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1983 college football

1983 Ohio State Football: A Redemptive Fiesta Bowl Win

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The honeymoon was over for Earle Bruce in Columbus. After taking Ohio State to an undefeated season in his first year in 1979, Bruce had lost the Rose Bowl that year and then failed to make any major bowl game—much less the coveted Rose—in the ensuing three years. The 1983 Ohio State football season needed to see a move back in the upward direction.

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Bruce had good skill position talent on hand for 1983, and it started with running back Keith Byars. The big back ran for nearly 1,200 yards and one year later he would finish second to Doug Flutie in the Heisman Trophy voting. Byars was the workhorse of the Big Ten in carries and still finished a solid fourth in yards-per-attempt. His 20 touchdowns also led the conference.

Mike Tomczak had a long NFL career ahead of him, including quarterbacking some playoff teams. In 1983 at Ohio State, Tomczak completed a respectable 55 percent of his passes for a solid 8.2 yards-per-attempt. His top target with tight end John Frank, while wide receiver Cedric Anderson was a big play threat and Thad Jemison a solid third target.

The Buckeyes weren’t loaded defensively, but defensive back Kelvin Bell intercepted five passes. The high expectations that have been in Columbus seemingly forever were in place in 1983, as they were ranked ninth in the preseason poll.

Oregon was a subpar team and they came into Columbus for a perfunctory 31-6 trouncing that got the Buckeyes for their trip to second-ranked Oklahoma.

Frank made a key decision before the game—an observant Jew on Rosh Hashanah weekend, he decided to play. Whether it was the right move isn’t something for a non-Jew to comment on, but it was a big help for the football team. Frank caught two first-half touchdown passes and Ohio State stunned the crowd in Norman by taking a 21-0 lead by the third quarter. They won 24-14 in a game not as respectable as the score makes it sound.

Oklahoma would prove to be a four-loss disappointment, but for now, Ohio State was riding high and moved up to #3 in the national rankings.

But the start of Big Ten play brought problems and the Buckeyes dropped a tough 20-14 decision at seventh-ranked Iowa. Ohio State slipped to #8, before rebounding with wins over bad Minnesota and Purdue teams, scoring 102 points in the process. The Buckeyes were #6 going into Illinois on October 15.

The Illini were in the midst of a year that would see them reach the Rose Bowl and when they beat Ohio State 17-13, the Buckeyes were realistically out of contention. Not only would they miss the Rose Bowl again, they wouldn’t even play for the prize at Michigan on November 19.

Ohio State posted a pedestrian 21-11 win over a sub-.500 Michigan State team. Wisconsin was up next. The Badgers had beaten the Buckeyes each of the last two seasons and were in the mix to finish in the top three of the conference. The potential for a disappointing conference season to turn even worse was there when Bucky came to Columbus on October 29.

The running of Byars saved the Buckeyes. An up-and-down first half had Ohio State ahead 28-21, but Wisconsin immediately drove for a touchdown to start the third quarter, before missing the extra point. The Buckeyes took the game over from there.

Byars finished with 174 yards, while Tomczak was sharp and efficient, 12/14 for 162 yards. Ohio State controlled the line of scrimmage and pulled away to a 45-27 win. They followed it up with thumpings of lowly Indiana and Northwestern by a combined 111-24.

The Buckeyes might have been out of the Rose Bowl mix, but they were back in the Top 10 and the Sugar Bowl announced it planned to invite the winner of their game against Michigan as the foil for third-ranked Auburn. Even the loser would get a nice consolation prize in the Fiesta Bowl.

Another opportunity was met with disappointment though. Ohio State lost 24-21 and Bruce’s decision to try a trick “fumble-rooskie” play (where the quarterback sets the ball on the ground and an offensive lineman scoops it up and goes running) blew up in his face, creating a turnover when the Buckeyes were driving to tie or take the lead.

Ohio State’s final chance at redeeming this season would come in Tempe. The ideal opponent in that regard would have sixth-ranked SMU and their 10-1 record. But the Mustangs were not good television. Pitt was 8-2-1 and a nice story, having continued to win after the departure of Dan Marino to the NFL. The Buckeyes and Panthers would meet in the Fiesta Bowl.

John Congemi was the new Pitt quarterback and he threw a first-half touchdown. Ohio State got rushing TDs from Tomczak and Byars and led 14-7 at the half. The score held into the fourth quarter when suddenly things got crazy. Pitt tied the game, but Byars, who told the press afterward how much he wanted this game, took the kickoff back 99 yards for a touchdown.

Another touchdown pass by Congemi put Pitt into position to tie the game, but they opted for a two-point try that missed. No matter, the Panthers got the ball back and kicked a field goal with 2:39 left. Trailing 23-21 against a good defense, the Buckeyes looked ready to endure one more disappointment.

Tomczak, often underappreciated for his importance in the offense due to the excellence of Byars, responded to the moment. He pushed Ohio State just past the Pitt 40-yard line, closing on field goal range. But the field goal wouldn’t be necessary. The number 39 proved to be magic–Tomczak found Jemison a 39-yard touchdown strike with 39 seconds left and the Buckeyes had a 28-23 win.

Ohio State had a big win and they got to #9 in the polls. It still wasn’t the wins the good people of Columbus wanted, but it was partial redemption. And the Buckeyes went back to the Rose Bowl a year later.

1983 Michigan Football: A Sugar Bowl Season In Ann Arbor

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Michigan was the gold standard of Big Ten football in the 1980s. They had won the conference title in 1980 and 1982, along with several more major bowl trips in the late 1970s. The 1983 Michigan football team didn’t get back to Pasadena, but they were a Top 10 team and snagged the seventh major bowl bid in eight years for head coach Bo Schembechler.

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The Wolverines had lost wide receiver Anthony Carter, as the Big Ten Player of the Year moved on to the NFL, but Michigan could always run the football. Rick Rodgers was the conference’s second-leading rusher, with just over 1,000 yards. Quarterback Steve Smith was a mediocre passer, but ran for 667 yards. There were two All-Americans on the offensive line, in Stepfan Humphries and Tom Dixon.

Schembechler’s team was ranked #10 to start the season and opened with two games against good Pac-10 teams from the state of Washington. The Wolverines edged Washington State 20-17 at home, but dropped a tough 25-24 decision at Washington to slip to #17 in the polls.

Another decent opponent in seven-win Wisconsin was up next and Michigan went to Madison to get a 38-21 win. The schedule then got softer and the Wolverines blasted through sub-.500 opponents in Indiana, Michigan State and Northwestern by a combined 120-18 and got themselves back up to tenth in the national rankings.

A battle with #12 Iowa was nationally televised from Ann Arbor and it was worthy of the showcase. With the game tied 13-13, Michigan moved into field goal range and Bob Bergeron drilled a 45-yard field goal across his body from the hashmark to win on the final play.

Michigan and Illinois were the only teams perfect in Big Ten play, but the Wolverines lost the head-to-head game 16-6 on the final weekend of October. Illinois had a soft November schedule, so any hope for a Rose Bowl return was basically gone. But the Wolverines were still prominent on the radar of major bowl organizers.

They destroyed bad teams in Purdue and Minnesota, scoring a combined hundred points in the two games and it set up the season finale with Ohio State. It wasn’t winner-take-all for the Rose Bowl like it had been so often in the previous fifteen years. But it would have the next-best thing—the Sugar Bowl announced that the winner of the battle between 8-2 teams would get the invite to New Orleans.

Smith stepped up with his arm and hit Triando Markray on a 67-yard touchdown strike, part of building an early 10-0 lead. Ohio State came back and took the lead, but Michigan forced four turnovers and one of them set up a short touchdown run by Smith for a 17-14 edge early in the fourth quarter.

Ohio State drove to the Michigan 38-yard line and then called for a “fumble-rooskie” trick play, where the quarterback places the ball on the ground and an offensive lineman pulls around to pick it up and take off, since it’s technically a fumble. But in this case, it was more than a technicality. Defensive tackle Mike Hammerstein blew up the play, the ball began bouncing around and the Wolverines recovered.

Smith then led a 60-yard touchdown drive, accounting for 43 of the yards with either his arm or feet that all but sealed the game. The Buckeyes answered with a touchdown but a covered onside kick put the finishing touches on Michigan’s 24-21 win and their Sugar Bowl bid.

Auburn had won the SEC and was Michigan’s opponent. The Tigers were ranked #3. With the top two teams in the polls, Texas and Nebraska, both heavily favored in their bowl games, it was not anticipated that the Sugar Bowl would have national title implications.

But by the prime-time kickoff in New Orleans, everyone knew that Texas had lost. As the night unfolded, everyone became aware that Miami was in the process of shocking Nebraska. Auburn was in the mix for a national championship. And Michigan had the chance to be a spoiler.

The game was a defensive war. The Wolverines put up a touchdown midway through the first quarter, but would not score again. Penalties dogged Michigan the rest of the night, and Auburn slowly chipped their way back. The Tigers got two field goals. They reached the two-yard line with less than a minute left and kicked another field goal. Auburn won 9-7.

Miami ended up winning the vote over Auburn for the national championship and it’s probable that Michigan making the Tigers win so ugly played at least a part in that verdict. More important for the Wolverines, they still settled in at a solid #8 in the final polls. It might not have been a Rose Bowl year, but it was still a nice piece in the landscape that is Bo Schembechler’s legacy at Ann Arbor.

1983 Notre Dame Football: More November Heartbreak For Gerry Faust

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Even though 1982 had ended on a dour note, with three straight losses ruining hopes for a major bowl bid, the 1983 Notre Dame football team entered the season with high hopes. It was the third year for head coach Gerry Faust, the team had shown significant improvement in his second season and pollsters were high on the Irish. Alas, another heartbreaking fade put the Faust era deeper into a funk.

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Notre Dame was led by running back Allen Pinkett, who ran for nearly 1,400 yards. Pinkett averaged 5.5 yards-per-carry. He was also the team’s leading receiver with 28 catches and those receptions averaged ten yards a pop. Pinkett was a second-team All-American, trailing only Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier at Nebraska and Auburn’s Bo Jackson.

The Irish also got better play at the quarterback position then had been the case the first two years under Faust. Senior Blair Kiel split time with freshman Steve Beuerlein and both played respectably. Kiel and Beuerlein each completed over 50 percent of their passes, a key benchmark in this era. And they both generated over seven yards per attempt.

Kiel and Beuerlein had a well-balanced corps of receivers to work with. Joe Howard and Milt Jackson were good deep threats. Mark Bavaro, a tight end with a good NFL career ahead of him could work underneath and get downfield. And there was Pinkett out of the backfield. Notre Dame finished 26th in the country in points scored—not dazzling, but they were no longer a liability.

The Irish defense didn’t have the same star power, but they were even more effective as a unit. Mike Golic, the future ESPN radio personality, was on the defensive line. Chris Brown and Stacey Toran led up the secondary and linebacker Rick Naylor intercepted three passes. ND ranked 15th nationally in points allowed.

They were ranked #6 in the country to start the season and came out firing on all cylinders at Purdue. A 52-6 win over a bad team to start the year nudged Notre Dame to fourth in the polls.

Michigan State was a mediocre program in 1983 and they came to South Bend for the home opener. Notre Dame opened the game with an 80-yard TD match that ended with a Kiel-to-Bavaro touchdown pass. The Irish followed that up by driving 88 yards for another score and a 14-0 cushion.

But the game got away. Notre Dame frequently found themselves in poor field position and the Spartans chipped away to tie the game 21-21. Kiel threw a fourth-quarter interception that set up the go-ahead touchdown. MSU took a safety late in the game, but it ended 28-23 and Notre Dame fell to #13 in the polls.

Things got no better the following week in a road game at Miami, the eventual national champion. Notre Dame was dismantled, 20-0, and fell out of the rankings.

Three road trips awaited, although they were against mediocre teams. Faust got the Irish back on track with easy wins at Colorado and South Carolina. A trip to the Meadowlands saw a 42-0 thrashing of Army. Notre Dame had a little momentum and USC was coming to town on October 22.

It was the six-year anniversary of the “Green Jersey” game, where Notre Dame surprised everyone, including USC by coming out of the tunnel wearing green instead of their customary navy blue. The Irish won that game and started a run to the 1977 national championship.

That was also the last time Notre Dame had beaten USC. Faust decided this game would be Green Jerseys II. The result was the same (although the fact this was a bad Trojan team didn’t hurt either). Pinkett ran for 122 yards and the Irish got an easy 27-6 win.

A week later they rolled lowly Navy 28-12, a game this writer was in an attendance for in my one visit to Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish were back to #18 in the polls. With a 6-2 record, a major bowl bid was most definitely on the table.

But the stretch drive wouldn’t be easy. There were home games against good teams in Pitt and Air Force. In between was a road trip to Penn State.

And the Irish did not play well against Pitt. The Panthers jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and Notre Dame never did get their offense untracked. They trailed 21-6 late in the game when a touchdown with 0:25 left, followed by a voluntary Pitt safety made the score deceptive close at 21-16.

The Fiesta Bowl was still interested in the Irish if they could win out. A Notre Dame team that was 8-3 and had closed the year by beating quality teams in Penn State and Air Force would be very attractive on the major bowl stage.

Playing in winds up to 35mph in Happy Valley, Pinkett ran wild, for 217 yards. When Notre Dame recovered a fumble at their own 12-yard line, holding a 30-27 lead late in the game, they looked on track for Tempe.

But the offense went three-and-out. Kiel, kicking with the wind, shanked a punt. Penn State got the ball at midfield with 0:53 still to play. The Lions only needed 34 of those seconds to break Notre Dame’s heart with a game-winning touchdown.

The 34-30 loss ended any major bowl hopes and a 23-22 loss to Air Force was one more knife to the chest for Faust’s team. But they would get a chance to redeem themselves. For the first time in school history, Notre Dame accepted a bid to a non-major bowl game. They would play fellow Catholic school Boston College in the Liberty Bowl at Memphis.

BC was ranked #13 and had a junior quarterback by the name of Doug Flutie, who would set the college football world afire a year later.

The turf at the Liberty Bowl was frozen and it dramatically affected the kicking game. Flutie threw a 17-yard touchdown pass  in the first quarter, but the extra point was missed. Notre Dame answered with an 87-yard drive capped off by Pinkett’s 1-yard run. The converted extra point would prove to be the biggest play of the game.

Golic blocked a punt and set up a quick Irish score. Kiel hit Bavaro on a 20-yard touchdown pass. Flutie answered with a 28-yard TD pass to before the second quarter was out. In all three cases, the PAT or two-point conversion following these touchdowns missed. The score was 19-12 Notre Dame at the half.

The Irish couldn’t score in the second half, but Pinkett did run for 111 yards. Flutie was able to lead an 85-yard touchdown drive, but another missed two-point play kept the score at 19-18.

Flutie led one more drive that reached the Notre Dame 35-yard line with 1:08 left. It was 4th-and-4 and time for the frozen turf to play a role one more time. Flutie dropped back to pass, but slipped while passing and his throw fell incomplete. Finally, Notre Dame’s heart didn’t get broken in a big game.

The Liberty Bowl win was a nice end to another frustrating season. Faust seemed so close to a breakthrough only to keep coming up short in November. Unfortunately for the head coach and the program, that wouldn’t change over his next two years in South Bend.

1983 Sports: Two College Upsets & NHL Dynasties Cross In The Night

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College sports, football and basketball, had historic years to lead the way in 1983 sports. Both produced stunning upsets in championship games and each had a lasting historical legacy.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
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We can start with the January 1984 Orange Bowl, where Nebraska came in heavily favored and ready to solidify its place as not just national champion, but one of the all-time great teams. Miami was still an up-and-coming program at this point in their history, and the Hurricanes pulled a stunning 31-30 upset.
The Final Four had been no less dramatic. Jim Valvano’s N.C. State team had pulled out multiple miracle finishes to get to the national championship game, and Valvano pulled one more rabbit out of his hat in upsetting heavily favored Houston 54-52 to steal a title of his own.
Miami’s victory became an obvious historical benchmark in the sea change of college football toward the state of Florida. The sleeping giant, that had traditionally watched other schools raid them for recruits, had started keeping players at home. Miami, along with Florida State and Florida would transform the landscape of the sport.
N.C. State’s upset was the fulfillment of nine years of the NCAA Tournament being a time for favorites to win, to being “March Madness.” Recent seasons had produced surprise Final Four teams and even entire regionals torn apart by upsets. But the ultimate national champion had always been a highly seeded team—until 1983.
Read more about the 1984 Orange Bowl
Read more about 1983 N.C. State basketball
College football and college basketball weren’t done—each had compelling subplots to their dramatic main narratives. On the football side, the Texas Longhorns produced a defense that was at least as good as Nebraska’s offense and if this had happened in 1994 or later, the two teams would have met in a national championship battle.
They didn’t, and Texas went to the Cotton Bowl to play Georgia. Something often forgotten about Miami’s rise is that if Texas doesn’t fumble a punt late in the fourth quarter, and turn a 9-3 lead into a crushing 10-9 loss, the Hurricane upset becomes noteworthy in that it gives unbeaten UT a national title.
Also forgotten in the 1983 narrative is that Auburn got robbed. The Tigers went 10-1, as did Miami, and won their bowl game as did Miami. While the Hurricanes’ victory was considerably more dramatic and against a much better opponent (Auburn beat Big Ten runner-up Michigan in the Sugar Bowl), Auburn had played eight bowl teams to Miami’s one during the regular season. There was no comparison in the body of work and the Tigers should have been voted national champions.
The NCAA Tournament’s Mideast Regional didn’t produce the national champ or even a finalist, but when you combine the quality of the games, the fierceness of the rivals and the locale, it made it arguably the best regional ever, at least the Sweet 16 and regional final rounds.
Louisville, Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas all converged on Knoxville. That’s a lot of tradition, a lot of passion and a lot of fans in reasonable travel distance of the site. All three games were good, and Louisville-Kentucky in the final was a great overtime battle that had even more juice, given that UK refused to play Louisville at this time.
Read more about the 1983 Mideast Regional (and other top regionals in NCAA Tournament lore)
The Stanley Cup Finals and the Super Bowl each offered compelling matchups between teams that had been circling each other.
In hockey, the New York Islanders had won three straight Stanley Cups, while the Edmonton Oilers of Wayne Gretzky were steadily rising, but a playoff upset the prior year kept them from their showdown with the Isles.
In the NFL, the Washington Redskins and Los Angeles Raiders were each the #1 seeds in their respective conferences in 1982, but it was the Raiders who were upset in the playoffs. In 1983, both teams again got the 1-seeds, and this time they both cashed it in.
Neither championship event lived up to the drama—the Islanders won in a sweep, while the Raiders won 38-9.
The NFL’s 1983 rookie quarterback class–notably John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly–is correctly remembered as the greatest QB class in history. What’s less remembered is that one team, with an undrafted quarterback and built around the running game upended two of these quarterbacks in the postseason. The Seattle Seahaws beat Elway and Marino in succession before losing to the Raiders in the AFC Championship Game.
Read more about the 1983 Stanley Cup Finals
Read more about the Redskins-Raiders Super Bowl
Read more about the 1983 Seattle Seahawks

And finally, two veteran teams that had been knocking on the championship door finally kicked the door down in 1983.
The Philadelphia 76ers had lost the NBA Finals in 1977, 1980 and 1982, and dropped a crushing Eastern Conference Finals in 1981. The Baltimore Orioles lost a heartbreaking World Series in 1979, and tough pennant races in both 1980 and 1982. Both the 76ers and Orioles got their due in 1983.
1983 Philadelphia 76ers
1983 Baltimore Orioles