The 1983 Southern Illinois Salukis football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented Southern Illinois University (now known as

Southern Illinois University Carbondale Southern Illinois University (SIU or SIUC) is a public research university in Carbondale, Illinois. Founded in 1869, SIU is the oldest and flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system. The university enrolls students from all 50 s ...

) in the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

(MVC) during the

1983 NCAA Division I-AA football season The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

. Under eighth-year head coach

Rey Dempsey Rey Dempsey (born September 20, 1936) is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Youngstown State University from 1973 to 1974, Southern Illinois University from 1976 to 1983, and Memphis State University—now k ...

, the team compiled a 13–1 record, finished second in the MVC, and won the NCAA Division I-AA Championship, defeating in the

1983 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game The 1983 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Southern Illinois Salukis and the Western Carolina Catamounts. The game was played on December 17, 1983, at Johnson Hagood Stadium in Charl ...

. The team played its home games at

McAndrew Stadium McAndrew Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. It opened in 1938 and was home to the Southern Illinois University Salukis football team, as well as the track team. It was replaced by Saluki Stadium in 2010. ...

Carbondale, Illinois Carbondale is a city in Jackson and Williamson Counties, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". The city developed from 1853 because of the stimulation of railroad construction into the ...

Schedule

References

{{1983 Division I-AA football playoff navbox

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern United States, Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of th ...

Southern Illinois Salukis football seasons NCAA Division I Football Champions

Southern Illinois Salukis football The Southern Illinois Salukis football program represents Southern Illinois University Carbondale in college football. The Salukis are a member of the NCAA and compete at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level (formerly known as ...