1983 Cincinnati Bearcats football team

1983 Cincinnati Bearcats football
ConferenceIndependent
Record4–6–1
Head coach
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
TeamW L TW 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
TeamW L TW 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.