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1981 Arizona State

9–⁠2 (5–⁠2 Pac-10), coached by Darryl Rogers, finished No. 16 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

Arizona State in 1981, game by game: won vs. Utah 52–10; won vs. Wichita State 33–21; lost at Washington State 21–24; won at No. 12 Washington 26–7; won vs. Oregon 24–0; won vs. California 45–17; won at Stanford 62–36; won vs. San José State 31–24; lost at No. 18 UCLA 24–34; won vs. Colorado State 52–7; won vs. Arizona 24–13+45−10Won 52–10 vs. Utah+42UtahWon 33–21 vs. Wichita State+12Wichita StateLost 21–24 at Washington State-3Washington StateWon 26–7 at No. 12 Washington+19No. 12 WashingtonWon 24–0 vs. Oregon+24OregonWon 45–17 vs. California+28CaliforniaWon 62–36 at Stanford+26StanfordWon 31–24 vs. San José State+7San José StateLost 24–34 at No. 18 UCLA-10No. 18 UCLAWon 52–7 vs. Colorado State+45Colorado StateWon 24–13 vs. Arizona+11Arizona
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 12vsUtahW 52–⁠1064%
Sep 19vsWichita StateW 33–⁠2175%
Sep 26atWashington StateL 21–⁠2459%
Oct 3at12WashingtonW 26–⁠734%
Oct 10vsOregonW 24–⁠074%
Oct 17vsCaliforniaW 45–⁠1783%
Oct 24atStanfordW 62–⁠3668%
Oct 31vsSan José StateW 31–⁠2469%
Nov 14at18UCLAL 24–⁠3445%
Nov 21vsColorado StateW 52–⁠793%
Nov 28vsArizonaW 24–⁠1380%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Arizona 24–⁠13; No. 16 in the final AP poll; tied for 2nd in the Pac-10.

In program history: The 13th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 93 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 20
  2. Wk 2: 20
  3. Wk 3: 18
  4. Wk 4: 18
  5. Wk 7: 20
  6. Wk 8: 17
  7. Wk 9: 10
  8. Wk 10: 9
  9. Wk 11: 9
  10. Wk 12: 20
  11. Wk 13: 18
  12. Wk 14: 17
  13. Final: 16

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1981.

Consensus All-AmericanMike Richardson, DB

Record
9–⁠2
Conference
5–⁠2 tied for 2nd in Pac-10
AP final
No. 16 peak No. 9
Points
394–⁠193
Coach
Darryl Rogers
Elo
1678 +113 this season
SP+ rating
24.0 No. 8 of 132; offense No. 2, defense No. 52
SRS
20.7 No. 7 of 137 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Bob Baker
Defensive coordinator
George Dyer

Drafted in 1982

The 1982 draft
Rd 1Gerald Riggs RBAtlanta Falcons
Rd 2Robert Weathers RBNew England Patriots
Rd 2John Meyer OTPittsburgh Steelers
Rd 3Jerry Bell TETampa Bay Buccaneers
Rd 4Mike Pagel QBBaltimore Colts
Rd 5Newton Williams RBSan Francisco 49ers

All-Pac-10

5 first team, 5 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1981 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1981 Pac-10 standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Washington6–⁠210–⁠210
Arizona State5–⁠29–⁠216
USC5–⁠29–⁠314
Washington State5–⁠2–⁠18–⁠3–⁠1
UCLA5–⁠2–⁠17–⁠4–⁠1
Arizona4–⁠46–⁠5
Stanford4–⁠44–⁠7
California2–⁠62–⁠9
Oregon1–⁠62–⁠9
Oregon State0–⁠71–⁠10

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.