The 1983 NCAA Division III football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

at the

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

level, began in August 1983, and concluded with the

NCAA Division III Football Championship The NCAA Division III Football Championship began in 1973. The Division III playoffs begin with 32 teams selected to participate in the Division III playoffs. The Division III championship game, known as the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl or Stagg Bowl ...

, also known as the Stagg Bowl, in December 1983 at

Galbreath Field Galbreath Field was associated with the former College Football Hall of Fame in Kings Mills, Ohio. The 7,000–10,000 seat stadium (sources differ) was also the home of the Moeller High School Moeller High School ( ), known as Moeller, is a priv ...

Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park first opened in 1972 by the Taft Broadcasting Company. It was part of a larger effort to move and expa ...

Mason, Ohio Mason is a city in southwestern Warren County, Ohio, United States, approximately north of downtown Cincinnati. As of the 2020 census, Mason's population was 34,792. Mason is home to Kings Island amusement park and one of the largest tennis st ...

. The Augustana (IL) Vikings won their first of four consecutive Division III championships by defeating the

Union Dutchmen The Union Dutchmen and Dutchwomen comprise the 24 teams representing Union College in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, crew, cross country, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, and track and fi ...

by a final score of 21−17.

Conference and program changes

*The

Centennial Conference The Centennial Conference is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member teams are located in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Eleven private colleges compose the Centennial Conference. Five of ten members of the Centenn ...

began football play in 1983. * Fisk Bulldogs reclassified from Division II for this season only, their final one.

Conference standings

Conference champions

Postseason

The 1983 NCAA Division III Football Championship playoffs were the 11th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their st ...

college football. The championship Stagg Bowl game was held at

at the College Football Hall of Fame in

for the first time. Like the previous eight championships, eight teams competed in this edition.

Playoff bracket

References