*	19
	November 28 – Statesboro, GA
							Georgia Southern	0
		Maine	28
											December 12 – Boone, NC
		Georgia Southern*	31*
											1	Appalachian State*	10
	November 28 – Moscow, ID
												Marshall	24
		Weber State	59
						December 5 – Huntington, WV
	4	Idaho*	30
							Weber State	23
	November 28 – Huntington, WV
							Marshall*	51
		James Madison	12
																December 19 – Pocatello, ID
		Marshall*	41
																	Marshall	42
	November 28 – Monroe, LA
																2	Northeast Louisiana	43
		North Texas State	9
						December 5 – Monroe, LA
	2	Northeast Louisiana*	30
						2	Northeast Louisiana*	33
	November 28 – Richmond, KY
							Eastern Kentucky	32
		Western Kentucky	17
											December 12 – Monroe, LA
		Eastern Kentucky*	40
											2	Northeast Louisiana*	44**
	November 28 – Cedar Falls, IA
											3	Northern Iowa	41
		Youngstown State	28
						December 5 – Cedar Falls, IA
	3	Northern Iowa*	31
						3	Northern Iowa*	49
	November 28 – Jackson, MS
							Arkansas State	28
		Arkansas State	35
		Jackson State*	32

* Next to team name denotes host institution
* Next to score denotes overtime periods