The 1983 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

, led by Bernie Kosar, winning their first national championship over perennial power and top ranked

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in ...

. The Hurricanes' 31–30 win over Nebraska is still talked about as one of the greatest games of all time, not only for its last minute finish, but for its role in changing the face of college football. Miami came into the game ranked No. 5, but losses by No. 2 Texas in the Cotton Bowl and No. 4 Illinois in the Rose Bowl launched them to No. 1 (despite protests from No. 3 Auburn, who played the toughest schedule in the nation that year). Nebraska scored a touchdown with 48 seconds remaining, putting them within one point of the Hurricanes. Despite knowing a tie would still give Nebraska the national title, Coach Tom Osborne decided to go for two points and the win rather than one point and the tie. Miami was able to hold, snapping Nebraska's 22-game winning streak and launching Miami as a powerhouse program. This Miami team was the first to win a national title without a single player voted to the first team All-Americans and only the second to win a national title gaining more passing yards than rushing. The

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year coeducational university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associ ...

, featuring

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 ...

also had a stellar season going 11–1 and beating 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 only ...

9–7. 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 poll as Miami jumped from 5th to ranked No. 1 when they beat No. 1 ranked Nebraska to gain the National Championship. Auburn had played the toughest schedule in the nation, including eight bowl teams, seven of which were ranked in the top 20 (four in the top ten). Even with this difficult schedule the Tigers were ranked first by a few polls, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' computer rankings. The NCAA record book also formally recognizes the Tigers as co-national champions, along with Nebraska (and Miami). It is not uncommon for the NCAA record book to "recognize" multiple national champions in a given year, with the AP and Coaches' poll winner regarded as national champions. The

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has ...

was also a classic, as Brigham Young University, led by future NFL star Steve Young, defeated Missouri with a last second halfback pass. This season's edition of the annual rivalry game between Oregon and Oregon State is still widely known and derided as "The Toilet Bowl", as the teams played to a 0–0 tie, the last scoreless tie in college football. The game featured 11 total turnovers, as 6 fumbles were lost (out of 11 total), 5 interceptions, and 4 missed field goals. This season saw no conference have two or more teams tie for the title—an event that did not happen again in either Division I-A or its successor, Division I FBS, until

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

. (Note, however, that even when a conference officially recognizes multiple champions, it will invariably have some kind of tiebreaker system to determine placement for bowl berths.)

Rule changes

*The winner of the pre-game coin toss now has the option to defer their choice to the second half. *Roughing the passer now includes an automatic first down in addition to yardage penalties. *Running into the kicker is now a foul, with a five-yard penalty assessed. *Unsportsmanlike conduct will be called against a kicker or punter who feigns being roughed to draw a penalty. *Unsportsmanlike conduct will also be called for taunting a defender with the ball, spiking the ball, etc. against a player or if an entire team runs onto the field to celebrate a score. *A two-yard buffer (halo) is established around a kick/punt returner when the ball begins its downward flight. *Conferences are permitted to add a seventh official (side judge) to their crews. The

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

is the first to establish seven-man crews. *Extended the "team area" from 30-yard line to 25-yard line. *Penalties that occur at the end of any quarter will cause the period to be extended for one un-timed down. *The visiting team must wear white jerseys. This rule change mostly affected

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

and LSU, which traditionally wore white at home.

Conference and program changes

* Admitted as a non-football member of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...

in 1979, Georgia Tech played its first season of ACC football in 1983 after 19 seasons as an independent.

September

Big 8 rivals

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

were No. 1 and No. 2 in the preseason AP Poll, followed by No. 3

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Defending champion Penn State was No. 4, and Auburn was No. 5. In the kickoff classic on August 29, No. 1 Nebraska routed No. 4 Penn State, 44-6. The Nittany Lions opened with three straight losses and never made it back into the polls. None of the other top-ranked teams played in the first week of September, and the next poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Auburn, and No. 5 Notre Dame. September 10: No. 1 Nebraska beat Wyoming 56-20, and No. 2 Oklahoma won 27-14 at Stanford. No. 3 Texas still had not started its schedule. No. 4 Auburn defeated Southern Mississippi 24-3, and No. 5 Notre Dame won 52-6 at Purdue. The latter two teams switched places in the next poll: No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Auburn. September 17: No. 1 Nebraska annihilated Minnesota 84-13, setting a school scoring record against a Division I opponent. Otherwise, this was a day of shakeup in the top five. No. 2 Oklahoma lost at home to No. 6

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, 24-12. No. 3 Texas won at No. 4 Auburn 20-7. No. 5 Notre Dame lost at home to Michigan State, 28-23. Moving up in the next poll were No. 7

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, which beat Washington State 45-6 (the Wildcats had outscored their first three opponents 133-12) and No. 10

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

, which defeated Miami-Ohio 48-17. The poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Arizona, and No. 5 North Carolina. September 24: No. 1 Nebraska defeated UCLA 42-10, and No. 2 Texas beat North Texas State 26-6. No. 3 Ohio State lost at No. 7

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

20-14, while No. 4 Arizona won 27-10 over Cal State Fullerton and No. 5 North Carolina beat William & Mary 51-20. The next poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Arizona, No. 4 Iowa, and No. 5 North Carolina.

October

October 1: No. 1 Nebraska blew out Syracuse 63-7, and No. 2 Texas defeated Rice 42-6. However, No. 3 Arizona was tied by California 33-33; No. 4 Iowa had the same level of defense but none of the offense, being shut out 33-0 by

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

. No. 5 North Carolina won 38-21 at Georgia Tech, which was beginning its first year in the ACC. Moving up were No. 6

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

, which had started 4-0 in their first year without Bear Bryant (the most recent win being 44-13 over Memphis) and No. 7

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

, which edged Pittsburgh 24-21. The poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 North Carolina, and No. 5 West Virginia. October 8: No. 1 Nebraska finally ran into trouble, being taken down to the wire in their Big 8 opener against Oklahoma State. The Cornhuskers pulled out a 14-10 win with an interception in the end zone on the game’s final play. No. 2 Texas matched up with Nebraska’s conference rival, No. 8 Oklahoma, and won 28-16. No. 3 Alabama lost at Penn State, 34-28. No. 4 North Carolina beat Wake Forest 30-10, No. 5 West Virginia was idle, and No. 7 Auburn won 49-21 at Kentucky. The next poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 4 West Virginia, and No. 5 Auburn. October 15: No. 1 Nebraska breathed a little easier with a 34-13 win at Missouri. No. 2 Texas beat Arkansas 31-3, No. 3 North Carolina won 42-14 at North Carolina State, No. 4 West Virginia shut out Virginia Tech 13-0, and No. 5 Auburn defeated Georgia Tech 31-13. The top five remained the same. October 22: No. 1 Nebraska led by just two points at the half but exploded after the break, scoring 48 third-quarter points in a 69-19 rout of Colorado. No. 2 Texas beat No. 9 SMU 15-12, ending a 21-game unbeaten streak for the Mustangs. No. 3 North Carolina was idle. No. 4 West Virginia lost 41-23 at Penn State. No. 5 Auburn defeated Mississippi State 28-13, and No. 6

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

won 24-17 over East Carolina. The next poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 4 Auburn, and No. 5 Florida. October 29: No. 1 Nebraska won 51-25 at Kansas State, and No. 2 Texas defeated Texas Tech 20-3. No. 3 North Carolina started a three-game losing streak by falling to No. 13

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 t ...

28-26. No. 4 Auburn beat No. 5 Florida 28-21. Another SEC team, No. 6

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, won 31-14 over Temple, while No. 7

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

(which had won eight straight games by double digits after a season-opening loss to Florida) beat No. 12 West Virginia 20-3. The new top five was No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Georgia, and No. 5 Miami.

November

November 5: No. 1 Nebraska put on another offensive clinic, winning 72-29 over Iowa State; Mike Rozier rushed for four touchdowns to set a new Big 8 record for TDs in a season. Meanwhile, No. 2 Texas was held without a touchdown but still beat Houston 9-3. No. 3 Auburn defeated No. 7 Maryland 35-23. No. 4 Georgia visited No. 9 Florida and dealt the Gators their second straight close loss, 10-9. No. 5 Miami needed a late touchdown to beat East Carolina 12-7; they were passed in the next poll by No. 6 Illinois, which won 50-23 at Minnesota. The top five were No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Georgia, and No. 5 Illinois. November 12: No. 1 Nebraska posted their fourth consecutive 50+ point performance, defeating Kansas 67-13. No. 2 Texas beat TCU 20-14. In a battle for first place in the SEC, No. 3 Auburn pulled out a 13-7 win over No. 4 Georgia, the Bulldogs’ first conference loss in four years. No. 5 Illinois beat Indiana 49-21 to clinch a surprise Big Ten title and Rose Bowl berth. No. 6 Miami finished its schedule with a 17-16 win at Florida State on a late field goal. The next poll featured No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Illinois, and No. 5 Miami. November 19: No. 1 Nebraska and No. 3 Auburn were idle. No. 2 Texas clinched the SWC title and a Cotton Bowl berth with a 24-21 win over Baylor. No. 4 Illinois finished its schedule by defeating Northwestern 56-24. The Illini’s Rose Bowl opponent would be

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, which earned the Pac-10 title with a 27-17 victory at USC. (In less dignified Pac-10 action, this was also the day of “The Toilet Bowl”, a 0-0 tie between Oregon and Oregon State which is regarded as one of the worst-played football games of all time.) No. 5 Miami had finished its season, and the top five remained the same. November 26: Despite the season-long dominance of No. 1 Nebraska, unranked Oklahoma only had one conference loss and could still gain an

berth by defeating the Cornhuskers. Trailing by only seven points with under a minute left, the Sooners got as far as the Nebraska 1-yard line before a Cornhuskers defensive stand preserved a 28-21 victory. No. 2 Texas had an easier time, winning 45-13 at Texas A&M. No. 3 Auburn was again idle, and the top five remained the same.

December

December 3: Similar to Nebraska’s situation the previous week, No. 3 Auburn was undefeated in SEC play but No. 19 Alabama could keep their rivals out of the

with a victory in their game against each other. The Tigers prevailed 23-20 in a torrential rainstorm, with the key play being a 71-yard touchdown run by

. All of the other highly-ranked teams had finished their seasons, and the top five was the same as the past few weeks: No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Illinois, and No. 5 Miami. Because the winners of major conferences were tied to specific bowls, none of the top four teams were able to play each other in the postseason. The highest-ranked matchup would be No. 1 Nebraska against No. 5 Miami in the Orange Bowl. No. 7 Georgia and No. 8 Michigan, the runners-up in the SEC and Big Ten, would respectively play No. 2 Texas in the Cotton Bowl and No. 3 Auburn in the Sugar Bowl. As always, the Rose Bowl would feature the winners of the Big Ten and Pac-10, No. 4 Illinois and unranked UCLA.

Conference standings

AP final poll

# Miami (FL) # Nebraska # Auburn # Georgia # Texas # Florida # Brigham Young # Michigan # Ohio State # Illinois # Clemson # SMU # Air Force # Iowa # Alabama # West Virginia # UCLA # Pittsburgh # Boston College # East Carolina

Final coaches poll

# Miami (FL) # Nebraska # Auburn # Georgia # Texas # Florida # Brigham Young # Ohio St. # Michigan # Illinois # Southern Methodist # Alabama # UCLA # Iowa # Air Force # West Virginia # Penn St. # Oklahoma St. # Pittsburgh # Boston College

Notable rivalry games

17, Arizona State 15 * Auburn 23,

20 *

53,

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

15 *

28,

3 *

10,

9 *

27,

24 *

51,

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

10 *

Kansas Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...

37,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

27 * LSU 20, Tulane 7 *

17,

16 *

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

24,

21 *

42,

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

0 * Ole Miss 24, Mississippi State 23 (The "Immaculate Deflection"—a game-winning 26-yard field goal attempt by the Bulldogs' Arite Cosby was captured by a strong gust of wind and blown straight down to the ground five yards short of the goalpost, allowing the Rebels to win the Egg Bowl and qualify for a bowl game) *

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

42,

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

13 *

28,

21 * Notre Dame 27,

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses ** South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

6 *

21,

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, ...

20 *

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

0, Oregon State 0 (Known as The Toilet Bowl, the last time an NCAA Division I-A game ended in a scoreless tie.) *

28,

16 * Texas 45, Texas A&M 13 *

27,

17 *

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

17,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

6 *

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

56,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

17 * California 27, Stanford 18

No. 1 and No. 2 Progress

In the AP preseason poll released on August 27, Big 8 Conference rivals

and

were No. 1 and No. 2. After the Oklahoma Sooners lost 24–14 to Ohio State on September 17, the Nebraska Cornhuskers remained No. 1 and were trailed for nearly the entire season by

. Nebraska received all 60 of the first place votes in the polls of September 26 and October 3, and no fewer than 51 as the season continued, while the Longhorns never received more than five votes during the same period. Meanwhile, the University of Miami Hurricanes, unranked in the preseason Top 20, began winning after their first week 28–3 loss to Florida. Miami came in at No. 15 in the September 26 poll. As they continued unbeaten, the Hurricanes gathered force, rising to No. 12, No. 10, No. 8, No. 7, and reached No. 5 by October 31, where they remained in the final regular season poll after they were invited to play against Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

Bowl games

* Rose Bowl: UCLA 45, No. 4 Illinois 9 *

: No. 3 Auburn 9, No. 8 Michigan 7 *

: No. 5 Miami (Fl) 31, No. 1 Nebraska 30 * Cotton Bowl: No. 7 Georgia 10, No. 2 Texas 9 Other Bowls: *

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been pl ...

: No. 14 Ohio State 28, No. 15 Pittsburgh 23 *

Florida Citrus Bowl Camping World Stadium is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, located in the West Lakes neighborhood of Downtown Orlando, west of new sports and entertainment facilities including the Amway Center, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, an ...

: Tennessee 30, No. 17 Maryland 23 *

Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, operated by Gator Bowl Sports. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised natio ...

: No. 11 Florida 14, No. 10

6 *

: No. 9 Brigham Young 21, Missouri 17 *

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially ...

: Florida State 28, North Carolina 3 *

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose ...

: Alabama 28, No. 6 SMU 7 * Independence Bowl: No. 16 Air Force 9, Ole Miss 3 *

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic Cit ...

: Notre Dame 19, No. 13 Boston College 18 *

Aloha Bowl The Aloha Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision (then known as Division I-A) college football bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. History The Aloha Bowl was established in 1982 by Ma ...

: Penn State 13,

10 * Bluebonnet Bowl Oklahoma State 24, No. 20 Baylor 14 * Hall of Fame Classic: No. 18 West Virginia 20, Kentucky 16 *

California Bowl The California Bowl (later the California Raisin Bowl) was a post-season college football bowl game played annually at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California, from 1981 to 1991. The game featured the champions of the Big West Conference (known ...

: Northern Illinois 20, CSU-Fullerton 13

Heisman Trophy voting

''The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award is given to the Most Outstanding Player of the year''
Winner: Mike Rozier,

RB (1,801 points) *2. Steve Young, Brigham Young QB (1,172 points) *3. Doug Flutie, Boston College QB (253 points) *4.

Turner Gill Turner Hillery Gill (born August 13, 1962) is an American college athletic administrator and former gridiron football player and coach. He is the Executive Director of Student-Athlete and Staff Development at the University of Arkansas, a positio ...

, Nebraska QB (190 points) *5. Terry Hoage, Georgia DB (112 points)

Other annual awards

* Maxwell Award (College Player of the Year) – Mike Rozier, Nebraska *

Walter Camp Award The Walter Camp Player of the Year Award is given annually to the collegiate American football player of the year, as decided by a group of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I FBS head coaches and sports information directo ...

(Back) – Mike Rozier,

Davey O'Brien Award The Davey O'Brien Award, officially the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, named after Davey O'Brien, is presented annually to the collegiate American football player judged by the Davey O'Brien Foundation to be the best of all National C ...

(Quarterback) – Steve Young,

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as chu ...

Lombardi Award The Rotary Lombardi Award is an award for college football in the United States. Awarded by the Rotary Club of Houston, Texas annually to the college football player "who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL's legendary coach Vince Lomba ...

(Lineman or Linebacker) –

Dean Steinkuhler Dean Elmer Steinkuhler (born January 27, 1961) is a former professional American football guard in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons in the 1980s and 1990s. Steinkuhler played college football for the University of Nebraska, ...

Outland Trophy The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best college football interior lineman in the United States as adjudged by the Football Writers Association of America. It is named after John H. Outland. One of only a few players ever to be named an All-Am ...

(Interior Lineman) –

, Offensive tackle,

Paul "Bear" Bryant Award The American Heart Association (AHA) Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards are an annual awards banquet that is hosted each year in January, in Houston, Texas, by the AHA.For a list of American Heart Association offices, by state, go to: There are two aw ...

–

Howard Schnellenberger Howard Leslie Schnellenberger (March 16, 1934 – March 27, 2021) was an American football coach with long service at both the professional and college levels. He held head coaching positions with the National Football League's Baltimore Colts a ...

References

{{NCAA football season navbox