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The 1983 season

Miami finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠1 under Howard Schnellenberger, after it beat Nebraska 31–⁠30 in the Orange Bowl. Auburn also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 5 Miami 31, No. 1 Nebraska 30 (Jan 2, 1984). One Division I-A team finished unbeaten. 40 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Mike Rozier, RB, Nebraska, who also won the Maxwell and Walter Camp.

The Heisman vote: Mike Rozier 1,801 points, Steve Young 1,172
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Mike Rozier RB, Nebraska1,80148215447
Steve Young QB, BYU1,17215331289
Doug Flutie QB, Boston College2532338108
Turner Gill QB, Nebraska190114175
Terry Hoage S, Georgia11272541
Napoleon McCallum RB, Navy10461850
Jeff Hostetler QB, West Virginia7151722
Bill Fralic OT, Pittsburgh6661028
Walter Lewis QB, Alabama5441316
Boomer Esiason QB, Maryland5141117

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1MiamiIndependent
2NebraskaBig Eight
3AuburnSoutheastern Conference
4GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
5TexasSouthwest Conference
6FloridaSoutheastern Conference
7BYUWestern Athletic Conference
8MichiganBig Ten
9Ohio StateBig Ten
10IllinoisBig Ten
11ClemsonAtlantic Coast Conference
12SMUSouthwest Conference
13Air ForceWestern Athletic Conference
14IowaBig Ten
15AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
16West VirginiaIndependent
17UCLAPac-10
18PittsburghIndependent
19Boston CollegeIndependent
20East CarolinaIndependent

Biggest upsets

Oct 8, 1983Penn State 34, 3Alabama 28
Sep 17, 1983Michigan State 28, 4Notre Dame 23
Oct 1, 1983Illinois 33, 4Iowa 0
Oct 22, 1983Penn State 41, 4West Virginia 23
Jan 2, 1984UCLA 45, 4Illinois 9
Dec 24, 1983Alabama 28, 6SMU 7
Sep 17, 1983Tulane 34, 9Florida State 28
Sep 24, 1983LSU 40, 9Washington 14
Oct 15, 1983Oregon 19, 9Arizona 10
Sep 24, 1983Kansas 26, 10USC 20
Nov 5, 1983Clemson 16, 10North Carolina 3
Oct 15, 1983Tennessee 41, 11Alabama 34

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 1983, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13Wk 15FinalIllinois: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 19, Wk 7 No. 19, Wk 8 No. 11, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 4, Wk 14 No. 4, Wk 15 No. 4, Final No. 1010 IllinoisOhio State: Wk 1 No. 9, Wk 2 No. 7, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 8, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 17, Wk 9 No. 16, Wk 10 No. 14, Wk 11 No. 10, Wk 12 No. 10, Wk 13 No. 14, Wk 14 No. 14, Wk 15 No. 14, Final No. 99 Ohio StateMichigan: Wk 1 No. 10, Wk 2 No. 6, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 17, Wk 5 No. 14, Wk 6 No. 14, Wk 7 No. 13, Wk 8 No. 10, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 13, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 8, Wk 14 No. 8, Wk 15 No. 8, Final No. 88 MichiganBYU: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 20, Wk 7 No. 20, Wk 8 No. 18, Wk 9 No. 15, Wk 10 No. 12, Wk 11 No. 8, Wk 12 No. 9, Wk 13 No. 9, Wk 14 No. 9, Wk 15 No. 9, Final No. 77 BYUFlorida: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 18, Wk 3 No. 15, Wk 4 No. 15, Wk 5 No. 12, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 7, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 14, Wk 12 No. 12, Wk 13 No. 11, Wk 14 No. 12, Wk 15 No. 11, Final No. 66 FloridaTexas: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 2, Wk 14 No. 2, Wk 15 No. 2, Final No. 55 TexasGeorgia: Wk 1 No. 15, Wk 2 No. 10, Wk 3 No. 11, Wk 4 No. 14, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 11, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 7, Wk 15 No. 7, Final No. 44 GeorgiaAuburn: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 11, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 3, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 3, Wk 14 No. 3, Wk 15 No. 3, Final No. 33 AuburnNebraska: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 1, Wk 15 No. 1, Final No. 22 NebraskaMiami: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 15, Wk 6 No. 12, Wk 7 No. 10, Wk 8 No. 8, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 5, Wk 15 No. 5, Final No. 11 Miami
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Miamiunranked → No. 1
  2. Floridaunranked → No. 6
  3. BYUunranked → No. 7
  4. Illinoisunranked → No. 10
  5. Clemsonunranked → No. 11

Fell

  1. OklahomaNo. 2 → unranked
  2. Penn StateNo. 4 → unranked
  3. Notre DameNo. 6 → unranked
  4. Florida StateNo. 7 → unranked
  5. USCNo. 8 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yardsSteve Young (BYU)3,902 yds
Passing touchdownsSteve Young (BYU)33 TD
Passer ratingSteve Young (BYU)168.5
Rushing yardsMike Rozier (Nebraska)2,148 yds
Rushing touchdownsMike Rozier (Nebraska)29 TD
Yards per carryMike Brown (Air Force)8.5
ReceptionsKeith Edwards (Vanderbilt)97 catches
Receiving yardsJim Sandusky (San Diego State)1,171 yds
Yards per catchReggie Bynum (Oregon State)24.2
Receiving touchdownsKirk Pendleton (BYU)11 TD
PointsMike Rozier (Nebraska)174 pts
Points per gameMike Rozier (Nebraska)14.50
Total offenseSteve Young (BYU)4,346 yds
Total offense per gameSteve Young (BYU)395.1
Punt return averageJim Sandusky (San Diego State)19.0
Kickoff return averageGizmo Williams (East Carolina)31.1

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Division I-A

Atlantic Coast Conference
Maryland
Big Eight
Nebraska
Big Ten
Illinois
Mid-American Conference
Northern Illinois
Missouri Valley Conference
Tulsa
Pac-10
UCLA
Southeastern Conference
Auburn
Southwest Conference
Texas
Western Athletic Conference
BYU

Division I-AA

Big Sky
Nevada
Ivy League
Harvard and Pennsylvania (shared)
Mid-Continent Conference
Eastern Illinois
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
South Carolina State
Ohio Valley Conference
Eastern Kentucky
Southern Conference
Furman
Southland Conference
North Texas and UL Monroe (shared)
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Grambling
Yankee Conference
UConn

Division II and below

Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference
Central Arkansas
Gulf South Conference
North Alabama
Heartland Collegiate Conference
Butler
Lone Star Conference
East Texas A&M and Texas State (shared)
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
St. Thomas (MN)
North Central Conference
North Dakota State
Northern California Athletic Conference
UC Davis

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

26 playersAll 9 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1983 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1983 All-America teams page.

The 1983 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 10, 198316Air Force 9, Ole Miss 3Independence Bowl
Dec 17, 1983Northern Illinois 20, Cal State Fullerton 13California Bowl
Dec 17, 1983Tennessee 30, 16Maryland 23Citrus Bowl
Dec 22, 198318West Virginia 20, Kentucky 16Hall of Fame Classic
Dec 23, 19839BYU 21, Missouri 17Holiday Bowl
Dec 24, 1983Alabama 28, 6SMU 7Sun Bowl
Dec 26, 1983Penn State 13, Washington 10Aloha Bowl
Dec 29, 1983Notre Dame 19, 13Boston College 18Liberty Bowl
Dec 30, 198311Florida 14, 10Iowa 6Gator Bowl
Dec 30, 1983Florida State 28, North Carolina 3Peach Bowl
Dec 31, 1983Oklahoma State 24, 20Baylor 14Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
Jan 2, 19843Auburn 9, 8Michigan 7Sugar Bowl
Jan 2, 19847Georgia 10, 2Texas 9Cotton Bowl
Jan 2, 19845Miami 31, 1Nebraska 30Orange Bowl
Jan 2, 198414Ohio State 28, 15Pittsburgh 23Fiesta Bowl
Jan 2, 1984UCLA 45, 4Illinois 9Rose Bowl