1983 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

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

1983 Ohio State Buckeyes football
1983 Ohio State Buckeyes football
Fiesta Bowl champion
Fiesta Bowl, W 28–23 vs. Pittsburgh
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 9
1983 record	9–3 (6–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Earle Bruce (5th season);
Offensive coordinator	Glen Mason (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Bob Tucker (2nd season)
MVP	John Frank
Home stadium	Ohio Stadium; (Capacity: 85,290)
	Seasons ← 1982 1984 →

The 1983 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the Ohio State University in the 1983 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Buckeyes compiled a 9–3 record, including the 1984 Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, where they won, 28–23, against the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 10	1:30 p.m.	Oregon*	No. 7	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH		W 31–6	88,524
September 17	3:30 p.m.	at No. 2 Oklahoma*	No. 6	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK	ABC	W 24–14	75,008
September 24	3:30 p.m.	at No. 7 Iowa	No. 3	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	CBS	L 14–20	66,175
October 1	1:30 p.m.	Minnesota	No. 8	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH		W 69–18	89,192
October 8	1:30 p.m.	Purdue	No. 6	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH		W 33–22	89,384
October 15	2:00 p.m.	at No. 19 Illinois	No. 6	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (Illibuck Trophy)		L 13–17	73,414
October 22	1:30 p.m.	Michigan State	No. 17	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH		W 21–11	89,104
October 29	1:30 p.m.	Wisconsin	No. 16	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH		W 45–27	89,203
November 5	1:30 p.m.	at Indiana	No. 14	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN		W 56–17	51,176
November 12	1:30 p.m.	Northwestern	No. 10	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH		W 55–7	88,703
November 19	1:00 p.m.	at No. 8 Michigan	No. 10	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (The Game)	SV	L 21–24	106,115
January 2, 1984	1:30 p.m.	vs. No. 15 Pittsburgh*	No. 14	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ (Fiesta Bowl)	NBC	W 28–23	66,484
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Depth chart[]

Defense

FS
4 Kelvin Bell
⋅

ROLB	ILB	ILB	LOLB
11 Curt Curtis	32 Rowland Tatum	17 Clark Backus	37 Orlando Lowry
82 Byron Lee	98 Pepper Johnson	⋅	58 Dennis Hueston

ROV
27 Doug Hill
19 Steve Hill

CB
2 Shaun Gayle
21 Kevin Richardson

DE	NT	DE
57 Dave Morrill	54 Spencer Nelms	97 Dave Crecelius
84 Henry Brown	59 Tony Giuliani	⋅

CB
12 Garcia Lane
7 Sonny Gordon

Offense

SE
88 Thad Jemison
⋅

LT	LG	C	RG	RT
70 William Roberts	63 Kirk Lowdermilk	78 Joe Dooley	74 Scott Zalenski	73 Mark Krerowicz
75 Rory Graves	⋅	⋅	64 Jim Lachey	77 Jim Carson

TE
89 John Frank
80 Judd Groza

FL
22 Cedric Anderson
1 Mike Lanese

QB
15 Mike Tomczak
16 Jim Karsatos

Key Reserves
28 Roman Bates (TB/FB)
25 John Wooldridge (TB)

FB
38 Vaughn Broadnax
43 Barry Walker

Special Teams
PK 10 Rich Spangler
P 5 Karl Edwards

RB
41 Keith Byars
20 Kelvin Lindsey

^[1]

Personnel[]

1983 Ohio State Buckeyes football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
RB		Roman Bates
RB		Keith Byars
TE		John Frank (C)
OT		Bill Roberts (C)
QB	`15`	Mike Tomczak	Jr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB		Pepper Johnson
CB		Garcia Lane (C)
LB		Rowland Tatum (C)

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K		Rich Spangler

Head coach

Earle Bruce

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Dom Capers (DB)
Steve Devine (Recruiting)
Randy Hart (DL)
Glen Mason (OC)
Bill Myles (OL)
Fred Pagac (LB)
Wayne Stanley (RB)
Jim Tressel (QB)
Bob Tucker (DC)

Legend

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

Injured
Redshirt

Game summaries[]

Oregon[]

at Oklahoma[]

#6 Ohio State Buckeyes (1–0) at #2 Oklahoma Sooners (1–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Ohio St	7	7	7	3	24
Oklahoma	0	7	7	0	14

at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, Oklahoma

Date: September 17
Game time: 2:50 p.m. CDT
Game weather: Sunny • 93 °F (34 °C) • Wind S 17 miles per hour (27 km/h; 15 kn)
Game attendance: 75,008
Referee: Tom Quinn
TV: ABC
Ohio State Football Archive

Game information

Ohio State

Tomczak
15/25, 234 Yds, 2 TD, INT
Lindsey
16 Rush, 75 Yds
Frank
7 Rec, 108 Yds, 2 TD

Oklahoma

Bradley
9/21, 170 Yds, TD
Tillman
13 Rush, 83 Yds, TD
Shepard
3 Rec, 85 Yds, TD

^[2]

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	OSU	OU
1	8:44	13	80	6:16	Ohio St	Frank 16-yard touchdown reception from Tomczak, Spangler kick good	7	0
2	10:57	1	15	0:06	Ohio St	Frank 15-yard touchdown reception from Tomczak, Spangler kick good	14	0
2	9:14	4	85	1:43	Oklahoma	Tillman 37-yard touchdown run, Culver kick good	14	7
3	8:30	10	57		Ohio St	Bates 2-yard touchdown run, Spangler kick good	21	7
3	1:01	8	62		Oklahoma	Shepard 22-yard touchdown reception from Bradley, Culver kick good	21	14
4	9:15	16	59		Ohio St	22-yard field goal by Spangler	24	14
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							24	14

at Iowa[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Ohio State	7	0	0	7	14
• Iowa	3	0	10	7	20

Date: September 24
Location: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa

Minnesota[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Minnesota	3	9	0	6	18
• Ohio State	7	31	24	7	69

Date: October 1
Location: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

Purdue[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Purdue	7	0	0	15	22
• Ohio St	6	6	14	7	33

Date: October 8
Location: Ohio Stadium

at Illinois[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Ohio St	0	3	10	0	13
• Illinois	7	3	0	7	17

Date: October 15
Location: Memorial Stadium

Michigan State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Michigan St	3	0	0	8	11
• Ohio St	7	7	0	7	21

Date: October 22
Location: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
Game start: 1:30 p.m. EST
Elapsed time: 2:28
Game attendance: 89,104
Game weather: Rainy; 56°F; wind 15–25 SE
Referee: Jerry Hendrickson

^[3]

Wisconsin[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wisconsin	14	7	6	0	27
• Ohio State	7	21	10	7	45

Date: Saturday, October 29
Location: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
Game attendance: 89,203

Woody Hayes dotted the "i" in the pregame Script Ohio.

Statistics

Keith Byars 29 Rush, 174 Yds

^[4]

at Indiana[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Ohio St	14	14	14	14	56
Indiana	3	0	6	8	17

Date: November 5
Location: Memorial Stadium

Northwestern[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Northwestern	0	0	0	7	7
• Ohio State	20	21	7	7	55

Date: November 12
Location: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
Game attendance: 88,703

at Michigan[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Ohio State	0	7	7	7	21
• Michigan	10	0	0	14	24

Date: November 19
Location: Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

vs. Pittsburgh (Fiesta Bowl)[]

1984 Fiesta Bowl

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Ohio State	7	7	0	14	28
Pittsburgh	0	7	0	16	23

Date: January 2, 1984
Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona
Game attendance: 66,484
TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones, Bob Griese

^[5]

1984 NFL draftees[]

Player	Round	Pick	Position	NFL club
William Roberts	1	27	Guard	New York Giants
John Frank	2	56	Tight end	San Francisco 49ers
Garcia Lane	3	61	Defensive back	Kansas City Chiefs
	6	165	Linebacker	Miami Dolphins
Shaun Gayle	10	271	Defensive back	Chicago Bears
	10	274	Center	Los Angeles Rams
	12	310	Wide receiver	Tampa Bay Buccaneers

References[]

^ 1984 Ohio State Football Media Guide
^ "Ohio St. Is Superb In Beating Sooners." Gainesville Sun. 1983 Sept 18.
^ Ohio State Official Athletic Site - Football - Archives. Retrieved 2014-Dec-20.
^ Gainesville Sun. 1983 Oct 30.
^ http://admin.xosn.com/fls/17300//pdf/fb/m-footbl-bowls.pdf

Win/Loss statistics

Draft data

Ohio State Drafted Players

[RecordBook-1] 1984 Ohio State Football Media Guide

[2] "Ohio St. Is Superb In Beating Sooners." Gainesville Sun. 1983 Sept 18.

[3] Ohio State Official Athletic Site - Football - Archives. Retrieved 2014-Dec-20.

[4] Gainesville Sun. 1983 Oct 30.

[5] ttp://admin.xosn.com/fls/17300//pdf/fb/m-footbl-bowls.pdf

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

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National championship seasons in bold

1983 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 10 Illinois $	9	–	0	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
No. 8 Michigan	8	–	1	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
No. 14 Iowa	7	–	2	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
No. 9 Ohio State	6	–	3	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
Wisconsin	5	–	4	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Purdue	3	–	5	–	1	3	–	7	–	1
Michigan State	2	–	6	–	1	4	–	6	–	1
Indiana	2	–	7	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Northwestern	2	–	7	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Minnesota	0	–	9	–	0	1	–	10	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll