1983 Florida Gators football team

1983 Southeastern Conference football standings
	$ – Conference champion; Rankings from AP Poll

1983 Florida Gators football
1983 Florida Gators football
Gator Bowl, W 14–6 vs. Iowa
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 6
1983 record	9–2–1 (4–2 SEC)
Head coach	Charley Pell (5th season);
Offensive coordinator	Mike Shanahan (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Joe Kines (3rd season)
Home stadium	Florida Field; (Capacity: 72,000)
	Seasons ← 1982 1984 →

The 1983 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1983 NCAA Division I-A football season. The season was Charley Pell's fifth as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Pell's Gators posted a 9–2–1 overall record and a Southeastern Conference (SEC) record of 4–2, placing third among ten SEC teams.^[2] Behind a stout defense and a rushing attack led by future pros Neal Anderson, John L. Williams, and Lorenzo Hampton the 1983 Gators were the first squad in program history to be ranked among the top ten teams in the final Associated Press (AP) poll. It was also the second time that the Gators were ranked in every weekly AP Poll throughout the season, (1975 being the first).

Schedule[]

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	Miami (FL)*		Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)		W 28–3	73,907
September 10	at No. 9 USC*	No. 18	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		T 19–19	53,948
September 17	Indiana State*	No. 15	Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 17–13	68,191
September 24	at Mississippi State	No. 15	Scott Field Starkville, MS		W 35–12	31,875
October 1	at No. 16 LSU	No. 12	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)		W 31–17	78,616
October 8	Vanderbilt	No. 9	Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 29–10	73,764
October 22	East Carolina*	No. 6	Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 24–17	73,943
October 29	at No. 4 Auburn	No. 5	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (rivalry)	CBS	L 21–28	75,700
November 5	vs. No. 4 Georgia	No. 9	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	L 9–10	82,166
November 12	Kentucky	No. 14	Florida Field Gainesville, FL		W 24–7	73,192
December 3	Florida State*	No. 12	Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	W 53–14	74,113
December 30	vs. No. 10 Iowa*	No. 11	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)	ABC	W 14–6	81,293
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Primary source: 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide.^[2]

Roster[]

1983 Florida Gators football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
RB	`27`	Neal Anderson	So
WR	`89`	Ricky Nattiel	Fr
QB	`15`	Wayne Peace	Sr
FB	`22`	John L. Williams	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
S	`18`	Tony Lilly	Sr
LB	`88`	Wilber Marshall	Sr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K		Bobby Raymond	Jr

Head coach

Charley Pell

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Mike Shanahan (OC)
Vince Kendrick (RB)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Rankings[]

Game summaries[]

Gator Bowl[]

^[3]

Team players in the 1984 NFL Draft[]

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Club
Wilber Marshall	Linebacker	1	11	Chicago Bears
Tony Lilly	Safety	3	78	Denver Broncos
Randy Clark	Defensive back	8	202	Kansas City Chiefs
John Hunt	Guard	9	232	Dallas Cowboys

^[4]

References[]

^ University of Florida Sports Information Department. "Florida 1983 Football Guide" (PDF). floridagators.com. University Athletic Association, Inc. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, p. 107 (2015). Retrieved August 16, 2015.
^ "Gator Bowl to Florida, 14-6". The New York Times. December 31, 1983. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
^ "1984 NFL Draft". pro-football-reference.com.

[1] University of Florida Sports Information Department. "Florida 1983 Football Guide" (PDF). floridagators.com. University Athletic Association, Inc. Retrieved 15 March 2018.

[ufmediaguide-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b 2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, p. 107 (2015). Retrieved August 16, 2015.

[3] "Gator Bowl to Florida, 14-6". The New York Times. December 31, 1983. Retrieved August 10, 2019.

[4] "1984 NFL Draft". pro-football-reference.com.

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show v t Florida Gators football
Venues	The Baseball Park (1906–1910) University Athletic Field / Fleming Field (1911–1930) Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (1930–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Alabama Auburn Florida State (Florida Cup) Georgia LSU Miami (Florida Cup) Tennessee
Culture & lore	History The Pride of the Sunshine Gator Chomp Mr. Two Bits Gatorade
People	Head coaches Ring of Honor All-Americans UF Athletic Hall of Fame Starting quarterbacks Statistical leaders NFL draftees
Seasons	1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
National championship seasons in bold

1983 Southeastern Conference football standings
v t	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 3 Auburn $	6	–	0	–	0	11	–	1	–	0
No. 4 Georgia	5	–	1	–	0	10	–	1	–	1
No. 6 Florida	4	–	2	–	0	9	–	2	–	1
Tennessee	4	–	2	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
No. 15 Alabama	4	–	2	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Ole Miss	4	–	2	–	0	6	–	6	–	0
Kentucky	2	–	4	–	0	6	–	5	–	1
Mississippi State	1	–	5	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
LSU	0	–	6	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Vanderbilt	0	–	6	–	0	2	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll