Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher believes Auburn football 'got cheated' out of 1983 national title
Ahead of his team's matchup with Auburn football on Saturday, Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said something that a lot of Tigers fans will appreciate.
Fisher, speaking on his radio show, explained how Auburn deserved to win the 1983 national championship, but the AP Poll opted to give it to Miami instead. The Tigers finished 11-1 that season with notable wins over No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 Florida, No. 7 Maryland, No. 8 Michigan and No. 19 Alabama.
The win over Michigan was in the Sugar Bowl.
"Auburn got cheated out of a national championship," Fisher said this week. "In 1983, they won the SEC. They were No. 3 in the country. They played seven top-20 ranked teams. That's when Florida was loaded with Wilber Marshall and James Jones and that whole crew, Wayne Peace. They played Alabama, Georgia. ... Tennessee was loaded. That whole schedule was (stacked)."
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The lone blemish on Auburn's record that season came in Week 2 against the Texas Longhorns, who finished the regular season undefeated.
Heading into their respective bowl games, the AP Poll had Nebraska ranked No. 1, Texas at No. 2 and Auburn at No. 3. The Cornhuskers fell to No. 5 Miami and the Longhorns dropped the Cotton Bowl to No. 7 Georgia. The Tigers beat Michigan, 9-7.
Conventional wisdom says Auburn should've ascended to the top spot. That's not what happened.
"You go to bed thinking you're national champions," Fisher said. "What happened the next day is the AP Poll moved Miami from No. 5 ... to No. 1, moved Nebraska to No. 2, left Auburn at (No.) 3 and (the Tigers) never won the national championship. That was when they had Bo Jackson and they had a great team. ...
"That was Miami's first national championship. I don't mean they shouldn't have gotten it, but theoretically, Auburn should have won it. And they didn't in history. It was an interesting deal."
Auburn (3-0) and Texas A&M (2-1) will open SEC play against one another Saturday (11 a.m CT, ESPN).
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football: Jimbo Fisher thinks Tigers deserved 1983 national title
