Miami football: 5 best seasons in program history
By John Buhler
834. No. 1 Coaches/No. 1 AP. player. 4. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. National Champions/Orange Bowl Champions. 1983 (11-1)
It was quite the climb for the 1983 Hurricanes. At the start of the year, the Canes were unranked under fifth-year head coach Howard Schnellenberger. Miami was humiliated Week 1 at the rival No. 16 Florida Gator’s place. However, they would quickly rebound, earning a top-25 ranking after upsetting the No. 13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Orange Bowl a few weeks later.
Miami would carefully climb from No. 15 all the way up to No. 5 by the time the Hurricanes played the No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl at season’s end. Despite being a home dog, the Hurricanes defeated top-seeded Nebraska by a point 31-30, as the Cornhuskers decided to go for two and the win, but came up short. Miami became national champions for the first time.
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So with this being the first national championship in team history, as well as shocking the No. 1 team in the land on the final play of the game, this campaign is good enough to crack the top four all-time in Miami football history. However, Miami only beat three teams that season and all were technically at home: No. 15 Notre Dame, No. 12 West Virginia and No. 1 Nebraska.
This was Schnellenberger’s only national championship as head coach. He left to become part-owner and head coach of the relocated Washington Federals of the USFL, to be rechristened as the Spirit of Miami. That deal fell through and Schnellenberger was out of football for a year before resurfacing as the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals. He was succeeded by Jimmy Johnson.