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 in the Pioneer Bowl on December 19, at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas. The Idaho State Bengals won their first I-AA championship, defeating the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, 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 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). ^[7]

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: ^[8]

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. Cooper, Barry (May 1, 1981). "MEAC gets berth in I-AA football playoffs". Tallahassee Democrat . p. 23. Retrieved February 9, 2019– via newspapers.com.
8. "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.