1983 NCAA Division I - A football season The 1983 NCAA Division I - A football season ended with the University of Miami winning their first national championship over perennial power Nebraska in the Orange Bowl . The 31 - 30 win over Nebraska is still talked about as one of the greatest games of all time , not only for its last minute finish , but for its role in changing the face of college football . Miami came into the game ranked # 5 , but losses by Texas in the Cotton Bowl Classic and Illinois in the Rose Bowl launched them into the # 1 spot . Nebraska scored a touchdown with 48 seconds remaining , putting them within one point of the Hurricanes . Despite knowing a tie would still give Nebraska the national title , Coach Tom Osborne courageously decided to go for two points and the win rather than one point and the tie . Miami was able to hold , snapping Nebraska ' s 22 game winning streak and launching Miami as a powerhouse program . This is often regarded as one of the most questionable coaching decisions in history , as a tie would have likely kept Nebraska above Miami in the polls and therefore they would have won the national championship . This Miami team was the first to win a national title without a single player voted to the first team All - Americans and only the second to win a national title gaining more passing yards than rushing . The Auburn Tigers , featuring Bo Jackson also had a stellar season going 11 - 1 and beating Michigan in the Sugar Bowl 9 - 7 . Despite entering the bowl games ranked third in both major polls , and with both teams ranked higher losing their bowl games , the Tigers ended ranked third in the final AP poll as Miami jumped from 5th to gain the National Championship . Auburn had played the toughest schedule in the nation , including eight bowl teams , seven of which were ranked in the top 20 ( four in the top ten ) . Perhaps because of the difficult schedule , the Tigers did finish ranked first in a few polls including the New York Times computer rankings . The Holiday Bowl was also a classic , as BYU , led by future NFL star Steve Young , defeated Missouri with a last second halfback pass . The annual rivalry game between Oregon and Oregon State is still widely known and derided as " The Toilet Bowl " , as both teams played to a 0 - 0 tie , the last scoreless tie in college football . The game featured 11 total turnovers , as 6 fumbles were lost ( out of 11 total ) , 5 interceptions , and 4 missed field goals . This season saw no conference have two or more teams tie for the title — an event that did not happen again in either Division I - A or its successor , Division I FBS , until 2009 . ( Note , however , that even when a conference officially recognizes multiple champions , it will invariably have some kind of tiebreaker system to determine placement for bowl berths . ) # 1 and # 2 Progress . In the preseason poll released on August 27 , Big 8 Conference rivals Nebraska and Oklahoma were # 1 and # 2 . After the Oklahoma Sooners lost 24 - 14 to Ohio State on September 17 , the Nebraska Cornhuskers remained # 1 and were trailed for nearly the entire season by Texas . Nebraska received all 60 of the first place votes in the polls of September 26 and October 3 , and no fewer than 51 as the season continued , while the Longhorns never received more than five votes during the same period . Meanwhile , the University of Miami Hurricanes , unranked in the preseason Top 20 , began winning after their first week 28 - 3 loss to Florida . Miami came in at # 15 in the September 26 poll . As they continued unbeaten , the Hurricanes gathered force , rising to # 12 , # 10 , # 8 , # 7 , and reached # 4 by October 31 , where they remained in the final regular season poll after they were invited to play against Nebraska in the Orange Bowl . Heisman Trophy voting . " The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award is given to the Most Outstanding Player of the year " < br > Winner : Mike Rozier , Nebraska RB ( 1 , 801 points )