RFC Throwback Thursday: THE 2,500TH POST AT RFC-The "Hugo Bowl" Game at Georgia Southern-1989

(Video #1 courtesy of Georgia Southern University/ESPN.)

(Video #2 courtesy of ESPN.)

(Video #3 courtesy of Georgia Southern University.)

As hard as it is to believe, this week's installment of "Throwback Thursday" is the 2,500th post on the Real Football Central blog!

This week's post turns the clock back to Thursday, September 21, 1989. That was when the Georgia Southern University Eagles played host to the Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders in a nationally televised contest on ESPN

In the game that became known as the "Hugo Bowl" at Allen E. Paulson Stadium in Statesboro, Georgia, where nine inches of rain fell in four hours due to the landfall of Hurricane Hugo, the Eagles pitched a 26-0 shutout win over the Blue Raiders before a crowd of more than 16,000 brave spectators. 

The win over MTSU helped fuel Georgia Southern's run to a third and final NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) national championship under then-head coach Erk Russell. Russell retired from coaching after the Eagles finished the 1989 season undefeated at 15-0 overall, edging Stephen F. Austin 37-34 in the title game on December 16.

The first video features the audio of the original radio broadcast, featuring then play-by-play announcer Nate Hirsch and color commentator Frank Inman. In contrast, the second video features the original television broadcast from ESPN, and the third and final video features a look back at the "Hugo Bowl", and what made that game special. 

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