1981 NCAA Division I-AA football season

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

1981 NCAA Division I-AA season
Regular season
DurationAugust–November
Playoff
DurationDecember 5–December 19
Championship dateDecember 19, 1981
Championship siteMemorial Stadium
Wichita Falls, Texas
ChampionIdaho State
NCAA Division I-AA football seasons

Conference changes and new programs
School1980 Conference1981 Conference
Portland StateI-AA IndependentD-II Independent
Tennessee StateI-A IndependentI-AA Independent
Youngstown StateMid-Continent (D-II)Ohio Valley (I-AA)

Conference standings
1981 Big Sky Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 2 Idaho State $^ 6 –1 –0  12 –1 –0
No. 5 Boise State ^ 6 –1 –0  10 –3 –0
Montana 5 –2 –0  7 –3 –0
Nevada 4 –3 –0  7 –4 –0
Weber State 4 –3 –0  7 –4 –0
Northern Arizona 2 –5 –0  4 –7 –0
Montana State 1 –6 –0  3 –7 –0
Idaho 0 –7 –0  3 –8 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Poll
1981 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 3 South Carolina State $^ 5 –0 –0  10 –3 –0
Florida A&M 4 –1 –0  7 –4 –0
Bethune–Cookman 3 –2 –0  6 –4 –0
Howard 2 –3 –0  6 –5 –0
Delaware State 1 –4 –0  2 –9 –0
North Carolina A&T 0 –5 –0  3 –8 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll
1981 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 1 Eastern Kentucky $^ 8 –0 –0  12 –2 –0
No. 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
  • ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll
1981 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 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
  • ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from Div I-AA Football Committee poll
1981 Yankee Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Rhode Island +^ 4 –1 –0  6 –6 –0
No. T–10 UMass + 4 –1 –0  6 –3 –0
Boston University 3 –2 –0  6 –5 –0
No. T–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
  • ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll
1981 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 8 Lafayette   –    9 –2 –0
No. 7 Delaware ^   –    9 –3 –0
No. 6 Tennessee State ^   –    9 –3 –0
Southeastern Louisiana   –    8 –3 –0
Lehigh   –    8 –3 –0
Nicholls State   –    5 –5 –1
Northwestern State   –    4 –6 –0
Bucknell   –    4 –6 –0
Northeastern   –    3 –7 –0
James Madison   –    3 –8 –0
  • ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from Div I-AA Football Committee poll

Conference champions
See also: List of NCAA Division I-AA/FCS football seasons
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

After holding four-team playoffs after the first three I-AA seasons, the NCAA increased the bracket size to eight this postseason. It grew to twelve in 1982 and sixteen in 1986. The eight-team field was determined via automatic bids to five conference champions (Idaho State, South Carolina State, Eastern Kentucky, Jackson State, and Rhode Island), a bid to the top-ranked independent team (Tennessee State), and two at-large bids (Boise State and Delaware).[4]

NCAA Division I-AA Playoff bracket
First Round
December 5
Campus Sites 		Semifinals
December 12
Campus Sites 		National Championship Game
Pioneer Bowl
December 19
 Memorial Stadium—Wichita Falls, TX 
         
7 Delaware 28
1 Eastern Kentucky* 35
1 Eastern Kentucky 23
4 Boise State* 17
4 Boise State 19
5 Jackson State* 7
1 Eastern Kentucky 23
2 Idaho State 34
8 Rhode Island 0
2 Idaho State* 51
2 Idaho State* 41
3 South Carolina State 12
6 Tennessee State 25
3 South Carolina State* 26*

* Next to team name denotes host institution
* Next to score denotes overtime
Source:[5]

References
  1. "1981 NCAA Division I Football Championship" (PDF). NCAA.org. p. 14. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  2. "Bengals win I-AA crown". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. December 20, 1981. p. 6D.
  3. "Bengals ride like the wind". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. December 20, 1981. p. 2D.
  4. Cooper, Barry (May 1, 1981). "MEAC gets berth in I-AA football playoffs". Tallahassee Democrat. p. 23. Retrieved February 9, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  5. "NCAA sets playoffs for I-AA teams". Fort Lauderdale News. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. UPI. November 29, 1981. p. 29. Retrieved February 9, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.