1981 NCAA Division I-AA football season

1981 MEAC football standings
	$ – Conference champion; Rankings from Div I-AA Football Committee poll

1981 Big Sky football standings
	$ – Conference champion; ^ – Division I-AA playoff participant; Idaho State earned automatic berth and; Boise State earned at-large berth in I-AA playoffs.; Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA poll (released before championship playoffs)

1981 NCAA Division I-AA season
Regular season
Duration	August – November 1981
Playoff
Duration	December 5–19, 1981
Championship date	December 19, 1981
Championship site	Memorial Stadium; Wichita Falls, TX
Champion	Idaho State Bengals
Division I-AA football season
	«1980 1982»

The 1981 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, began in August 1981 and concluded with the Division I-AA championship game on December 19 at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas. The Idaho State Bengals won their only I-AA championship, defeating the Eastern Kentucky Colonels in the Pioneer Bowl, 34−23.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Conference changes and new programs

Prior to the 1981 season, the Mid-Continent Conference was shifted from Division II to Division I-AA; its four members, Eastern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Western Illinois, and Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State), all made the transition.
- Northern Michigan and Youngstown State, who had been members of the Mid-Continent the previous season, departed the league before the shift.
After the 1981 season, three conferences, and all of their members, were shifted from Division I-A to Division I-AA: the Ivy League, the Southern Conference, and the Southland Conference

School	1980 Conference	1981 Conference
Portland State	I-AA Independent	D-II Independent
Tennessee State	I-A Independent	I-AA Independent
Youngstown State	Mid-Continent (D-II)	Ohio Valley (I-AA)

Conference standings

1981 Ohio Valley football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#1 Eastern Kentucky $^	8	–	0	–	0	12	–	2	–	0
#9 Murray State	5	–	3	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Youngstown State	5	–	3	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Tennessee Tech	4	–	4	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Middle Tennessee	4	–	4	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Western Kentucky	4	–	4	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Akron	4	–	4	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Austin Peay	3	–	5	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Morehead State	0	–	8	–	0	1	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion ^ – Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from Div I-AA Football Committee poll

1981 SWAC football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#4 Jackson State $^	5	–	1	–	0	9	–	2	–	1
Grambling State	4	–	1	–	1	6	–	4	–	1
Texas Southern	3	–	2	–	1	4	–	5	–	1
Alcorn State	3	–	3	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Mississippi Valley State	2	–	4	–	0	4	–	6	–	1
Southern	2	–	4	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Prairie View A&M	1	–	5	–	0	2	–	8	–	0

$ – Conference champion ^ – Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from Div I-AA Football Committee poll

1981 Yankee Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Rhode Island +^	4	–	1	–	0	6	–	6	–	0
UMass +	4	–	1	–	0	6	–	3	–	0
Boston University	3	–	2	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
#10 New Hampshire	2	–	3	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Connecticut	1	–	4	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Maine	1	–	4	–	0	3	–	7	–	1

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA I-AA Poll

1981 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#8 Lafayette	0	–	0	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
#7 Delaware ^	0	–	0	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
#6 Tennessee State ^	0	–	0	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
Southeastern Louisiana	0	–	0	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Lehigh	0	–	0	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Nicholls State	0	–	0	–	0	5	–	5	–	1
Northwestern State	0	–	0	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Bucknell	0	–	0	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Northeastern	0	–	0	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
James Madison	0	–	0	–	0	3	–	8	–	0

^ – Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from Div I-AA Football Committee poll

Conference champions

Conference champions
Big Sky Conference – Idaho State Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – South Carolina State Ohio Valley Conference – Eastern Kentucky Southwestern Athletic Conference – Jackson State Yankee Conference – Massachusetts and Rhode Island

Postseason

For this season only, the playoffs expanded from four to eight teams;
the field grew to twelve in 1982 and sixteen in 1986.

NCAA Division I-AA Playoff bracket

First Round December 5 Campus Sites		Semifinals December 12 Campus Sites		Championship Game December 19 Pioneer Bowl Memorial Stadium Wichita Falls, TX


Delaware	28

Eastern Kentucky*	35
		Eastern Kentucky	23

		Boise State*	17
Boise State	19

Jackson State*	7
				Eastern Kentucky	23

				Idaho State	34
Rhode Island	0

Idaho State*	51
		Idaho State*	41

		South Carolina State	12
Tennessee State	25

South Carolina State* (OT)	26

* Denotes host institution

References

↑ "1981 NCAA Division I Football Championship" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. p. 14. Retrieved December 21, 2013.
↑ "Bengals win I-AA crown". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. December 20, 1981. p. 6D.
↑ "Bengals ride like the wind". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. December 20, 1981. p. 2D.

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[1] "1981 NCAA Division I Football Championship" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. p. 14. Retrieved December 21, 2013.

[bwcrwnerg-2] "Bengals win I-AA crown". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. December 20, 1981. p. 6D.

[brltwnd-3] "Bengals ride like the wind". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. December 20, 1981. p. 2D.

NCAA football seasons
Pre-regulation	1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905
IAAUS/NCAA	1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
NCAA University Division/ Division I	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
NCAA Division I-A/FBS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
NCAA Division I-AA/FCS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
NCAA Division II	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
NCAA Division III	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

1981 NCAA Division I-AA football playoff participants
Boise State Delaware Eastern Kentucky Idaho State Jackson State Rhode Island South Carolina State Tennessee State
Champion – Idaho State Bengals