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1981 Auburn

5–⁠6 (2–⁠4 Southeastern Conference), coached by Pat Dye.

Schedule and results

Auburn in 1981, game by game: won vs. TCU 24–16; lost vs. Wake Forest 21–24; lost at Tennessee 7–10; lost at Nebraska 3–17; won vs. LSU 19–7; won at Georgia Tech 31–7; lost vs. No. 9 Mississippi State 17–21; won vs. Florida 14–12; won vs. North Texas 20–0; lost at No. 4 Georgia 13–24; lost vs. No. 4 Alabama 17–28+24−14Won 24–16 vs. TCU+8TCULost 21–24 vs. Wake Forest-3Wake ForestLost 7–10 at Tennessee-3TennesseeLost 3–17 at Nebraska-14NebraskaWon 19–7 vs. LSU+12LSUWon 31–7 at Georgia Tech+24Georgia TechLost 17–21 vs. No. 9 Mississippi State-4No. 9 Mississippi Sta…Won 14–12 vs. Florida+2FloridaWon 20–0 vs. North Texas+20North TexasLost 13–24 at No. 4 Georgia-11No. 4 GeorgiaLost 17–28 vs. No. 4 Alabama-11No. 4 Alabama
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 5vsTCUW 24–⁠1675%
Sep 19vsWake ForestL 21–⁠2468%
Sep 26atTennesseeL 7–⁠1041%
Oct 3atNebraskaL 3–⁠1723%
Oct 10vsLSUW 19–⁠755%
Oct 17atGeorgia TechW 31–⁠762%
Oct 24vs9Mississippi StateL 17–⁠2148%
Oct 31vsFloridaW 14–⁠1245%
Nov 7vsNorth TexasW 20–⁠075%
Nov 14at4GeorgiaL 13–⁠2420%
Nov 28vs4AlabamaL 17–⁠2819%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Alabama 28–⁠17; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 6th in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 88th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 124 on file).

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.

Record
5–⁠6
Conference
2–⁠4 tied for 6th in Southeastern Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
186–⁠166
Coach
Pat Dye
Elo
1530 +8 this season
SP+ rating
6.1 No. 51 of 132; offense No. 91, defense No. 26
SRS
8.7 No. 34 of 137 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Defensive coordinator
Frank Orgel
Offense
Wishbone

Drafted in 1982

The 1982 draft
Rd 7Edmund Nelson DTPittsburgh Steelers

All-SEC

2 first team, 3 second team

First team

  • Keith UeckerOTAP-1; UPI
  • Danny SkutackLBAP-1; UPI

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 Southeastern Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Alabama7–⁠09–⁠2–⁠17
Georgia6–⁠010–⁠26
Mississippi State4–⁠28–⁠4
Tennessee3–⁠38–⁠4
Florida3–⁠37–⁠5
Auburn2–⁠45–⁠6
Kentucky2–⁠43–⁠8
LSU1–⁠4–⁠13–⁠7–⁠1
Ole Miss1–⁠5–⁠14–⁠6–⁠1
Vanderbilt1–⁠54–⁠7

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