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
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)[1]

1983 Southeastern Conference football standings
	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

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

Further information: 1983 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Game summaries

Gator Bowl

Iowa vs. Florida

1 2 3 4 Total No. 10 Hawkeyes 0 3 3 0 6 • No. 11 Gators 7 7 0 0 14 Date: December 30 Location: Gator Bowl Stadium • Jacksonville, Florida Game start: 8:13 p.m. EST Elapsed time: 3:17 Game attendance: 81,293 Game weather: 35°F, Clear, Wind N 7 mph Referee: James Garvey TV announcers (ABC): Al Michaels & Frank Broyles

Scoring summary 1 0:40 UF Neal Anderson 1-yard run (Raymond kick) Florida 7-0 2 5:45 IOWA Tom Nichol 32-yard field goal Florida 7-3 2 1:08 UF Drew fumble recovery in end zone (Raymond kick) Florida 14-3 3 11:00 IOWA Tom Nichol 31-yard field goal Florida 14-6

Main article: 1983 Gator Bowl

See also: 1983 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

[3]

Team players in the 1984 NFL Draft

Main article: 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

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.