1981 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

1981 Ohio State Buckeyes football
Big Ten co-champion
Liberty Bowl champion
Liberty Bowl, W 31–28 vs. Navy
Conference Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches No. 12
AP No. 15
1981 record 9–3 (6–2 Big Ten)
Head coach Earle Bruce (3rd season)
MVP Art Schlichter
Captain Glen Cobb
Captain Art Schlichter
Home stadium Ohio Stadium
(Capacity: 83,112)
1981 Big Ten football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 15 Ohio State + 6 –2 –0  9 –3 –0
No. 18 Iowa + 6 –2 –0  8 –4 –0
No. 12 Michigan 6 –3 –0  9 –3 –0
Illinois 6 –3 –0  7 –4 –0
Wisconsin 6 –3 –0  7 –5 –0
Minnesota 4 –5 –0  6 –5 –0
Michigan State 4 –5 –0  5 –6 –0
Purdue 3 –6 –0  5 –6 –0
Indiana 3 –6 –0  3 –8 –0
Northwestern 0 –9 –0  0 –11 –0
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1981 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the Ohio State University in the 1981 Big Ten Conference football season. The Buckeyes compiled a 9–3 record, including the 1981 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee, where they won, 31–28, against the Navy Midshipmen.

Several Ohio State players ranked among the Big Ten leaders, including the following:

  • Placekicker Bob Atha led the conference with 88 points scored and 44 extra points made and ranked second with 13 field goals made and a 68.4% field goal percentage.[1]
  • Garcia Lane led the conference with 205 punt return yards and ranked second with an average of 8.9 yards per punt return.[1]
  • Running back Tim Spencer led the conference with 12 rushing touchdowns and ranked second with 1,217 rushing yards and 1,427 yards from scrimmage.[1]
  • Quarterback Art Schlichter ranked third in the conference with 2,551 passing yards and 2,509 total yards and fifth with a 52.3 pass completion percentage.[1]
  • Gary Williams ranked third in the conference with 50 receptions and fourth with 941 receiving yards.[1]

Schedule

Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Result Attendance
September 12 1:30 p.m. Duke* No. 11 Ohio Stadium • Columbus, Ohio W 34–13   86,266
September 19 1:30 p.m. Michigan State No. 8 Ohio Stadium • Columbus, Ohio W 27–13   87,084
September 26 4:30 p.m. at Stanford* No. 8 Stanford Stadium • Stanford, California W 24–19   76,102
October 3 1:30 p.m. Florida State* No. 7 Ohio Stadium • Columbus, Ohio L 27–36   87,158
October 10 2:30 p.m. at Wisconsin No. 18 Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, Wisconsin L 21–24   78,973
October 17 1:30 p.m. Illinois Ohio Stadium • Columbus, Ohio (Illibuck Trophy) W 34–27   87,158
October 24 1:30 p.m. Indiana Ohio Stadium • Columbus, Ohio W 29-10   87,182
October 31 12:30 p.m. at Purdue Ross–Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, Indiana ABC W 45–33   69,927
November 7 2:00 p.m. at Minnesota No. 18 Memorial Stadium • Minneapolis L 31–35   42,793
November 14 1:30 p.m. Northwestern Ohio Stadium • Columbus, Ohio W 70–6   86,912
November 21 12:30 p.m. at No. 7 Michigan Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, Michigan (The Game) ABC W 14–9   106,043
December 30 8:00 p.m. vs. Navy* No. 15 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, Tennessee (Liberty Bowl) USA W 31–28   43,216
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. All times are in Eastern Time.

Roster

1981 Ohio State Buckeyes football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
TE 89 John Frank So
QB 10 Art Schlichter Jr
RB 46 Tim Spencer So
QB 15 Mike Tomczak Fr
FB 38 Vaughn Broadnax So
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
DB 2 Shaun Gayle So
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Depth chart

[2]

Coaching staff

  • Earle Bruce – Head Coach (3rd year)
  • Dennis Fryzel – Defensive Coordinator (3rd year)
  • Glen Mason – Offensive Coordinator (4th year)
  • Bill Myles – Offensive Line (5th year)
  • Nick Saban – Defensive Backs (2nd year)
  • Wayne Stanley – Running Backs (3rd year)
  • Steve Szabo – Defensive Line (3rd year)
  • Bob Tucker – Defensive Outside Linebackers (3rd year)
  • Fred Zechman – Quarterbacks/Receivers (3rd year)

Game summaries

Stanford

1 234Total
• Ohio State 0 1770 24
Stanford 3 3013 19
  • Date: September 26
  • Location: Stanford Stadium • Palo Alto, California
  • Television network: ESPN

Florida State

1 234Total
• Florida St 10 13130 36
Ohio State 7 1406 27
  • Date: October 3
  • Location: Ohio Stadium • Columbus, Ohio
  • Television network: USA

[3]

Michigan

1 234Total
• Ohio State 0 707 14
Michigan 3 060 9
  • Date: November 21
  • Location: Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • Game attendance: 106,043
  • TV announcers (ABC): Al Michaels

Liberty Bowl

1981 Liberty Bowl
1 234Total
• Ohio State 10 777 31
Navy 7 678 28
  • Date: December 30
  • Location: Liberty Bowl • Memphis, Tennessee

[4]

1982 NFL draftees

PlayerRoundPickPositionNFL club
Art Schlichter14QuarterbackBaltimore Colts
Anthony Griggs4105LinebackerPhiladelphia Eagles
Bob Atha12317KickerSt. Louis Cardinals

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "1981 Big Ten Conference Year Summary". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  2. ↑ 1982 Ohio State Football Media Guide
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-04-27. Retrieved 2014-04-27.
  4. ↑ http://admin.xosn.com/fls/17300//pdf/fb/m-footbl-bowls.pdf
Win/Loss statistics
Draft data
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