1983 Miami Hurricanes football team

1983 Miami Hurricanes football
Consensus national champion Orange Bowl champion
Orange Bowl, W 31–30 vs. Nebraska
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
Record	11–1
Head coach	Howard Schnellenberger (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Gary Stevens (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Tom Olivadotti (3rd season)
Base defense	5–2
Home stadium	Orange Bowl
Seasons ←  1982 1984  →

1983 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 1 Miami (FL)		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		–				9	–	2	–	0
No. 19 Boston College		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
No. 16 West Virginia		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
No. 20 East Carolina		–		–				8	–	3	–	0
No. 18 Pittsburgh		–		–				8	–	3	–	1
Florida State		–		–				8	–	4	–	0
Penn State		–		–				8	–	4	–	1
Southern Miss		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Memphis State		–		–				6	–	4	–	1
Notre Dame		–		–				7	–	5	–	0
Syracuse		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
South Carolina		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Cincinnati			–					4	–	6	–	1
Southwestern Louisiana		–		–				4	–	6	–	0
Temple		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Tulane		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Louisville		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Navy		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Rutgers		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Army		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1983 Miami Hurricanes football team represented the University of Miami during the 1983 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their 58th season of football, the independent Hurricanes were led by fifth-year head coach Howard Schnellenberger and played their home games at the Orange Bowl.

Unranked, Miami lost their opener at Florida by 25 points, but finished the regular season at 10–1, ranked fifth, and were invited to the Orange Bowl. Playing at home on January 2, the underdog Hurricanes upset top-ranked Nebraska 31–30, denying a two-point conversion attempt with less than a minute remaining. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} They climbed to first in the major polls to win the school's first national championship. ^[5]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 3		at No. 16 Florida		Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)		L 3–28	73,907	[6]
September 10		at Houston		Houston Astrodome Houston, TX		W 29–7	20,000	[7]
September 17		Purdue		Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL		W 35–0	34,557	[8]
September 24	9:00 pm	No. 13 Notre Dame		Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (rivalry)	CBS	W 20–0	52,480	[9]
October 1	3:50 pm	at Duke	No. 15	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC	ABC	W 56–17	28,750	[10]
October 8		Louisville	No. 12	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (rivalry)		W 42–14	30,073	[11]
October 15		at Mississippi State	No. 10	Scott Field Starkville, MS		W 31–7	29,456	[12]
October 22		at Cincinnati	No. 8	Riverfront Stadium Cincinnati, OH		W 17–7	14,163	[13]
October 29		No. 12 West Virginia	No. 7	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL		W 20–3	63,881	[14]
November 5		East Carolina	No. 5	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL		W 12–7	39,225	[15]
November 12	7:00 pm	at Florida State	No. 6	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)	WSVN	W 17–16	57,333	[16]
January 2, 1984	8:00 pm	No. 1 Nebraska	No. 5	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (Orange Bowl) (rivalry)	NBC	W 31–30	72,596	[17]
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

At Florida

Miami (FL) at Florida

1 2 3 4 Total Hurricanes 0 0 0 3 3 •No. 16 Gators 13 0 12 3 28 Date: September 3 Location: Florida Field • Gainesville, Florida Game attendance: 73,907

See also: 1983 Florida Gators football team and Florida–Miami football rivalry

At Houston

See also: 1983 Houston Cougars football team

Purdue

See also: 1983 Purdue Boilermakers football team

Purdue Boilermakers at Miami (FL) Hurricanes

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Purdue	0	0	0	0	0
Miami (FL)	7	21	7	0	35

at Orange Bowl • Miami, Florida

• Date: September 17
• Game attendance: 34,557

Game information
Purdue Everett 16/22, 186 Yds, 2 INT Hawthorne 12 Rush, 37 Yds Griffin 5 Rec, 64 Yds Miami (FL) Kosar 12/20, 182 Yds, 3 TD, 2 INT Bentley 15 Rush, 78 Yds Shakespeare 4 Rec, 68 Yds, 2 TD

^[18]

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP PUR MIA 1 Miami (FL) Kosar 1-yard touchdown run, Davis kick good 0 7 2 Miami (FL) Shakespeare 35-yard touchdown reception from Kosar, Davis kick good 0 14 2 Miami (FL) Vanderwende 1-yard touchdown run, Davis kick good 0 21 2 Miami (FL) Shakespeare 12-yard touchdown reception from Kosar, Davis kick good 0 21 3 Miami (FL) Griffin 17-yard touchdown reception from Kosar, Davis kick good 0 28 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 0 28

Notre Dame

See also: 1983 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

At Duke

See also: 1983 Duke Blue Devils football team

Louisville

See also: 1983 Louisville Cardinals football team

At Mississippi State

See also: 1983 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team

At Cincinnati

See also: 1983 Cincinnati Bearcats football team

West Virginia

See also: 1983 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

East Carolina

See also: 1983 East Carolina Pirates football team

At Florida State

See also: 1983 Florida State Seminoles football team and Florida State–Miami football rivalry

Jeff Davis game-winning 19-yard field goal as time expired ^[19]

Orange Bowl (vs Nebraska)

#1 Nebraska at #5 Miami (FL)

1 2 3 4 Total No.1 Cornhuskers 0 14 3 13 30 •No. 5 Hurricanes 17 0 14 0 31 Date: January 2 Location: Miami Bowl Stadium, Miami, Florida Game start: 8:05 p.m. EST Game attendance: 72,596 Game weather: 66 °F (19 °C), partly cloudy, Wind N 10 mph (16 km/h) Referee: Jimmy Harper (SEC) TV announcers (NBC): Don Criqui and John Brodie Source: Box Score Archived 2019-08-22 at the Wayback Machine

Scoring summary Q1 9:18 MIA Dennison 2-yard pass from Kosar (Davis kick) MIA 7–0 Q1 4:51 MIA Davis 45-yard field goal MIA 10–0 Q1 1:08 MIA Dennison 22-yard pass from Kosar (Davis kick) MIA 17–0 Q2 8:54 Neb Steinkuhler 19-yard fumble return (Livingston kick) MIA 17–7 Q2 2:17 Neb Gill 1-yard run (Livingston kick) MIA 17–14 Q3 13:09 Neb Livingston 34-yard field goal Tied 17–17 Q3 9:37 MIA Highsmith 1-yard run (Davis kick) MIA 24–17 Q3 4:44 MIA Bentley 7-yard run (Davis kick) MIA 31–17 Q4 6:55 Neb Smith 1-yard run (Livingston kick) MIA 31–24 Q4 0:48 Neb Smith 24-yard run (Gill pass to Smith failed) MIA 31–30

Main article: 1984 Orange Bowl

See also: 1983 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team and Miami–Nebraska football rivalry

^{[20] [21]}

Personnel

1983 Miami Hurricanes football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB Jimmy Austin So RB 16 Albert Bentley Sr OL 79 Paul Bertucelli Fr WR 40 Eddie Brown Jr OL 69 Juan Comendeiro TE 86 Glenn Dennison Sr RB 44 Keith Griffin Sr OL 52 David Heffernan OL Chris Hembrough RB 30 Alonzo Highsmith Fr WR David Kintigh Fr QB 20 Bernie Kosar RFr OL Mike Moore RB Speedy Neal Sr OL 77 Paul O’Connor RB Darryl Oliver Fr RB Mel Bratton Fr WR Kenny Oliver Fr WR 6 Stanley Shakespeare OL 76 Ian Sinclair WR 7 John Smatana RB Todd Stanish Fr QB 14 Vinny Testaverde Fr WR Lawrence Thompson Sr QB Kyle Vanderwende So OL 72 Alvin Ward	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 4 Rodney Bellinger Sr LB 53 Jay Brophy Sr DL 41 Danny Brown DT 98 Jerome Brown Fr DB 2 Ken Calhoun DL Dallas Cameron DB 43 Doug McFadden Fr LB 92 Winston Moss Fr LB 99 Julio Cortes DB Dave Ditthardt DT 95 Kevin Fagan So LB 51 Jack Fernandez DL 62 Tony Fitzpatrick LB Bruce Fleming DL Joe Kohlbrand DL 93 John McVeigh So DL Fred Robinson LB 36 Ken Sisk DB Reggie Sutton Fr DB Keith Walker DB 29 Eddie Williams	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 3 Jeff Davis P Steve Minie Jr P 12 Rick Tuten	Head coach Howard Schnellenberger Coordinators/assistant coaches Hubbard Alexander (TE) Harold Allen (DL) Mike Archer (DB) Joe Brodsky (RB) Tom Olivadotti (DC/LB) Gary Stevens (OC/WR) Marc Trestman (QB) Bill Trout (DE) Chris Vagotis (OL) Ray Ganong (Str + Cond) Art Kehoe (GA) Bob Maddox (GA) George Halas (GA) Mike Rodriguez (Volunteer) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Awards and honors

All-Americans

• Jay Brophy, LB
• Glenn Dennison, TE

Jack Harding University of Miami MVP Award

• Glenn Dennison, TE

References

1. "Miami topples No. 1 Nebraska". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 3, 1984. p. 13.
2. Smizik, Bob (January 3, 1983). "Miami claims No. 1 after beating Nebraska". Pittsburgh Press. p. D1.
3. "Hurricanes say there's no doubt". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. January 3, 1984. p. 1D.
4. Underwood, John (January 9, 1984). "No team was ever higher". Sports Illustrated. p. 14.
5. Finder, Chuck (January 1, 1987). "Miami's '83 champions: Where are they now?". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 37.
6. "For Gators, a Peace-full victory". St. Petersburg Times. September 4, 1983. Retrieved November 4, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
7. "Hurricanes leave Houston tattered 29–7". Tallahassee Democrat. September 11, 1983. Retrieved February 23, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
8. "Hurricanes race past Purdue 35–0 behind defense, Kosar's passing". News-Press. September 18, 1983. Retrieved February 23, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
9. "Miami of Florida shocks Irish". Evansville Courier & Press. September 25, 1983. Retrieved February 23, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
10. "Devils swept away by Miami". The Rocky Mount Telegram. October 2, 1983. Retrieved January 29, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
11. "Hurricanes route Cards". The Salisbury Post. October 9, 1983. Retrieved February 23, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
12. "Hurricanes breeze 31–7". The Palm Beach Post. October 16, 1983. Retrieved November 3, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
13. "Strange doings don't stop Miami, 17–7". The Orlando Sentinel. October 23, 1983. Retrieved February 23, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
14. "Hurricanes blow past West Virginia". The Grand Island Independent. October 30, 1983. Retrieved January 29, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
15. "Hurricanes survive East Carolina, 12–7". The Orlando Sentinel. November 6, 1983. Retrieved March 5, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
16. "Miami tips FSU with FG on last play of game". Fort Pierce Tribune. November 13, 1983. Retrieved February 23, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
17. "Hurricanes hope to blow right in to No. 1 ranking". The Kansas City Star. January 3, 1984. Retrieved February 23, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
18. Gainesville Sun. September 18, 1983.
19. "100 Greatest Plays in Miami History: #9-Game Winning Field Goal vs FSU 1983". August 14, 2019.
20. Wilbon, Michael (January 3, 1984). "Nebraska Falls, 31-30, On Day of Upsets". The Washington Post . Retrieved August 21, 2019.
21. "MIAMI IS CHOSEN AS NO. 1 AFTER UPSET OF NEBRASKA". The New York Times . January 4, 1984. Retrieved August 21, 2019.