1984 Auburn Tigers football team

The 1984 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University in the 1984 NCAA Division I-A football season. Coached by Pat Dye, the team finished the season with an 8–4 record and won the Liberty Bowl over Arkansas. As of 2022, the 1984 team is the only Auburn team to be ranked first in the preseason AP Poll.^[1]

1984 Auburn Tigers football
Liberty Bowl champion
Liberty Bowl, W 21–15 vs. Arkansas
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 14
AP	No. 14
Record	9–4 (4–2 SEC)
Head coach	Pat Dye (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Jack Crowe (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	Wishbone
Defensive coordinator	Frank Orgel (4th season)
Home stadium	Jordan–Hare Stadium
Seasons ← 1983 1985 →

1984 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 3 Florida	5	–	0	–	1			9	–	1	–	1
No. 15 LSU	4	–	1	–	1			8	–	3	–	1
No. 14 Auburn	4	–	2	–	0			9	–	4	–	0
Georgia	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	1
No. 19 Kentucky	3	–	3	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Tennessee	3	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	1
Vanderbilt	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Alabama	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Ole Miss	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	1
Mississippi State	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Florida was assessed a postseason ban following an NCAA investigation, and the SEC subsequently vacated any championship. The Sugar Bowl automatic bid for the conference champion was awarded to LSU. Under modern rules, LSU would be credited with the conference championship. Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 27	vs. No. 10 Miami (FL)*	No. 1	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ (Kickoff Classic)	Katz Sports	L 18–20	51,131
September 15	at No. 4 Texas*	No. 11	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX	ESPN	L 27–35	78,348
September 22	Southern Miss*	No. 19	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL		W 35–12	74,841	^[2]
September 29	Tennessee	No. 20	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (rivalry)	TBS	W 29–10	75,075	^[3]
October 6	at Ole Miss	No. 18	Vaught–Hemingway Stadium Oxford, MS (rivalry)	TBS	W 17–13	35,387
October 13	at No. 9 Florida State*	No. 16	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 42–41	58,671
October 20	Georgia Tech*	No. 13	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (rivalry)		W 48–34	75,216
October 27	at Mississippi State	No. 12	Scott Field Starkville, MS		W 24–21	31,138
November 3	at No. 13 Florida	No. 11	Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	ABC	L 3–24	74,397
November 10	Cincinnati*	No. 20	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL		W 60–0	74,750
November 17	No. 15 Georgia	No. 18	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (Deep South's Oldest Rivalry)	ESPN	W 21–12	75,300
December 1	vs. Alabama	No. 11	Legion Field Birmingham, AL (Iron Bowl)	ABC	L 15–17	76,853	^[4]
December 27	vs. Arkansas*	No. 16	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN (Liberty Bowl)	Katz Sports	W 21–15	50,108
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1984 Auburn Tigers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class FB 30 Tommie Agee Jr WR 11 Clayton Beauford Sr C 53 Yann Cowart So RB 21 Ed Graham Sr QB 12 Jeff Burger Fr RB 22 Brent Fullwood So RB 34 Bo Jackson   Jr OL 66 Jeff Lott Jr QB 17 Mike Mann Sr TE 82 Jeff Parks Jr OL 69 Rob Shuler Jr OL 64 Randy Stokes Jr C 55 Ben Tamburello So OL 78 Steve Wallace Jr QB 10 Pat Washington Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class FS 31 Vic Beasley Sr LB 51 Jim Bone Sr LB 54 Gregg Carr Sr DE 96 John Dailey Sr DE 90 Kevin Greene Sr NG 94 Harold Hallman Jr CB 27 David King Sr SS 9 Tommy Powell So DE 95 Gerald Robinson Jr CB 32 Jonathan Robinson Jr DL 91 Ben Thomas Jr CB 45 Jimmie Warren Jr DL 98 Gerald Williams Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 13 Robert McGinty P 5 Lewis Colbert Jr	Head coach Pat Dye Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible   Injured   Redshirt

Rankings

Further information: 1984 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
— = Not ranked. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	1 (30)	8	11	19	20	18	16	13	12	11	20	18	13	11	16	14
Coaches	1 (32)	6	10	20	19	18	16	13	13	11	—	19	11	11	19	14

Game summaries

Vs. Miami (FL)

#1 Auburn vs. #10 Miami (FL)

1 2 3 4 Total Tigers 0 12 3 3 18 • Hurricanes 7 7 0 6 20 Date: August 27 Location: Giants Stadium Game attendance: 51,131 TV announcers (KATZ): Curt Gowdy and Len Dawson

Scoring summary 1 10:19 MIA Shakespeare 17-yard pass from Kosar (Cox kick) MIA 7–0 2 AUB Beauford 31-yard pass from Washington (McGinty kick) Tie 7–7 2 10:22 MIA Shakespeare 8-yard pass from Kosar (Cox kick) MIA 14–7 2 AUB McGinty 42-yard field goal MIA 14–10 2 0:56 AUB Safety, Tuten tackled in end zone by Powell MIA 14–12 3 AUB McGinty 36-yard field goal AUB 15–14 4 14:09 MIA Cox 45-yard field goal MIA 17–15 4 10:17 AUB McGinty 45-yard field goal AUB 18–17 4 6:08 MIA Cox 25-yard field goal MIA 20–18

See also: 1984 Miami Hurricanes football team and Kickoff Classic

^[5]

At Texas

#11 Auburn at #4 Texas

1 2 3 4 Total Auburn 0 13 6 8 27 • Texas 14 0 7 14 35 Date: September 15 Location: Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin, Texas Game start: 6:47 pm CDT Elapsed time: 3:11 Game attendance: 78,348 Game weather: 79 °F (26 °C), high clouds, Wind NE 20–25 mph (32–40 km/h) TV announcers (ESPN): Paul Maguire (analyst) Source: Box score

Scoring summary 1 5:15 TEX Dodge 10-yard run (Ward kick) TEX 7-0 1 0:50 TEX Orr 1-yard run (Ward kick) TEX 14-0 2 11:05 AUB Collins 2-yard run (McGinty kick) TEX 14-7 2 3:33 AUB McGinty 22-yard field goal TEX 14-10 2 0:00 AUB McGinty 40-yard field goal TEX 14-13 3 9:19 TEX Duhon 32-yard pass from Dodge (Ward kick) TEX 21-13 3 4:23 AUB Bo Jackson 5-yard run (run failed) TEX 21-19 4 9:19 TEX Jerome Johnson 10-yard run (Ward kick) TEX 28-19 4 4:50 TEX Jerome Johnson 14-yard run (Ward kick) TEX 35-19 4 2:33 AUB Fullwood 1-yard run (Washington run) TEX 35-27

See also: 1984 Texas Longhorns football

^[6]

Southern Miss

See also: Southern Miss Golden Eagles football

At Florida State

#16 Auburn at #9 Florida State

1 2 3 4 Total • Auburn 10 12 7 13 42 Florida State 3 14 15 9 41 Date: October 13 Location: Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida Game attendance: 58,671

See also: 1984 Florida State Seminoles football

At Florida

See also: 1984 Florida Gators football

Cincinnati

See also: Cincinnati Bearcats football

Georgia

See also: 1984 Georgia Bulldogs football team and Deep South's Oldest Rivalry

Vs. Alabama

See also: 1984 Alabama Crimson Tide football and Iron Bowl

^[7]

Vs. Arkansas (Liberty Bowl)

Main article: 1984 Liberty Bowl

See also: 1984 Arkansas Razorbacks football team

^[8]

References

1. "Auburn Tigers Football Record By Year". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
2. "Southern Mississippi falls to Auburn 35–12". Enterprise-Journal. September 23, 1984. Retrieved March 26, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Auburn overcomes mistakes to bury Tennessee". The Selma Times-Journal. September 30, 1984. Retrieved October 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Tide rises to the occasion". The Anniston Star. December 2, 1984. Retrieved February 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Miami Beats No. 1 Auburn In Season's Opener, 20-18". The Washington Post. August 28, 1984. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
6. "DOUBLE LOSS FOR AUBURN; JACKSON IS OUT". The New York Times. September 16, 1984. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
7. "AUBURN OUT OF THE SUGAR BOWL". The New York Times. December 2, 1984. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
8. "Auburn Triumphs In Liberty Bowl". The New York Times. December 28, 1984. Retrieved November 2, 2019.