1983 Cincinnati Bearcats football team

1983 Cincinnati Bearcats football
ConferenceIndependent
Record4–6–1
Head coach
Defensive coordinatorDick Hopkins (1st season)
Captains
  • Gene Beck
  • Bill Booze
  • Don Goodman
  • George Jamison
  • Linwood Marshall
Home stadiumRiverfront Stadium, Nippert Stadium
1983 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 1 Miami (FL)       11 1 0
Virginia Tech       9 2 0
No. 19 Boston College       9 3 0
No. 16 West Virginia       9 3 0
No. 20 East Carolina       8 3 0
No. 18 Pittsburgh       8 3 1
Florida State       8 4 0
Penn State       8 4 1
Southern Miss       7 4 0
Memphis State       6 4 1
Notre Dame       7 5 0
Syracuse       6 5 0
South Carolina       5 6 0
Cincinnati     4 6 1
Southwestern Louisiana       4 6 0
Temple       4 7 0
Tulane       4 7 0
Louisville       3 8 0
Navy       3 8 0
Rutgers       3 8 0
Army       2 9 0
Rankings from AP Poll
1983 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 3 Holy Cross ^     9 1 1
No. 17 Tennessee State     8 2 1
No. 7 Colgate ^     8 3 0
Lehigh     8 3 0
Lafayette     6 4 0
Northeastern     6 4 1
Southeastern Louisiana     6 5 0
William & Mary     6 5 0
Nicholls State     5 6 0
Bucknell     4 5 1
Delaware     4 7 0
Northwestern State     4 7 0
James Madison     3 8 0
Richmond     3 8 0
Western Kentucky     2 8 1
  • ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll

The 1983 Cincinnati Bearcats football team represented the University of Cincinnati during the 1983 NCAA Division I-AA football season. The Bearcats were led by first-year head coach Watson Brown. Due to an NCAA mandate that average attendance (home and away) exceed 20,000 fans, Cincinnati was to be relegated to NCAA Division I-AA. The program sued the NCAA, managing to limit the tenure of I-AA play to just the 1983 season, and played a schedule of mostly I-A opponents. They participated as independent and played their home games at Riverfront Stadium with on-campus Nippert Stadium being used as a supplement for the second of five straight seasons.