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1983 Mississippi State

3–⁠8 (1–⁠5 Southeastern Conference), coached by Emory Bellard.

Schedule and results

Mississippi State in 1983, game by game: won vs. Tulane 14–9; won vs. Navy 38–10; lost vs. No. 15 Florida 12–35; lost at No. 11 Georgia 7–20; lost at Southern Miss 6–31; lost vs. No. 10 Miami 7–31; lost at No. 5 Auburn 13–28; lost at No. 18 Alabama 18–35; lost vs. Memphis 13–30; won at LSU 45–26; lost at Ole Miss 23–24+28−25Won 14–9 vs. Tulane+5TulaneWon 38–10 vs. Navy+28NavyLost 12–35 vs. No. 15 Florida-23No. 15 FloridaLost 7–20 at No. 11 Georgia-13No. 11 GeorgiaLost 6–31 at Southern Miss-25Southern MissLost 7–31 vs. No. 10 Miami-24No. 10 MiamiLost 13–28 at No. 5 Auburn-15No. 5 AuburnLost 18–35 at No. 18 Alabama-17No. 18 AlabamaLost 13–30 vs. Memphis-17MemphisWon 45–26 at LSU+19LSULost 23–24 at Ole Miss-1Ole Miss
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 3vsTulaneW 14–⁠966%
Sep 17vsNavyW 38–⁠1064%
Sep 24vs15FloridaL 12–⁠3551%
Oct 1at11GeorgiaL 7–⁠2021%
Oct 8atSouthern MissL 6–⁠3132%
Oct 15vs10MiamiL 7–⁠3133%
Oct 22at5AuburnL 13–⁠2820%
Oct 29at18AlabamaL 18–⁠3524%
Nov 5vsMemphisL 13–⁠3065%
Nov 12atLSUW 45–⁠2630%
Nov 19atOle MissL 23–⁠2439%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Ole Miss 24–⁠23; unranked in the final AP poll; 8th in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 79th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 124 on file).

Record
3–⁠8
Conference
1–⁠5 8th in Southeastern Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
196–⁠279
Coach
Emory Bellard
Elo
1461 −70 this season
SP+ rating
5.1 No. 45 of 108; offense No. 50, defense No. 50
SRS
3.6 No. 42 of 112 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Defensive coordinator
Melvin Robertson

Drafted in 1984

The 1984 draft
Rd 4George Wonsley RBIndianapolis Colts

All-SEC

1 first team

First team

  • Billy JacksonLBAP-1; UPI

From Wikipedia’s 1983 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1983 Southeastern Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Auburn6–⁠011–⁠13
Georgia5–⁠110–⁠1–⁠14
Florida4–⁠29–⁠2–⁠16
Tennessee4–⁠29–⁠3
Alabama4–⁠28–⁠415
Ole Miss4–⁠26–⁠6
Kentucky2–⁠46–⁠5–⁠1
Mississippi State1–⁠53–⁠8
LSU0–⁠64–⁠7
Vanderbilt0–⁠62–⁠9

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.