1981 Stanford Cardinals football team

The 1981 Stanford Cardinals football team represented Stanford University in the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. From 1972 until November 17, 1981, Stanford's official nickname was Cardinals, in reference to one of the school colors, not the bird.[1] After 1981 the team was referred to as the singular Cardinal.

1981 Stanford Cardinals football
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
1981 record	4–7 (4–4 Pac-10)
Head coach	Paul Wiggin (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Jack Harbaugh (2nd season)
Home stadium	Stanford Stadium (c. 85,500, grass)

1981 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 10 Washington $	6	–	2	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 16 Arizona State	5	–	2	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
No. 14 USC	5	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Washington State	5	–	2	–	1			8	–	3	–	1
UCLA	5	–	2	–	1			7	–	4	–	1
Arizona	4	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Stanford	4	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
California	2	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Oregon	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Oregon State	0	–	7	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Dropping six of its first seven games, the 1981 team finished 4-7, Stanford’s first losing record since 1963.

Roster

• QB John Elway

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 12	12:20 p.m.	at Purdue	No. 19	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	ABC	L 19–27	62,778
September 19	1:00 p.m.	San Jose State		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (rivalry)	USA	L 6–28	67,888
September 26	1:00 p.m.	No. 8 Ohio State		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	ESPN	L 19–24	76,102
October 3	7:00 p.m.	at Arizona		Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	USA	L 13–17	41,110
October 10	1:00 p.m.	No. 17 UCLA		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	USA	W 26–23	70,103
October 17	1:00 p.m.	at No. 7 USC		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)		L 17–25	76,291
October 24	1:00 p.m.	No. 17 Arizona State		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA		L 36–62	52,855
October 31	1:30 p.m.	at No. 18 Washington		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA		L 31–42	55,856
November 7	1:00 p.m.	at Oregon State		Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR		W 63–9	22,000
November 14	1:00 p.m.	Oregon		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	USA	W 42–3	36,106
November 21	1:00 p.m.	California		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (84th Big Game)	USA	W 42–21	84,536
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

[2]

Game summaries

at Purdue

See also: 1981 Purdue Boilermakers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–2	1970	PUR, 26–14

San Jose State

See also: 1981 San Jose State Spartans football team and Bill Walsh Legacy Game

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
30–4–1	1980	STAN, 35–21

Ohio State

See also: 1981 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–1	1971	STAN, 27–17

Stanford Cardinals vs. Ohio State Buckeyes – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Buckeyes	0	17	7	0	24
Cardinals	3	3	0	13	19

at Stanford Stadium • Stanford, California

• Date: September 26, 1981
• Game time: 1:00 p.m.
• Game attendance: 76,102
• TV: ESPN

Game information
First Quarter STAN – , 1:54 (STAN 3-0) Second Quarter OHIO ST – , 11:26 (OHIO ST 7-3) STAN – , 7:19 (OHIO ST 7-6) OHIO ST – , 4:14 (OHIO ST 10-6) OHIO ST – , 0:27 (OHIO ST 17-6) Third Quarter OHIO ST – , 2:13 (OHIO ST 24-6) Fourth Quarter STAN – , 13:15 (OHIO ST 24-12) STAN – , 9:00 (OHIO ST 24-19) Top Passers OHIO ST – STAN – Top Rushers OHIO ST – STAN – Top Receivers OHIO ST – STAN –

at Arizona

See also: 1981 Arizona Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–0	1979	STAN, 30–10

UCLA

See also: 1981 UCLA Bruins football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
21–27–3	1980	UCLA, 35–21

at Southern California

See also: 1981 USC Trojans football team and Stanford–USC football rivalry

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
17–38–3	1980	USC, 34–9

Arizona State

See also: 1981 Arizona State Sun Devils football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–0	1979	STAN, 28–21

at Washington

See also: 1981 Washington Huskies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
29–22–4	1980	WASH, 27–24

at Oregon State

See also: 1981 Oregon State Beavers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
32–14–2	1980	STAN, 54–13

Oregon

See also: 1981 Oregon Ducks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
29–15–1	1980	STAN, 35–25

California

See also: 1981 California Golden Bears football team and Big Game (American football)

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
39–34–10	1980	CAL, 28–23

California at Stanford

1 2 3 4 Total California 7 0 7 7 21 • Stanford 7 14 14 7 42 Date: Saturday, November 21 Location: Stanford Stadium, Stanford, California Game attendance: 84,563 Source: Eugene Register-Guard

Scoring summary 1 STAN Elway 1-yard run (Harmon kick) STAN 7-0 1 CAL Eddings 48-yard pass from Torchio (Cooper kick) Tied 7-7 2 STAN Nelson 2-yard run (Harmon kick) STAN 14-7 2 STAN Nelson 7-yard pass from Elway (Harmon kick) STAN 21-7 3 STAN Hutchings 14-yard interception return (Harmon kick) STAN 28-7 3 CAL Tuggle 2-yard run (Cooper kick) STAN 28-14 3 STAN White 8-yard pass from Elway (Harmon kick) STAN 35-14 4 CAL Wright 18-yard pass from Torchio (Cooper kick) STAN 35-21 4 STAN White 22-yard pass from Elway (Harmon kick) STAN 42-21

Rankings

See also: 1981 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

AP poll

Week	Ranking
pre	18
September 7, 1981	19
September 14, 1981	NR
September 21, 1981	NR
September 28, 1981	NR
October 5, 1981	NR
October 12, 1981	NR
October 19, 1981	NR
October 26, 1981	NR
November 2, 1981	NR
November 9, 1981	NR
November 16, 1981	NR
November 23, 1981	NR
November 30, 1981	NR
January 3, 1982	NR

[3]

Coaches' poll

Week	Ranking
September 14, 1981	NR
September 21, 1981	NR
September 28, 1981	NR
October 5, 1981	NR
October 12, 1981	NR
October 19, 1981	NR
October 26, 1981	NR
November 2, 1981	NR
November 9, 1981	NR
November 16, 1981	NR
November 23, 1981	NR
November 30, 1981	NR
January 3, 1982	NR

[4]

Statistics

Team

Team statistics
	Stanford	Opponents
Scoring
Points Per Game
Points Off Turnovers
First Downs
Rushing
Passing
Penalty
Rushing Yardage
Yards gained rushing
Yards lost rushing
Rushing Attempts
Average Per Rush
Average Per Game
TDs Rushing
Passing Yardage
Comp-Att-Int
Average Per Pass
Average Per Catch
Average Per Game
TDs Passing
Total Offense
Total Plays
Average Per Play
Average Per Game
Kick Returns: #-Yards
Punt Returns: #-Yards
INT Returns: #-Yards
Kick Return Average
Punt Return Average
INT Return Average
Fumbles-Lost
Penalties-Yards
Average Per Game
Punts-Yards
Average Per Punt
Net punt average
Kickoffs-Yards
Average Per Kick
Net kick average
Time of Possession/Game
3rd-Down Conversions
3rd-Down Pct
4th-Down Conversions
4th-Down Pct
Sacks By-Yards
Miscellaneous Yards
Touchdowns Scored
Field Goals-Attempts
On-Side Kicks
Red-Zone Scores
Red-Zone Touchdowns
PAT-Attempts
Attendance
Games/Avg Per Game

All opponents

Pac-10 opponents

Non-conference opponents

References

1. "What is the history of Stanford's mascot and nickname?". Stanford Athletics website. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
2. "Stanford Game-by-Game Results; 1981–1985". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on 2013-02-15. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
3. http://www.collegepollarchive.com/football/ap/seasons.cfm?seasonid=1981
4. http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~dwilson/rfsc/history/CoachPolls.txt