1983 Miami Hurricanes football team

1983 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
	Rankings from AP Poll

1983 Miami Hurricanes football
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
1983 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; (Capacity: 75,500)
	Seasons ← 1982 1984 →

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 final polls to win the school's first national championship.^[5]

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3		at No. 16 Florida		Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)		L 3–28	73,907
September 10		at Houston		Astrodome Houston, TX		W 29–7	20,000
September 17		Purdue		Orange Bowl Miami, FL		W 35–0	37,150
September 24	9:00 pm	No. 13 Notre Dame		Orange Bowl Miami, FL	CBS	W 20–0	52,480
October 1	3:50 pm	at Duke	No. 15	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC	ABC	W 56–17	28,750
October 8		Louisville	No. 12	Orange Bowl Miami, FL		W 42–14	30,073
October 15		at Mississippi State	No. 10	Scott Field Starkville, MS		W 31–7	29,456
October 22		at Cincinnati	No. 8	Riverfront Stadium Cincinnati, OH		W 17–7	14,163
October 29		No. 12 West Virginia	No. 7	Orange Bowl Miami, FL		W 20–3	63,881
November 5		East Carolina	No. 5	Orange Bowl Miami, FL		W 12–7	39,225
November 12	7:00 pm	at Florida State	No. 6	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)	WSVN	W 17–16	57,333
January 2, 1984	8:00 pm	vs. No. 1 Nebraska	No. 5	Orange Bowl Miami, FL (Orange Bowl)	NBC	W 31–30	72,596
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll All times are in Eastern time

Personnel[]

Roster[]

1983 Miami Hurricanes football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
TE		Glenn Dennison
QB	`20`	Bernie Kosar	Fr
RB	`30`	Alonzo Highsmith	Fr
OL	`77`	Paul O’Connor
WR		Stanley Shakespeare
QB	`14`	Vinny Testaverde	Fr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB	`53`	Jay Brophy	Sr
DT	`98`	Jerome Brown	Fr
DT	`95`	Kevin Fagan	So
DL	`93`	John McVeigh	So
LB	`99`	Julio Cortes

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`3`	Jeff Davis
P		Steve Minie	Jr
RB	`16`	Albert Bentley	Sr

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

Rankings[]

Season summary[]

at Florida[]

at Houston[]

Purdue[]

Purdue Boilermakers at Miami (FL) Hurricanes

	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

showGame information

^[6]

showScoring summary

Notre Dame[]

at Duke[]

Louisville[]

at Mississippi State[]

at Cincinnati[]

West Virginia[]

East Carolina[]

at Florida State[]

Jeff Davis game-winning 19-yard field goal as time expired ^[7]

Orange Bowl (vs Nebraska)[]

^[8]^[9]

Awards and honors[]

All-Americans[]

Jay Brophy, LB

Jack Harding University of Miami MVP Award[]

Glenn Dennison, TE

References[]

^ "Miami topples No. 1 Nebraska". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 3, 1984. p. 13.
^ Smizik, Bob (January 3, 1983). "Miami claims No. 1 after beating Nebraska". Pittsburgh Press. p. D1.
^ "Hurricanes say there's no doubt". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. January 3, 1984. p. 1D.
^ Underwood, John (January 9, 1984). "No team was ever higher". Sports Illustrated. p. 14.
^ Finder, Chuck (January 1, 1987). "Miami's '83 champions: Where are they now?". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 37.
^ Gainesville Sun. September 18, 1983.
^ [1]
^ Wilbon, Michael (January 3, 1984). "Nebraska Falls, 31-30, On Day of Upsets". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
^ "MIAMI IS CHOSEN AS NO. 1 AFTER UPSET OF NEBRASKA". The New York Times. January 4, 1984. Retrieved August 21, 2019.

[ppgmwn-1] "Miami topples No. 1 Nebraska". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 3, 1984. p. 13.

[ppres-2] Smizik, Bob (January 3, 1983). "Miami claims No. 1 after beating Nebraska". Pittsburgh Press. p. D1.

[hstndt-3] "Hurricanes say there's no doubt". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. January 3, 1984. p. 1D.

[sivhth-4] Underwood, John (January 9, 1984). "No team was ever higher". Sports Illustrated. p. 14.

[wartnw-5] Finder, Chuck (January 1, 1987). "Miami's '83 champions: Where are they now?". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 37.

[6] Gainesville Sun. September 18, 1983.

[7] [1]

[8] Wilbon, Michael (January 3, 1984). "Nebraska Falls, 31-30, On Day of Upsets". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 21, 2019.

[9] "MIAMI IS CHOSEN AS NO. 1 AFTER UPSET OF NEBRASKA". The New York Times. January 4, 1984. Retrieved August 21, 2019.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

show v t Miami Hurricanes football
Venues	Orange Bowl (1937–2007) Hard Rock Stadium (2008–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Florida (Florida Cup; Seminole War Canoe) Florida State (Florida Cup) Nebraska Virginia Tech
Culture & lore	Sebastian the Ibis Band of the Hour The U Quarterback U Hail Flutie Catholics vs. Convicts Miami 4–3 defense Wide Right I Wide Right II FIU–Miami brawl 2011 athletics scandal
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	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

show v t College football national champions (poll era)
1936–1949	1936: Minnesota (AP, DS) / Pittsburgh (HS) 1937: Pittsburgh (AP, DS, HS) / California 1938: TCU (AP) / Tennessee (HS) / Notre Dame (DS) 1939: Texas A&M (AP, HS) / USC (DS) 1940: Minnesota (AP, DS, HS) / Boston College / Stanford / Tennessee 1941: Minnesota (AP) / Alabama (HS) 1942: Ohio State (AP) / Georgia (HS) 1943: Notre Dame 1944: Army (AP, HS) / Ohio State 1945: Army (AP, HS) / Oklahoma A&M (AFCA) 1946: Notre Dame (AP) / Army (HS) 1947: Notre Dame (AP) / Michigan HS) 1948: Michigan 1949: Notre Dame
1950s	1950: Oklahoma 1951: Tennessee (AP, Coaches) / Michigan State / Maryland 1952: Michigan State (AP, Coaches) / Georgia Tech (INS) 1953: Maryland (AP, Coaches, INS) / Notre Dame (BS) 1954: Ohio State (AP, INS) / UCLA (FWAA, Coaches) 1955: Oklahoma 1956: Oklahoma 1957: Auburn (AP) / Ohio State (Coaches, FWAA, INS) 1958: LSU (AP, Coaches) / Iowa (FWAA) 1959: Syracuse
1960s	1960: Minnesota (AP, Coaches, NFF) / Ole Miss (FWAA) / Washington (HAF) 1961: Alabama (AP, Coaches, NFF) / Ohio State (FWAA) 1962: USC 1963: Texas 1964: Alabama (AP, Coaches) / Arkansas (FWAA) / Notre Dame (NFF) 1965: Alabama (AP, FWAA) / Michigan State (Coaches, FWAA, NFF) 1966: Notre Dame (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF) / Michigan State (NFF) 1967: USC 1968: Ohio State 1969: Texas
1970s	1970: Nebraska (AP, FWAA) / Texas (NFF, Coaches) / Ohio State (NFF) 1971: Nebraska 1972: USC 1973: Notre Dame (AP, FWAA, NFF) / Alabama (Coaches) 1974: Oklahoma (AP) / USC (FWAA, NFF, Coaches) 1975: Oklahoma 1976: Pittsburgh 1977: Notre Dame 1978: Alabama (AP, FWAA, NFF) / USC (Coaches) 1979: Alabama
1980–1991	1980: Georgia 1981: Clemson 1982: Penn State 1983: Miami (FL) 1984: BYU 1985: Oklahoma 1986: Penn State 1987: Miami (FL) 1988: Notre Dame 1989: Miami (FL) 1990: Colorado (AP, FWAA, NFF, USAT/CNN) / Georgia Tech (Coaches) 1991: Miami (FL) (AP) / Washington (Coaches, FWAA, UPI/NFF)

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
1983 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 (Capacity: 75,500)
Seasons ← 1982 1984 →

1983 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
v t	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
Penn State		–		–		8	–	4	–	1
Southern Miss		–		–		7	–	4	–	0
Memphis State		–		–		6	–	4	–	1
Florida State		–		–		8	–	4	–	0
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