1983 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

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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
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 →

1983 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e	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

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 (rivalry)	WXYZ-TV	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
WR		Cedric Anderson
RB		Roman Bates
RB		Ken Blair
RB		Vaughn Broadnax
RB		Keith Byars
OL		Jim Carson
OL		Joe Dooley
TE		John Frank (C)
WR		Jay Holland
WR		Thad Jemison
QB		Jim Karsatos	Fr
OL		Mark Krerowicz
OL		Jim Lachey
WR		Mike Lanese
RB		Kelvin Lindsey
OL		Kirk Lowdermilk
QB		Brent Offenbacher
OT		Bill Roberts (C)
TE		Doug Smith
QB		Tim Stephens
QB	`15`	Mike Tomczak	Jr
RB		Barry Walker
RB		John Woolridge
OL		Scott Zalenski

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB		Clark Backus
DB		Kelvin Bell
DL		Dave Crecelius
LB		Curt Curtis
DB		Shaun Gayle
DB		Doug Hill
DB		Steve Hill
LB		Pepper Johnson
CB		Garcia Lane (C)
LB		Byron Lee
DL		Darryl Lee
LB		Orlando Lowry
DL		Dave Morrill
DL		Spencer Nelms
LB		Rowland Tatum (C)

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K		Paul Allen
P		Karl Edwards
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

	1	2	3	4	Total
Oregon	0	6	0	0	6
• Ohio St	7	3	21	0	31

Date: September 10
Location: Ohio Stadium

At Oklahoma

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

Quarter	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 (Big Ten)
TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles
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
Game start: 1:30 EDT

Purdue

Purdue Boilermakers (1–2–1) at #6 Ohio State Buckeyes (3–1)

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

at Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

Date: October 8, 1983
Game time: 1:30 p.m. EDT
Game weather: Sunny, 76 °F (24 °C)
Game attendance: 89,384
Referee: Tom Quinn
Box Score

Game information

First quarter

OSU – Paul Allen 21-yard field goal, 9:41. Ohio St 3–0. Drive: 11 plays, 61 yards, 5:11.
OSU – Paul Allen 41-yard field goal, 4:30. Ohio St 6–0. Drive: 10 plays, 45 yards, 3:34.
PUR – Eric Jordan 40-yard run (Tim Clark kick), 2:27. Purdue 7–6. Drive: 6 plays, 71 yards, 2:00.

Second quarter

OSU – Keith Byars 4-yard run (pass failed), 5:23. Ohio St 12–7. Drive: 3 plays, 20 yards, 0:59.

Third quarter

OSU – Garcia Lane 63-yard punt return (Rich Spangler kick), 13:43. Ohio St 19–7.
OSU – Garcia Lane 71-yard punt return (Rich Spangler kick), 2:51. Ohio St 26–7.

Fourth quarter

PUR – Tim Clark 39-yard field goal, 14:20. Ohio St 26–10. Drive: 10 plays, 58 yards, 3:31.
OSU – Keith Byars 2-yard run (Rich Spangler kick), 10:56. Ohio St 33–10. Drive: 6 plays, 80 yards, 3:19.
PUR – Cliff Benson 5-yard pass from Scott Campbell (pass failed), 3:50. Ohio St 33–16. Drive: 11 plays, 56 yards, 3:59.
PUR – Mel Gray 20-yard run (pass failed), 2:58. Ohio St 33–22. Drive: 4 plays, 48 yards, 0:46.

Top passers

PUR – Scott Campbell – 23/36, 228 yards, TD
OSU – Mike Tomczak – 8/17, 145 yards, 2 INT

Top rushers

PUR – Eric Jordan – 9 rushes, 89 yards, TD
OSU – Keith Byars – 23 rushes, 135 yards, 2 TD

Top receivers

PUR – Steve Griffin – 5 receptions, 62 yards
OSU – Keith Byars – 4 receptions, 120 yards

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 (13 °C); wind 15–25 mph (24–40 km/h) SE
Referee: Jerry Hendrickson

^[3]

Wisconsin

Wisconsin Badgers (5–2) at #16 Ohio State Buckeyes (5–2)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Wisconsin	14	7	6	0	27
Ohio St	7	21	10	7	45

at Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

Date: October 29, 1983
Game time: 1:30 p.m. EDT
Game weather: Clear, 55 °F (13 °C)
Game attendance: 89,203
Referee: Jim Kemerling
Box Score

Game information

First quarter

WIS – Gary Ellerson 2-yard run (Kevin Rohde kick), 11:34. Wisconsin 7–0.
OSU – Thad Jemison 19-yard pass from Mike Tomczak (Rich Spangler kick), 5:25. Tie 7–7.
WIS – Thad McFadden 20-yard pass from Randy Wright (Kevin Rohde kick), 2:50. Wisconsin 14–7.

Second quarter

OSU – Mike Tomczak 28-yard run (Rich Spangler kick), 13:19. Tie 14–14.
OSU – Keith Byars 13-yard run (Rich Spangler kick), 7:16. Ohio St 21–14.
OSU – Vaughn Broadnax 1-yard run (Rich Spangler kick), 2:07. Ohio St 28–14.
WIS – Nick Toon 22-yard pass from Randy Wright (Kevin Rohde kick), 0:57. Ohio St 28–21.

Third quarter

WIS – Brett Pearson 7-yard pass from Randy Wright (kick failed), 11:36. Ohio St 28–27.
OSU – Rich Spangler 36-yard field goal, 4:41. Ohio St 31–27.
OSU – Keith Byars 3-yard run (Rich Spangler kick), 1:36. Ohio St 38–27.

Fourth quarter

OSU – Roman Bates 14-yard run (Rich Spangler kick), 12:48. Ohio St 45–27.

Top passers

WIS – Randy Wright – 23/39, 319 yards, 3 TD, 4 INT
OSU – Mike Tomczak – 12/14, 162 yards, TD

Top rushers

WIS – Joe Armentrout – 10 rushes, 40 yards
OSU – Keith Byars – 29 rushes, 174 yards, 2 TD

Top receivers

WIS – Thad McFadden – 3 receptions, 108 yards, TD
OSU – Cedric Anderson – 4 receptions, 70 yards

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

^[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
Rowland Tatum	6	165	Linebacker	Miami Dolphins
Shaun Gayle	10	271	Defensive back	Chicago Bears
Joe Dooley	10	274	Center	Los Angeles Rams
Thad Jemison	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 Archived 2014-12-21 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2014-Dec-20.
^ Gainesville Sun. 1983 Oct 30.
^ "Ohio State Spring Football Media Guide" (PDF). 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 28, 2020.

[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 Archived 2014-12-21 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2014-Dec-20.

[4] Gainesville Sun. 1983 Oct 30.

[5] "Ohio State Spring Football Media Guide" (PDF). 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 28, 2020.

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