The 1983 Auburn Tigers football team represented

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

in the

1983 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1983 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the University of Miami, led by Bernie Kosar, winning their first national championship over perennial power and top ranked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. The Hurricanes' 31–30 win over Nebras ...

. Coached by

Pat Dye Patrick Fain Dye (November 6, 1939 – June 1, 2020) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at East Carolina University (1974–1979), the University of Wyoming (1980), ...

, the team finished the season with an 11–1 record and won their first

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) title since 1957. The team was named national champion by NCAA-designated major selectors of Billingsley,

College Football Researchers Association The College Football Researchers Association (CFRA) was founded in 1982 by Anthony Cusher of Reeder, North Dakota, and Robert Kirlin of Spokane, Washington. The CFRA took a vote of its members from 1982 to 1992 to select an annual college football n ...

, and

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, while named co-national champion by both

Rothman Rothman is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Barbara Katz Rothman (born 1948), sociologist * Benny Rothman (1911–2002), political activist * David Rothman (statistician) (1935–2004), statistician * David Rothman (medical h ...

and Sagarin.

Season

The squad featured several star players who went on to long professional careers including

Bo Jackson Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson (born November 30, 1962) is an American former professional baseball and American football player. He is the only professional athlete in history to be named an All-Star in both baseball and football. Jackson's el ...

Randy Campbell Thomas Randolph "Randy" Campbell is an American football quarterback who played for Auburn University, an NCAA Division I-A school; is a speaker and wealth management and life insurance professional. He is best known for his two years as Auburn ...

Tommie Agee Tommie Lee Agee (August 9, 1942 – January 22, 2001) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a center fielder from through , most notably as a member of the New York Mets team that became known as th ...

Lionel James Lionel "Little Train" James (May 25, 1962 – February 25, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a running back for the San Diego Chargers in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Auburn Tig ...

, Donnie Humphrey, Steve Wallace and

Al Del Greco Albert Louis Del Greco (born March 2, 1962) is a former American football placekicker and a current sports radio personality. After eight years as golf coach at Spain Park High School in Hoover, Alabama, Del Greco was named the head coach of the ...

. Prior to the season, Dye became the first coach in the SEC to require players to take blood and urine tests for drugs. 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 over 3 loss Michigan in the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

. 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 Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

jumped from 5th from the AP and 4th from the UPI Coaches' poll to claim the AP/UPI Coaches' National Championship award. 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 Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

won the game against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

30–23).

Schedule

Roster

Rankings

Season summary

Southern Miss

Texas

Florida State

Florida

at Georgia

vs. Alabama

Sophomore

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.

vs. Michigan (Sugar Bowl)

References

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

Auburn Tigers football seasons Southeastern Conference football champion seasons Sugar Bowl champion seasons

Auburn Tigers football The Auburn Tigers football program represents Auburn University in the sport of American college football. Auburn competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division o ...

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