CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1981 Iowa State

5–⁠5–⁠1 (2–⁠4–⁠1 Big Eight), coached by Donnie Duncan.

Schedule and results

Iowa State in 1981, game by game: won vs. West Texas 17–13; won vs. Iowa 23–12; won vs. Kent State 28–19; tied at No. 5 Oklahoma 7–7; lost at San Diego State 31–52; won vs. No. 8 Missouri 34–13; won vs. Colorado 17–10; lost at Kansas State 7–10; lost vs. Kansas 11–24; lost at No. 7 Nebraska 7–31; lost vs. Oklahoma State 7–27+21−24Won 17–13 vs. West Texas+4West TexasWon 23–12 vs. Iowa+11IowaWon 28–19 vs. Kent State+9Kent StateTied 7–7 at No. 5 Oklahoma0No. 5 OklahomaLost 31–52 at San Diego State-21San Diego StateWon 34–13 vs. No. 8 Missouri+21No. 8 MissouriWon 17–10 vs. Colorado+7ColoradoLost 7–10 at Kansas State-3Kansas StateLost 11–24 vs. Kansas-13KansasLost 7–31 at No. 7 Nebraska-24No. 7 NebraskaLost 7–27 vs. Oklahoma State-20Oklahoma State
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 12vsWest TexasW 17–⁠1358%
Sep 19vsIowaW 23–⁠1256%
Sep 26vsKent StateW 28–⁠1974%
Oct 3at5OklahomaT 7–⁠722%
Oct 10atSan Diego StateL 31–⁠5245%
Oct 17vs8MissouriW 34–⁠1334%
Oct 24vsColoradoW 17–⁠1078%
Oct 31atKansas StateL 7–⁠1069%
Nov 7vsKansasL 11–⁠2464%
Nov 14at7NebraskaL 7–⁠3115%
Nov 21vsOklahoma StateL 7–⁠2750%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Oklahoma State 27–⁠7; unranked in the final AP poll; 6th in the Big Eight.

In program history: The 69th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 132 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 5: 20
  2. Wk 6: 12
  3. Wk 8: 14
  4. Wk 9: 11
Record
5–⁠5–⁠1
Conference
2–⁠4–⁠1 6th in Big Eight
AP final
Unranked peak No. 11
Points
189–⁠218
Coach
Donnie Duncan
Elo
1453 −19 this season
SP+ rating
2.1 No. 67 of 132; offense No. 79, defense No. 55
SRS
1.7 No. 62 of 137 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Mack Brown

Drafted in 1982

The 1982 draft
Rd 3Dwayne Crutchfield RBNew York Jets
Rd 7Dan Johnson TEMiami Dolphins

All-Big Eight

4 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

  • Shamus McDonoughDTAP-2; UPI-2
  • Ronnie OsborneDBUPI-2

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.