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, CFRA, 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
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)
Base defense	5–2
Home stadium	Jordan–Hare Stadium
Seasons ← 1982 1984 →

1983 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	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

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 an 11–1 season, with a 9–7 victory handing 2-loss #8 Michigan its third loss in the Sugar Bowl. Despite having lost to Texas by 13 points at home the Tigers ended ranked third in the final AP and the UPI Coaches' poll ahead of the 1-loss Longhorns 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).

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 10		Southern Miss*	No. 4	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL		W 24–3	73,500	[4]
September 17	11:30 am	No. 3 Texas*	No. 5	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL	CBS	L 7–20	73,500	[5]
September 24		at Tennessee	No. 11	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN (rivalry)		W 37–14	95,185	[6]
October 1		Florida State*	No. 10	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL		W 27–24	75,625	[7]
October 8		at Kentucky	No. 7	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY		W 49–21	57,989	[8]
October 15		at Georgia Tech*	No. 5	Grant Field Atlanta, GA (rivalry)		W 31–13	55,112	[9]
October 22		Mississippi State	No. 5	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL		W 28–13	71,500	[10]
October 29		No. 5 Florida	No. 4	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (rivalry)	CBS	W 28–21	75,700	[11]
November 5		No. 7 Maryland*	No. 3	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL		W 35–23	75,600	[12]
November 12	2:50 pm	at No. 4 Georgia	No. 3	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA (rivalry)	ABC	W 13–7	82,122	[13]
December 3	2:50 pm	vs. No. 19 Alabama	No. 3	Legion Field Birmingham, AL (Iron Bowl)	ABC	W 23–20	77,310	[14]
January 2, 1984	7:00 pm	vs. No. 8 Michigan*	No. 3	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl)	ABC	W 9–7	77,893	[15][16]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Rankings

Further information: 1983 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = 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)

Game summaries

Southern Miss

See also: 1983 Southern Miss Golden Eagles football team

Texas

See also: 1983 Texas Longhorns football team

Florida State

See also: 1983 Florida State Seminoles football team

Florida

See also: 1983 Florida Gators football team

^[17]

At Georgia

Team	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
• Referee: Dick Burleson
• 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

See also: 1983 Georgia Bulldogs football team and Deep South's Oldest Rivalry

^[18]

Vs. Alabama

Team	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

See also: 1983 Alabama Crimson Tide football team and Iron Bowl

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.^[19]

Vs. Michigan (Sugar Bowl)

Team	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
• Referee: Dixon Holman (SWC)
• 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

Main article: 1984 Sugar Bowl

See also: 1983 Michigan Wolverines football team

^[20]

Roster

1983 Auburn Tigers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 1 Chris Woods Sr RB 6 Lionel James Sr RB 8 Terry Walker Jr QB 10 Pat Washington So WR 11 Clayton Beauford Jr QB 14 Randy Campbell Sr QB 17 Mike Mann Jr RB 21 Ed Graham Jr RB 23 Kyle Collins So RB 25 Tim Jessie So RB 30 Tommie Agee So RB 33 Alan Evans So RB 34 Bo Jackson So FB 36 Greg Pratt Jr RB 38 Collis Campbell So FB 44 Ron O'Neal Jr C 52 Ben Tamburello Fr C 53 Yann Cowart Fr C 55 Kirk Callaway Jr C 59 Brian Dunlaney Sr G 60 John Margadonna Jr OT 62 Steve Posey Fr G 64 Randy Stokes So OT 65 Jeff Ostrowski Jr G 66 Jeff Lott So OL 67 Marvin Arnold So OT 68 Bob Hix Sr OT 69 Rob Shuler So OT 71 Jay Jacobs Jr OT 72 Tracy Turner Jr G 74 David Jordan Sr OT 76 Pat Arrington Sr OT 77 Mark Aston Jr OL 78 Steve Wallace So OT 80 Alex Dudchock Fr TE 82 Jeff Parks So WR 84 Tommy Carroll Sr WR 84 Clay Johnson Fr TE 85 Ed West Sr TE 87 Ron Middleton So TE Barry Garber So FB Joel Gregg So WR Tommy Lanier So WR Jeff Marks Fr OT Terry Moore So G Matt Triplett So	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 2 Chuck Clanton Sr CB 22 Danny Robinson So SS 26 Tommy Powell Fr CB 27 David King Jr FS 31 Vic Beasley Jr CB 32 Jonathan Robinson Jr LB 37 Chette Williams Jr LB 41 Pat Thomas So LB 42 Jeff Jackson Sr CB 45 Jimmie Warren So DB 48 Don Anderson Jr DB 49 Nat Ceasar Jr LB 51 Jim Bone Jr LB 52 Ben McCurdy So LB 54 Gregg Carr Jr DT 60 Terry Jones So NT 61 Dowe Aughtman Sr NG 63 James Wallace Jr NG 67 Jeff Neighbors So DT 79 Donnie Humphrey Sr DT 88 John Prudhomme Sr DE 90 Kevin Greene Jr DT 91 Ben Thomas Jr DE 93 Quency Williams Sr NG 94 Harold Hallman Jr DE 95 Gerald Robinson So DE 95 Ken Thomas Jr DE 96 John Dailey Jr DT 98 Joe Manning Jr DT 98 Gerald Williams So DT 99 Doug Smith Sr LB Jeff Bankston Jr DT Phillip Dembrowski Jr LB Robert Dowling So FS Freddie Jones Sr DB Scott Kunz So DE Pat Prichard Jr LB Mark Ressmeyer Jr FS Chris Taylor Sr LB Dale Tomaino Fr DE David Vinson So DE Neil Vinson So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 3 Al Del Greco Sr P 5 Lewis Colbert So P 16 Scott Selman Sr P Fred Murphy So K Rick Scussel Jr P Chike Ward So	Head coach Pat Dye Coordinators/assistant coaches Larry Blakeney (assistant) Neil Callaway (offensive line) Bud Casey (assistant) Jack Crowe (offensive coordinator) James Daniel (offensive line) Wayne Hall (assistant) Frank Orgel (assistant) Bobby Wallace (defensive backs) Joe Whitt (assistant) Frank Young (assistant) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster