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1981 Florida

7–⁠5 (3–⁠3 Southeastern Conference), coached by Charley Pell.

Schedule and results

Florida in 1981, game by game: lost at Miami 20–21; won vs. Furman 35–7; won vs. Georgia Tech 27–6; lost at No. 12 Mississippi State 7–28; won at LSU 24–10; won vs. Maryland 15–10; won vs. Ole Miss 49–3; lost at Auburn 12–14; lost vs. No. 4 Georgia 21–26; won vs. Kentucky 33–12; won vs. Florida State 35–3; lost vs. West Virginia 6–26+46−21Lost 20–21 at Miami-1MiamiWon 35–7 vs. Furman+28FurmanWon 27–6 vs. Georgia Tech+21Georgia TechLost 7–28 at No. 12 Mississippi State-21No. 12 Mississippi Sta…Won 24–10 at LSU+14LSUWon 15–10 vs. Maryland+5MarylandWon 49–3 vs. Ole Miss+46Ole MissLost 12–14 at Auburn-2AuburnLost 21–26 vs. No. 4 Georgia-5No. 4 GeorgiaWon 33–12 vs. Kentucky+21KentuckyWon 35–3 vs. Florida State+32Florida StateLost 6–26 vs. West Virginia-20West Virginia
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 5atMiamiL 20–⁠2135%
Sep 12vsFurmanW 35–⁠755%
Sep 19vsGeorgia TechW 27–⁠673%
Sep 26at12Mississippi StateL 7–⁠2841%
Oct 3atLSUW 24–⁠1043%
Oct 10vsMarylandW 15–⁠1061%
Oct 17vsOle MissW 49–⁠374%
Oct 31atAuburnL 12–⁠1455%
Nov 7vs4GeorgiaL 21–⁠2634%
Nov 14vsKentuckyW 33–⁠1281%
Nov 28vsFlorida StateW 35–⁠353%
Dec 31Bowls & playoffvsWest VirginiaPeach BowlL 6–⁠2654%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to West Virginia 26–⁠6 in the Peach Bowl; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 4th in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 54th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 116 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 17

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
7–⁠5
Conference
3–⁠3 tied for 4th in Southeastern Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 17
Points
284–⁠166
Coach
Charley Pell
Elo
1599 +65 this season
SP+ rating
16.8 No. 20 of 132; offense No. 34, defense No. 16
SRS
15.5 No. 18 of 137 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Mike Shanahan
Defensive coordinator
Joe Kines

Drafted in 1982

The 1982 draft
Rd 2David Galloway DTSt. Louis Cardinals

All-SEC

4 first team, 2 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 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.