SEC championship 'a great memory' for 1983 Auburn Tigers

AUBURN, Ala. – The seeds for Auburn’s 1983 SEC championship were planted nearly three years earlier when Pat Dye arrived from Wyoming and implemented a strenuous winter conditioning program early in 1981.

“It was incredibly challenging physically, mentally, emotionally, on every level,” recalled quarterback Randy Campbell to Andy Burcham on the Talking Tigers podcast. “All you thought about was, can you make it through the next day?”

For approximately three dozen players, the answer was no. Those who stayed and endured laid the foundation for Auburn’s excellence in the 1980s.

“He felt like he had to put us through that to separate the people who really wanted to be there and were committed to winning championships from the ones who weren’t,” said Campbell, who ascended the depth chart from 11th-string when he arrived in 1979 to QB1 in 1982 and 1983. “I’m glad there wasn’t a transfer portal back then. We might not have had anybody left.”

Winter workouts served as a warmup for grueling spring practices.

“It was the toughest spring in my 25 years here,” remembered assistant coach Joe Whitt. “There was never another spring like that one. We dug it deep and solid.”

Linebacker Gregg Carr was a freshman in 1981.

"There were no holds barred, it was physical, and it was incredibly mental," Carr said. “What we ended with after four weeks of really just an all-out assault on the football field was a bunch of guys who really believed and bought into what Coach Dye was trying to instill in us.

“We all felt to a man that we had been through something incredibly taxing and physical, and I think it set the groundwork for what was to happen at Auburn over the ensuing several years."

Kicker Al Del Greco was never more thankful to be a specialist, escaping the brunt of the rugged workouts.

“Those guys who went through that first spring practice, there’s just a different level of brotherhood there,” Del Greco said. “Discipline and work ethic, it definitely came from that spring.”

In his first team meeting, Coach Dye told the players what to expect.

“If you love football and you love Auburn, you’ll be able to make it,” Dye reminisced in a Talking Tigers podcast prior to his passing in 2020. “The ones who stay, we can build a foundation that will last a long time around here.”

Auburn went 5-6 in 1981, Dye’s first season.

Bo Jackson arrived in the 1982 freshman class, helping the Tigers go 9-3 that season including an Iron Bowl win that ended Alabama’s nine-year rivalry streak.

“Bo’s combination of size, strength and speed was incredible,” Campbell said.

A sophomore in 1983, Jackson rushed for 1,213 yards and 12 touchdowns, averaging a career-best 7.7 yards per carry. On defense, Carr led the Tigers in tackles for the second straight year.

Sensing that Coach Dye was building a winning program on the Plains, Ben Tamburello chose Auburn over Alabama and earned the Tigers’ starting center position as a true freshman in 1983, becoming one of just four offensive linemen in Auburn history, and the only center, to earn All-America honors in more than one season.  

Ranked No. 4 in preseason, the 1983 Tigers opened at home with a 24-3 win over Southern Miss before stumbling the following week 20-7 vs. No. 3 Texas in a top-five matchup at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The strength and resilience forged two seasons prior in those winter workouts and spring practices showed up in the upperclassmen who stuck it out and provided leadership in ’83.

After losing to the Longhorns, Auburn ran the table, winning 10 straight games and defeating five straight ranked teams to end the season: No. 5 Florida, No. 7 Maryland, No. 4 Georgia, No. 19 Alabama and No. 8 Michigan in the Sugar Bowl.

The Tigers allowed only seven points to Georgia and Michigan and 20 to Alabama.

“We played great defense,” Whitt said. “We had a lot of talent.”

"Those teams were just loaded with talent," said Carr, whose 453 career tackles rank second in Auburn history behind Freddie Smith's 528.

After going 6-0 in the Southeastern Conference to win Auburn’s first SEC championship since 1957, Auburn faced the Wolverines in New Orleans.

Trailing 7-6 in the final minute at the Superdome, Michigan stopped Jackson short of the goal-line on third down, setting up Del Greco for a 19-yard game-winner.

“It was my last attempt in my last game,” said Del Greco, whose poise under pressure impressed his future Miami Dolphins head coach, Don Shula. “He said that being able to do that in that moment was one of the things that made them interested in signing me.”

Despite Auburn’s daunting strength of schedule and four top-10 wins down the stretch, the Tigers remained ranked No. 3 in the media and coaches polls, even though No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 Texas both lost their bowl games.

Miami, ranked No. 5, moved up to No. 1 in the final polls after beating the Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl, with Nebraska dropping to No. 2 ahead of Auburn. The New York Times and the College Football Researchers Association crowned Auburn as national champions, fueling a debate that continues four decades later. 

"A lot of people think we were the No. 1 team in the country. That was really a special time," Tamburello said. "We were close to winning the whole thing. A great memory."

“It’s still a great memory,” Del Greco echoed. “We knew we were the best team in the country that year. We still cherish that.”

Months after Auburn’s 9-7 Sugar Bowl win, Michigan coach Bo Schembechler came to the Plains to visit Dye, who introduced Del Greco, the kicker whose field goals delivered the Tigers’ win in New Orleans.

“Coach Dye said, ‘He may not be the best that there is, but he’s the best when you need him,’” Del Greco recalled. “That stuck with me for a while, and I always appreciated that. He did a lot for me as far as being a father, a husband and doing what’s right. That’s what was great about Coach Dye.”

Forty years after earning a treasured place in program history, the 1983 Auburn Tigers return to the Plains. To laugh, to love, to remember.

“They all talk about what an influence Coach Dye had on their lives,” Del Greco said. “What it did for the program, and what part we played in getting Auburn football back on the map where it is today.”

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer