Remembering NLU's run to the '87 I-AA title

To simply focus on the final result of the 1987 season doesn't do justice to the Northeast Louisiana University football team of that era.
More than 20 years ago, NLU emerged from a 15-game season with 13 victories and a Division I-AA national championship. The Indians, as they were called then, beat Marshall 43-42 in a quirky indoor stadium called the Minidome in Pocatello, Idaho to finish the journey.
A national championship is sweet enough. But it's the way this team won so many of its games that made the Indians of that era larger than life.
Close calls and comebacks, high-scoring games and last-second heroics all added luster to the remarkable season.
"It was like a team of destiny," recalled Stan Humphries, the quarterback with the winning hand for NLU that year.
Humphries, who followed his collegiate triumphs with 10 years in the NFL, never forgot the camraderie of the college experience.

"I think the big thing was, we had a group of guys who loved to be around each other," he said.
Humphries said the way coach Pat Collins groomed high school products and kept them in the program created the tight-knit feeling.
"When you're around a group of guys for two or three years and you do everything together, it's like a family," Humphries said "I think that's the way that team was."

PEAKS AND VALLEYS
NLU was dominant through the first three games of 1987, using its new one-back, pro-style offense to bludgeon Louisiana Tech and Southwest Texas by identical 44-7 scores. Nicholls State went down 26-14.
"Things went really well those first three games," Humphries said, "and then we went into a lull."
"The Team of Destiny" needed its first miracle in Week Four with a "Hail Mary" pass from Humphries to Jackie Harris to beat Northwestern State 33-31 in Natchitoches. On the game's final play, Humphries tossed a 48-yard prayer that was tipped twice before Harris snagged the ball with a diving catch near the back of the end zone.
A week after escaping Northwestern, NLU endured a crushing 48-28 loss to Lamar, a team that would finish 3-8. The loss would also cost Humphries his starting job for three games as backup Walter Phythian came in and threw for 209 yards and ran for 102.
Phythian would start against defending I-AA champion Georgia Southern the next week and direct a 26-17 victory. Humphries never saw the field as NLU utilized four field goals by star kicker Teddy Garcia.
"We won that football game because Walt played — instead of me," Humphries said. "When you play that style of offense, you only get it a few times a game. Well, the way I played — and the way we played when I was quarterback — we threw the ball a lot. You have three and outs, and they get the ball back. With Walt playing, it was a whole different style of offense. We controlled the ball and we controlled the clock."
The Indians were humbled again the next week as Southwestern Louisiana won at Malone Stadium, 17-7. Humphries and Phythian alternated at quarterback, a plan that failed as NLU gained just 226 yards.
"We stunk it up," Collins said then as his team slipped to 5-2. "Sloppy wasn't the word for it. I don't know if there is a word for it."
The word was change.
The next week, Humphries was reinstated as NLU's starting quarterback and he passed for 388 yards and three TDs to maul McNeese 37-10.
The offense was back on track, and so was the team's championship chase.

TURNING THE CORNER
Week 9 brought a 34-24 win over Division I-A Southern Miss (which had a young quarterback named Brett Favre at the helm). NLU was the only I-AA school to beat a I-A team with a winning record that year as USM finished 6-5.
"I think the turning point in that season was when we beat Southern Miss," Humphries said. "When we beat them over there like that, it raised our eyelids a little bit if we could just stay on course."
NLU completed another piece of the puzzle in Week 10 by beating North Texas 24-23 in the "Southland Showdown." Humphries threw for 310 yards as NLU won a share of the Southland Conference title.
But by this time, it was clear NLU wasn't inclined to do things the easy way.
After leading 21-0, NLU faltered and allowed North Texas to storm back. A touchdown with 1:23 remaining narrowed the score to 24-23.
North Texas coach Corky Nelson decided to kick the extra point instead of trying for two and the win. Keith Chapman's kick hit the right upright and bounced back. Chapman, perfect on PAT's all season had missed and NLU had won.
"God was with us tonight," Collins said afterward. "That was one we don't practice every Thursday"
Even as a co-conference champion, NLU needed a Week 11 win over Arkansas State to assure a playoff berth. Arkansas State wasn't even in the Southland anymore after leaving in 1986. But because NLU couldn't schedule all three of the new teams in the Southland, the Arkansas State game was a designated conference game.
After falling behind 21-0 in the first half, NLU rallied to win 31-21. Humphries threw for 351 yards and a touchdown to open the door to the postseason.

HOME FOR THE PLAYOFFS
The first round brought a rematch with North Texas, but NLU took care of business. Linebacker Duke Marcus made 16 tackles as the defense delivered its best performance of the playoffs.
"I thought this game was a real challenge for the team because of the way the last one ended," Collins said "We had the impetus to play well, and we did."
A 33-32 quarterfinal win over Eastern Kentucky was harder on the heart. Humphries passed for 486 yards and gained 521 yards of total offense. Garcia, who missed two field goals earlier in the game, boomed a 48-yarder with 14 seconds remaining to win it for NLU. Collins called it the most exciting game he'd ever coached.
"I believe in these players, and they knew they'd win," Collins said, "no matter what it took to do it."
Think that was something? The Indians topped that with a double-overtime thriller the next week to advance to the championship game.
In the 44-41 semifinal win over Northern Iowa at Malone Stadium, NLU blew a 21-0 lead, then let Northern Iowa tie the game at 41-41 on a touchdown and two-point conversion.
In the first overtime, Northern Iowa lost a fumble at the NLU 3 while Garcia missed a potential game-winning field goal.
In the second overtime, Garcia found redemption with a 41-yard field goal. Northern Iowa's kicker missed his 38-yard attempt and NLU — despite giving up 547 yards — was headed to the title game.
"They were the best team today," Northern Iowa coach Darrell Mudra said. "NLU has a great quarterback and a great scheme. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they win the national championship."

POCATELLO, HERE THEY COME
The I-AA season concluded that year in the Minidome, home of Idaho State in Pocatello.
The Indians and the Thundering Herd from Marshall put on a show in a nationally-televised game that produced more than 1,000 yards. Humphries tossed three touchdowns and passed for 436 yards. His quarterback counterpart Tony Peterson threw for 474 yards.
NLU needed its own comeback this time after trailing by 14 points in the fourth quarter.
Humphries directed the game-winning drive and scored the go-ahead touchdown with 7:19 remaining. Garcia's PAT stood as the winning margin, thanks to a few big plays from a "Crunch Bunch" defense that had drawn criticism by allowing more than 400 yards per game through the playoffs.
The beleaguered unit, which gave up 576 yards in the championship, contributed a fumble recovery by Richard Green at the NLU 7 with three minutes left and a 14-yard sack by Troy Brown. Finally, safety Perry Harper intercepted a pass with 56 seconds remaining to seal the win.
"You can say it's vindication for us," NLU defensive tackle Claude Brumfield said after the game. "We protected that one-point lead."
Now 20 years later, the story of 1987 reads like an improbable movie script. But it's all true — and in retrospect —as amazing as it sounds.
"In my whole career, that was one of those times when football was a game and it was fun," Humphries said. "The atmosphere on Saturday — the people in the parking lot and tailgating. At the next level, it's a business. At that point, it was a game and you were excited to play."