1981 NCAA Division I-AA football season

1981 NCAA Division I-AA season
Regular season
Number of teams	51 [1]
Duration	September 5–November 28, 1981 [2]
Playoff
Duration	December 5–December 19, 1981 [3]
Championship date	December 19, 1981
Championship site	Memorial Stadium Wichita Falls, Texas
Champion	Idaho State
NCAA Division I-AA football seasons
« 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 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. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

Conference changes and new programs

• Prior to the 1981 season, the Mid-Continent Conference reclassified from Division II to Division I-AA with its four members, Eastern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Western Illinois, and Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State). Northern Michigan and Youngstown State, which had been members of the Mid-Continent in the 1980 season, departed the league before the shift; Northern Michigan remained in Division II, and Youngstown State transitioned to I-AA as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference.

School	1980 Conference	1981 Conference
Eastern Illinois	Mid-Continent (D-II)	Mid-Continent (I-AA)
Northern Iowa	Mid-Continent (D-II)	Mid-Continent (I-AA)
Portland State	I-AA Independent	D-II Independent
Southwest Missouri State	Mid-Continent (D-II)	Mid-Continent (I-AA)
Tennessee State	I-A Independent	I-AA Independent
Western Illinois	Mid-Continent (D-II)	Mid-Continent (I-AA)
Youngstown State	Mid-Continent (D-II)	Ohio Valley (I-AA)

Conference standings

1981 Association of Mid-Continent Universities football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Northern Iowa + 2 – 1 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 Eastern Illinois + 2 – 1 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Western Illinois + 2 – 1 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Southwest Missouri State 0 – 3 – 0 3 – 5 – 2 + – Conference co-champions	1981 Big Sky Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   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 Committee poll	1981 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   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 Southern Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Furman $ 5 – 2 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 VMI 3 – 1 – 1 6 – 3 – 1 East Tennessee State 4 – 2 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Chattanooga 3 – 2 – 1 7 – 3 – 1 The Citadel 3 – 2 – 1 7 – 3 – 1 Western Carolina 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 7 – 0 Appalachian State 1 – 5 – 1 3 – 7 – 1 Marshall 1 – 5 – 0 2 – 9 – 0 Davidson 0 – 2 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 $ – Conference champion This conference was a hybrid of I-AA and I-A programs. Davidson was classified as I-AA. [7] The rest of the teams were I-A.	1981 Ohio Valley Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   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 v t e Conf. Overall Team W   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 NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll	1981 Yankee Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   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 v t e Conf. Overall Team W   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 NCAA Division 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-Continent Conference – Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois, Northern Iowa 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). ^[8]

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: ^[9]

References

1. "Standings for the 1981 FCS Season" . Retrieved February 25, 2025.
2. "1981 (Admin)" . Retrieved February 25, 2025.
3. "1981 (Admin)" . Retrieved February 25, 2025.
4. "1981 NCAA Division I Football Championship" (PDF). NCAA.org. p. 14. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
5. "Bengals win I-AA crown". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. December 20, 1981. p. 6D.
6. "Bengals ride like the wind". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. December 20, 1981. p. 2D.
7. "Terriers in Home Finale". Herald-Journal. November 7, 1981. p. 5. Retrieved February 25, 2025.
8. Cooper, Barry (May 1, 1981). "MEAC gets berth in I-AA football playoffs". Tallahassee Democrat . p. 23. Retrieved February 9, 2019– via newspapers.com.
9. "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.