CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1981 Colorado

3–⁠8 (2–⁠5 Big Eight), coached by Chuck Fairbanks.

Schedule and results

Colorado in 1981, game by game: won vs. Texas Tech 45–27; lost vs. Washington State 10–14; lost vs. No. 11 BYU 20–41; lost at No. 16 UCLA 7–27; lost at Nebraska 0–59; won vs. Oklahoma State 11–10; lost at No. 14 Iowa State 10–17; lost at No. 19 Oklahoma 0–49; lost vs. Missouri 14–30; lost at Kansas 0–27; won vs. Kansas State 24–21+18−59Won 45–27 vs. Texas Tech+18Texas TechLost 10–14 vs. Washington State-4Washington StateLost 20–41 vs. No. 11 BYU-21No. 11 BYULost 7–27 at No. 16 UCLA-20No. 16 UCLALost 0–59 at Nebraska-59NebraskaWon 11–10 vs. Oklahoma State+1Oklahoma StateLost 10–17 at No. 14 Iowa State-7No. 14 Iowa StateLost 0–49 at No. 19 Oklahoma-49No. 19 OklahomaLost 14–30 vs. Missouri-16MissouriLost 0–27 at Kansas-27KansasWon 24–21 vs. Kansas State+3Kansas State
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 12vsTexas TechW 45–⁠2741%
Sep 19vsWashington StateL 10–⁠1449%
Sep 26vs11BYUL 20–⁠4116%
Oct 3at16UCLAL 7–⁠2715%
Oct 10atNebraskaL 0–⁠5912%
Oct 17vsOklahoma StateW 11–⁠1035%
Oct 24at14Iowa StateL 10–⁠1722%
Oct 31at19OklahomaL 0–⁠4912%
Nov 7vsMissouriL 14–⁠3027%
Nov 14atKansasL 0–⁠2721%
Nov 21vsKansas StateW 24–⁠2154%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Kansas State 24–⁠21; unranked in the final AP poll; 7th in the Big Eight.

In program history: The 120th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 125 on file).

Record
3–⁠8
Conference
2–⁠5 7th in Big Eight
AP final
Unranked
Points
141–⁠322
Coach
Chuck Fairbanks
Elo
1341 −26 this season
SP+ rating
-7.4 No. 97 of 132; offense No. 83, defense No. 98
SRS
−3.7 No. 85 of 137 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Gene Hochevar
Defensive coordinator
Doug Knotts
Captains
Pete Perry and Bob Sebro
Most valuable player
Pete Perry
Offense
Multiple
Defense
3–⁠4

Drafted in 1982

The 1982 draft
Rd 5Rich Umphrey CNew York Giants
Rd 7Bob Sebro CSt. Louis Cardinals

All-Big Eight

1 first team, 2 second team

First team

  • Pete PerryDEAP-2; UPI-1

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 Big Eight standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Nebraska7–⁠09–⁠311
Oklahoma4–⁠2–⁠17–⁠4–⁠120
Kansas4–⁠38–⁠4
Oklahoma State4–⁠37–⁠5
Missouri3–⁠48–⁠419
Iowa State2–⁠4–⁠15–⁠5–⁠1
Colorado2–⁠53–⁠8
Kansas State1–⁠62–⁠9

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