1981 Florida State Seminoles football team

1981 Florida State Seminoles football
Conference	Independent
Record	6–5
Head coach	Bobby Bowden (6th season)
Offensive coordinator	George Henshaw (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Jack Stanton (6th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Doak Campbell Stadium
Seasons ←  1980 1982  →

1981 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Pittsburgh		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
No. 3 Penn State		–		–				10	–	2	–	0
No. 8 Miami (FL)		–		–				9	–	2	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–				9	–	2	–	1
No. 17 West Virginia		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
Colgate		–		–				7	–	3	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Navy		–		–				7	–	4	–	1
Cincinnati		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Florida State		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Holy Cross		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Tulane		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
UNLV		–		–				6	–	6	–	0
South Carolina		–		–				6	–	6	–	0
Temple		–		–				5	–	5	–	0
Boston College		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
East Carolina		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Northeast Louisiana		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Louisville		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Notre Dame		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Rutgers		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
William & Mary		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Syracuse		–		–				4	–	6	–	1
Richmond		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Army		–		–				3	–	7	–	1
North Texas State		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
Georgia Tech		–		–				1	–	10	–	0
Memphis State		–		–				1	–	10	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1981 Florida State Seminoles football team represented Florida State University in the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Bobby Bowden and played their home games at Doak Campbell Stadium.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 5	7:00 p.m.	Louisville	No. 19	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 17–0	50,735	[1]
September 12	7:00 p.m.	Memphis State	No. 18	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 10–5	51,454	[2]
September 19	2:30 p.m.	at No. 17 Nebraska	No. 19	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE		L 14–34	76,289	[3]
October 3	1:30 p.m.	at No. 7 Ohio State		Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH		W 36–27	87,158	[4]
October 10	2:30 p.m.	at Notre Dame	No. 20	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 19–13	59,075	[5]
October 17	1:30 p.m.	at No. 3 Pittsburgh	No. 11	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA		L 14–42	52,112	[6]
October 24	8:30 p.m.	at LSU	No. 20	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA		W 38–14	74,816	[7]
October 31	7:00 p.m.	Western Carolina	No. 17	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL		W 56–31	52,721	[8]
November 7	12:00 p.m.	No. 13 Miami (FL)	No. 14	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL (rivalry)	ABC	L 19–27	52,685	[9]
November 14	3:30 p.m.	No. 14 Southern Miss	No. 20	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ABC	L 14–58	51,819	[10]
November 28	1:30 p.m.	at Florida		Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)		L 3–35	64,437	[11]
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[12]

Personnel

1981 Florida State Seminoles football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB Billy Allen RB 26 Greg Allen Fr OL Tom Brannon RB Ken Burnett TE 84 Sam Childers Sr OL Redus Coggin RB Darish Davis G 68 Jeff Field  Sr OL 97 Tim Flasher Fr OL Herbert Harp WR 4 Jessie Hester Fr WR 22 Hardis Johnson Jr WR 82 Long Johnson  So WR Tony Johnson RB 41 Cedric Jones Fr QB Kelly Lowery OL Tom McCormick WR 6 Dennis McKinnon Jr OL Bob Merson TE 81 Zeke Mowatt Jr WR 2 Steve Nicklaus Fr OL 77 Chris Nickrenz  So OL Ricky Render QB 11 Rick Stockstill  Sr WR Weegie Thompson OT 73 Barry Voltapetti  Sr TE Tom Wheeler FB 27 Michael Whiting Sr QB Blair Williams WR Phil Williams RB Ricky Williams	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB Tracy Ashley DL Allen Campbell DT 76 Alphonso Carreker So DL 68 Lenny Chavers Fr DB 24 Harvey Clayton Jr DL Jarvis Coursey DE 98 Brad Fojtik  So DT 79 Garry Futch Sr NG 51 James Gilbert Sr DE 65 Darryl Gray Fr DB 9 Warren Hanna Jr DT 97 Herbert Harp  So DB 33 James Harris Sr DB 30 Larry Harris So DB 40 Gary Henry Sr LB Ron Hester DE 86 John McLean So DE 60 Scott McLean Sr DB Eric Riley DL Mike Rodrique LB Ken Roe LB Henry Taylor LB Tommy Young	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 7 Mike Rendina Fr P 3 Rohn Stark Sr	Head coach Bobby Bowden Coordinators/assistant coaches George Henshaw (OC) Jack Stanton (DC) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Season summary

Florida State finished with a 6–5 record and were not invited to a Bowl game. The Seminoles' offense scored 240 points while the defense allowed 286 points. The Seminoles played a murderers row schedule on the road, as in consecutive weeks, they played at #17 Nebraska, at #7 Ohio State, at Notre Dame, at #3 Pittsburgh and at LSU. Greg Allen led the team in rushing with 888 yards. Rick Stockstill led the team in passing with 1356 yards and 11 touchdown passes. Michael Whiting led the team in receptions with 29. Phil Williams led the team in receiving yards with 413. Harvey Clayton led the team with 5 pass interceptions. Jarvis Coursey {DE}, Tim McCormick {C}, Rohn Stark {P} and Barry Voltapetti {OT} were selected to the First team All-South Independent team. Rohn Stark was selected as a First team All-American. Greg Allen {RB}, Garry Futch {G}, McCormick and Voltapetti were named as Honorable Mention All-Americans by the Associated Press. Stark {Baltimore Colts}, Ron Hester {LB}, {Miami} and Mike Whiting {RB} {Dallas} were selected in the 1982 NFL draft.

Louisville

Florida State eked out a 17–0 victory over Louisville, but it wasn't easy. Frustrated throughout by a Louisville defense led by tackle Richard Tharpe, the Seminoles staggered and stumbled most of the way. Four times Tharpe got through and sacked quarterback Rick Stockstill. It was 10-0 after the first quarter, as Mike Rendina kicked a 24-yard field goal and Stockstill hit Jessie Hester with an 11-yard scoring pass. With seven minutes left, Billy Allen broke away on a pitchout for a 50-yard scoring run to ice it. Allen ran the ball eight times for 89 yards. Louisville threatened numerous times only to be denied by the Seminole defense. FSU held the Cardinals to 133 yards of total offense.

Memphis State

Florida State's offense managed to get a touchdown and a field goal on the board. Memphis State stayed in it to the end before falling 10–5. Late in the 1st quarter the Seminoles moved on a 77-yard drive for the only touchdown that came on Mike Whiting's 3 yard run in the first moments of the 2nd quarter. That erased a 2–0 deficit, which came when Rick Stockstill was trapped in the end zone by Cedric Wright on FSU's second series of the evening. Early in the 4th quarter Mike Rendina kicked a 46-yard field goal to make it 10–2. A few minutes later Gregg Hauss put through a 27 yarder for 3 points and the final score. Larry Harris intercepted a pass with 4 seconds remaining, did the Seminoles have this one wrapped up.

At Nebraska

Nebraska held a close 10–7 lead at halftime, but the momentum quickly turned in favor of the Cornhuskers when WB Irving Fryar scored on an 82-yard punt return, followed up six game clock seconds later when DE Tony Felici's off-the-bench opportunity allowed him to recover a Florida State fumble on the kickoff and return it 13 yards for another touchdown. Nebraska sealed the deal on a 94-yard touchdown run by IB Roger Craig.

Ohio State

The Seminoles knocked #7 Ohio State from the unbeaten ranks 36–27. Rick Stockstill completed 25 of 41 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns. Stockstill directed two third quarter drives to touchdowns that were the difference. The first covered 88 yards in 11 plays, the second 99 in nine. The Seminoles increased their 23-21 halftime lead as a result of these drives. No bigger play was Ron Hester's blocked punt that he returned 35 yards for a touchdown in the 2nd quarter. Stockstill's TD passes were to Tony Johnson (13 yards) and Sam Childers (7 yards). Kelly Lowery and Ricky Williams had touchdown runs for the Seminoles.

At Notre Dame

Florida State Seminoles, in their first ever visit to Notre Dame Stadium, left with a 19–13 victory. Mike Rendina kicked two field goals and Michael Whiting scored both the Seminoles touchdowns, a 17-yard pass from Rick Stockstill and a 5-yard pass from Stockstill. Ricky Williams ran for 135 yards. Stockstill passed for only 100 yards but his two TD passes were the difference in the game.

At Pittsburgh

1. 3 ranked Pittsburgh dominated every phase of the game and routed Florida State 42-14 before a crowd of 55,112 at Pitt Stadium. Pitt's Dan Marino, threw for 215 yards and touchdowns of 22, 65, and 18 yards. Michael Whiting ran 1 yard for a touchdown and Sam Childers caught a 5-yard TD pass from Blair Williams. Pittsburgh rolled up 503 yards of total offense.

At LSU

Florida State crushed Louisiana State 38-14 before over 74,000 homecoming fans at Tiger Stadium. Offense, defense and special teams all contributed in the rout. Harvey Clayton had an interception and a 48-yard punt return. James Harris had 3 sacks, Warren Hanna blocked a punt and Billy Allen returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. Greg Allen and Cedric Jones ran for touchdowns. Allen rushed for 202 yards, a new school record. Rick Stockstill passed for two touchdowns, one to Dennis McKinnon (22 yards) and one to Phil Williams (12 yards).

Western Carolina

A homecoming crowd of over 52,000 at Doak Campbell Stadium was treated to an offensive show by both squads. It featured 623 yards of total offense by the Seminoles and 437 yards by Western Carolina. Greg Allen's 322 yards of rushing on 32 carries was the single-game best in college football this season, and shattered his own FSU record of 202 yards that be set a week ago at LSU. Allen had a 5-yard touchdown run and a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Michael Whiting ran for two touchdowns and Mike Rendina kicked two field goals. Dennis McKinnon, Tony Johnson and Cedric Jones had touchdowns for the Seminoles.

Miami (FL)

The Seminole kicking game was missing as they had two field goal attempts and an extra point blocked. The Noles and the Canes were tied 13-13 heading into the 4th quarter. Smokey Roan scored from 6 yards out for a 20-13 Hurricane lead. The Seminoles still had 10:47 left to come back, but two plays later Rick Stockstill's slant pass was tipped and intercepted by Ronnie Tippett. Jim Kelly threw to Speedy Neal and broke two tackles on the way to the end zone for a 27–13 lead with 8:54 left. The Seminoles closed to 27–19 on a Stockstill 7 yard TD pass to Sam Childers.

See also: 1981 Miami Hurricanes football team and Florida State–Miami football rivalry

Miami (FL) Hurricanes at Florida State Seminoles

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Miami (FL)	3	7	3	14	27
Florida St	6	7	0	6	19

at Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida

• Date: November 7
• Game attendance: 52,685
• Recap/Box

Game information

First quarter FSU – Tony Johnson 12-yard pass from Rick Stockstill (kick blocked), 10:38. Florida St 6–0. Drive: MIA – Dan Miller 32-yard field goal, 4:42. Florida St 6–3. Drive: Second quarter MIA – 1-yard run (Dan Miller kick), 12:46. Miami (FL) 10–6. Drive: FSU – Greg Allen 2-yard run (Mike Rendina kick), 5:43. Florida St 13–10. Drive: Third quarter MIA – Dan Miller 57-yard field goal, 7:38. Tie 13–13. Drive: Fourth quarter MIA – Smokey Roan 6-yard run (Dan Miller kick), 10:47. Miami (FL) 20–13. Drive: MIA – Speedy Neal 23-yard pass from Jim Kelly (Dan Miller kick), 8:54. Miami (FL) 27–13. Drive: FSU – Sam Childers 7-yard pass from Rick Stockstill (pass failed), 6:46. Miami (FL) 27–19. Drive: Top passers MIA – Jim Kelly – 22/41, 273 yards, TD FSU – Rick Stockstill – 17/36, 173 yards, 2 TD, INT Top rushers MIA FSU – Greg Allen – 23 rushes, 109 yards, TD Top receivers MIA FSU – Tony Johnson – 4 receptions, 53 yards, TD

The loss snapped Florida State's 19-game home winning streak.

Southern Mississippi

Florida State crashed and burned before 51,819 spectators at Doak Campbell Stadium. Southern Miss did whatever they pleased in a 58–14 rout and moved to 9-0-1 on the season. The Seminoles trailed 51-0 before they finally got on the scoreboard with a Dennis McKinnon 50 yard TD reception from Blair Williams. Tom Wheeler caught a 6-yard TD pass from Williams to close out the scoring for the game.

At Florida

Florida took a 13–3 lead into halftime and then poured it on in the 2nd half on the way to a 35–3 victory over the Seminoles. Wayne Peace threw four touchdown passes, including two to Mike Mularkey. Brian Clark added two field goals for the Gators. The Gators dominated the game from the opening drive to the final gun and won for the first time over Florida State since 1976.

References

1. "Freshmen pase FSU over Louisville 17–0". News-Press. September 6, 1981. Retrieved October 31, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
2. "Whiting, Seminoles edge Memphis St". The Bradenton Herald. September 13, 1981. Retrieved October 31, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
3. "Craig propels Cornhuskers, 34–14". The Sioux City Journal. September 20, 1981. Retrieved October 31, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
4. "Passing marks fall; so do Buckeyes". The Akron Beacon Journal. October 4, 1981. Retrieved October 31, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
5. "FSU slays Irish 19–13". St. Petersburg Times. October 11, 1981. Retrieved October 31, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
6. "Seminoles Octoberfest ends as Pitt hammers FSU, 42–14". The Times Argus. October 18, 1981. Retrieved October 31, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
7. "Milton's Allen sets rushing mark in FSU rout". The Pensacola News-Journal. October 25, 1981. Retrieved November 1, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
8. "Allen's record sets FSU blast". St. Petersburg Times. November 1, 1981. Retrieved October 31, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
9. "'Canes kick Seminoles 27–19". Tallahassee Democrat. November 8, 1981. Retrieved October 31, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
10. "Eagles humiliate Seminoles 58–14". Tampa Bay Times. November 15, 1981. Retrieved March 25, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
11. "Peace-led Gators cruise past Seminoles". The State. November 29, 1981. Retrieved November 2, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
12. "1981 Florida State Seminoles Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 31, 2024.