1983 Auburn Tigers football team

The 1983 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University in the 1983 NCAA Division I-A football season. Coached by Pat Dye, the team finished the season with an 11–1 record and won their first Southeastern Conference (SEC) title since 1957. The team was named national champion by NCAA-designated major selectors of Billingsley, College Football Researchers Association, and The New York Times, while named co-national champion by both Rothman and Sagarin.[1]

1983 Auburn Tigers football
National champion (Billingsley, FR, The New York Times) Co-national champion (Rothman, Sagarin) SEC champion Sugar Bowl champion
Sugar Bowl, W 9–7 vs Michigan
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 3
1983 record	11–1 (6–0 SEC)
Head coach	Pat Dye (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Jack Crowe (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Wishbone
Defensive coordinator	Frank Orgel (3rd season)
Home stadium	Jordan–Hare Stadium

1983 Southeastern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 3 Auburn $	6	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 4 Georgia	5	–	1	–	0			10	–	1	–	1
No. 6 Florida	4	–	2	–	0			9	–	2	–	1
Tennessee	4	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 15 Alabama	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Ole Miss	4	–	2	–	0			6	–	6	–	0
Kentucky	2	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	1
Mississippi State	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
LSU	0	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Vanderbilt	0	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Season

The squad featured several star players who went on to long professional careers including Bo Jackson, Randy Campbell, Tommie Agee, Lionel James, Donnie Humphrey, Steve Wallace and Al Del Greco. Prior to the season, Dye became the first coach in the SEC to require players to take blood and urine tests for drugs.[2] Also prior to the season, fullback Greg Pratt collapsed after making his required time in running tests and died a short time later.

The team capped a stellar 11–1 season, with a 9-7 victory over Michigan in the Sugar Bowl. Despite entering the bowl games ranked third in both major polls, and with both teams ranked higher losing their bowl games, the Tigers ended ranked third in the final AP and the UPI Coaches' poll as Miami jumped from 5th from the AP and 4th from the UPI Coaches' poll to claim the AP/UPI Coaches' National Championship award.[3] Auburn had played the toughest schedule in the nation, including nine bowl teams, eight of which were ranked in the top 20 (five in the top ten), and two teams Auburn faced would compete against each other in the 1983 Florida Citrus Bowl (Tennessee won the game against Maryland 30-23). Also, Auburn beat Florida by a touchdown 28-21, the same Florida team that defeated Miami in the beginning of the season by a 28-3 score.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 10		Southern Miss*	No. 4	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, Alabama		W 24–3	73,500
September 17	11:30 am CDT	No. 3 Texas*	No. 5	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, Alabama	CBS	L 7–20	73,500
September 24		at Tennessee	No. 11	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, Tennessee (rivalry)		W 37–14	95,185
October 1		Florida State*	No. 10	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, Alabama		W 27–24	75,625
October 8		at Kentucky	No. 7	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, Kentucky		W 49–21	57,989
October 15		at Georgia Tech*	No. 5	Grant Field Atlanta, Georgia (rivalry)		W 31–13	55,112
October 22		Mississippi State	No. 5	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, Alabama		W 28–13	71,500
October 29		No. 5 Florida	No. 4	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, Alabama (rivalry)	CBS	W 28–21	75,700
November 5		No. 7 Maryland*	No. 3	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, Alabama		W 35–23	75,600
November 12	2:50 pm CST	at No. 4 Georgia	No. 3	Sanford Stadium Athens, Georgia (Deep South's Oldest Rivalry)	ABC	W 13–7	82,122
December 3	2:50 pm CST	vs. No. 19 Alabama	No. 3	Legion Field Birmingham, Alabama (Iron Bowl)	ABC	W 23–20	77,310
January 2, 1984	7:00 pm CST	vs. No. 8 Michigan*	No. 3	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans (Sugar Bowl)	ABC	W 9–7	77,893
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1983 Auburn Tigers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 30 Tommie Agee So OL 76 Pat Arrington Sr WR 11 Clayton Beauford Jr QB 14 Randy Campbell Sr RB 21 Ed Graham Jr RB 34 Bo Jackson So RB 6 Lionel James Sr OL 74 David Jordan Sr OL 66 Jeff Lott So QB 17 Mike Mann Jr C 55 Ben Tamburello Fr OL 78 Steve Wallace So TE 85 Ed West Sr WR 1 Chris Woods Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class NT 61 Dowe Aughtman Sr FS 31 Vic Beasley Jr LB 54 Gregg Carr Jr DE 96 John Dailey Jr DE 90 Kevin Greene Jr DT 79 Donnie Humphrey Sr DT 88 John Prudhomme Sr LB 42 Jeff Jackson Sr CB 27 David King Jr SS 9 Tommy Powell Fr DE 95 Gerald Robinson So DL 99 Doug Smith Sr CB 45 Jimmie Warren So DL 93 Quency Williams Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 5 Lewis Colbert So K 3 Al Del Greco Sr	Head coach Pat Dye Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	5 (2)	4 (1)	5	11	10	7	5	5	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3 (7)
Coaches	3 (3)	3 (1)	4	14	10	10	8	5	5	3	3	3	3	3	3	3 (4)

Season summary

Southern Miss

Texas

Florida State

Florida

[4]

at Georgia

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 3 Auburn 7 6 0 0 13 No. 4 Georgia 0 0 0 7 7 Date: November 12 Location: Sanford Stadium Game attendance: 82,122 TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles

Scoring summary 1 AUB James 4 yard run (Del Greco kick) AUB 7–0 2 AUB Del Greco 21 yard field goal AUB 10–0 2 AUB Del Greco 41 yard field goal AUB 13–0 4 UGA Archie 13 yard pass from Lastinger (Butler kick) AUB 13–7

[5]

vs. Alabama

1 2 3 4 Total No. 19 Alabama 0 14 6 0 20 • No. 3 Auburn 0 10 13 0 23 Date: December 3 Location: Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama Game attendance: 77,310 Game weather: 62 °F (17 °C), Cloudy with rain, Wind SE 10 mph (16 km/h) Referee: Johnny Cook TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson, Frank Broyles

Scoring summary 2 AUB Bo Jackson 69-yard run (Al Del Greco kick) AUB 7–0 2 11:42 BAMA Joey Jones 20-yard pass from Walter Lewis (Van Tiffin kick) Tied 7–7 2 5:30 AUB Del Greco 29-yard field goal AUB 10–7 2 0:46 BAMA Joe Carter 3-yard pass from Walter Lewis (Tiffin kick) BAMA 14–10 3 AUB Del Greco 26-yard field goal BAMA 14–13 3 AUB Del Greco 34-yard field goal AUB 16–14 3 2:20 BAMA Ricky Moore 57-yard run (conversion failed) BAMA 20–16 4 2:03 AUB Bo Jackson 71-yard run (Del Greco kick) AUB 23–20

Sophomore Bo Jackson ran for 256 yards and 2 touchdowns as the Tigers won the SEC title outright. His long touchdown runs – 69 yards and 71 yards, respectively – bookended the day's scoring.[6]

vs. Michigan (Sugar Bowl)

1 2 3 4 Total Michigan 7 0 0 0 7 • Auburn 0 0 3 6 9 Date: January 1 Location: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans Game attendance: 77,893 Game weather: Indoors TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson, Frank Broyles

Scoring summary 1 MICH Steve Smith 4-yard run (Bergeron kick) MICH 7–0 3 AUB Al Del Greco 31-yard field goal MICH 7–3 4 AUB Del Greco 32-yard field goal MICH 7–6 4 AUB Del Greco 19-yard field goal AUB 9–7

[7]

References

1. 2018 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. August 2018. p. 114. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
2. "Auburn Testing Players for Drugs". New York Times. 1983-08-22. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
3. Barnhart, Tony. "Auburn Wins 1984 Sugar Bowl, but National Championship Still Eludes Tigers". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/CBS. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
4. "FLORIDA IS BEATEN BY AUBURN, 28-21". The New York Times. October 30, 1983. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
5. Gainesville Sun. 1983 Nov 13. Retrieved 2018-Nov-12.
6. "AUBURN SETS BACK ALABAMA BY 23-20". The New York Times. December 4, 1983. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
7. "TIGERS SET BACK MICHIGAN BY 9-7". The New York Times. January 2, 1984. Retrieved November 2, 2019.