1983 Florida Gators football team

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).

1983 Florida Gators football
Gator Bowl, W 14–6 vs. Iowa
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 6
APNo. 6
1983 record9–2–1 (4–2 SEC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorMike Shanahan (4th season)
Defensive coordinatorJoe Kines (3rd season)
Home stadiumFlorida Field
(Capacity: 72,000)[1]
1983 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW 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

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 3Miami (FL)*W 28–373,907
September 10at No. 9 USC*No. 18T 19–1953,948
September 17Indiana State*No. 15
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL
W 17–1368,191
September 24at Mississippi StateNo. 15W 35–1231,875
October 1at No. 16 LSUNo. 12W 31–1778,616
October 8VanderbiltNo. 9
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL
W 29–1073,764
October 22East Carolina*No. 6
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL
W 24–1773,943
October 29at No. 4 AuburnNo. 5CBSL 21–2875,700
November 5vs. No. 4 GeorgiaNo. 9CBSL 9–1082,166
November 12KentuckyNo. 14
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL
W 24–773,192
December 3Florida State*No. 12
  • Florida Field
  • Gainesville, FL (rivalry)
CBSW 53–1474,113
December 30vs. No. 10 Iowa*No. 11
ABCW 14–681,293
  • *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.#NameClass
RB 27 Neal Anderson So
WR 89 Ricky Nattiel Fr
QB 15 Wayne Peace Sr
FB 22 John L. Williams So
Defense
Pos.#NameClass
S 18 Tony Lilly Sr
LB 88 Wilber Marshall Sr
Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K Bobby Raymond Jr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Rankings

Game summaries

Gator Bowl

Iowa vs. Florida
1 234Total
No. 10 Hawkeyes 0 330 6
No. 11 Gators 7 700 14


[3]

Team players in the 1984 NFL Draft

PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL Club
Wilber MarshallLinebacker111Chicago Bears
Tony LillySafety378Denver Broncos
Randy ClarkDefensive back8202Kansas City Chiefs
John HuntGuard9232Dallas Cowboys

[4]

References

  1. University of Florida Sports Information Department. "Florida 1983 Football Guide" (PDF). floridagators.com. University Athletic Association, Inc. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  2. 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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