CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1981 Ole Miss

4–⁠6–⁠1 (1–⁠5–⁠1 Southeastern Conference), coached by Steve Sloan.

Schedule and results

Ole Miss in 1981, game by game: won at Tulane 19–18; won at South Carolina 20–13; won at Memphis 7–3; lost vs. Arkansas 13–27; lost at No. 11 Alabama 7–38; lost vs. No. 11 Georgia 7–37; lost at Florida 3–49; lost vs. Vanderbilt 23–27; tied at LSU 27–27; lost at Tennessee 20–28; won vs. Mississippi State 21–17+7−46Won 19–18 at Tulane+1TulaneWon 20–13 at South Carolina+7South CarolinaWon 7–3 at Memphis+4MemphisLost 13–27 vs. Arkansas-14ArkansasLost 7–38 at No. 11 Alabama-31No. 11 AlabamaLost 7–37 vs. No. 11 Georgia-30No. 11 GeorgiaLost 3–49 at Florida-46FloridaLost 23–27 vs. Vanderbilt-4VanderbiltTied 27–27 at LSU0LSULost 20–28 at Tennessee-8TennesseeWon 21–17 vs. Mississippi State+4Mississippi Sta…
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 5atTulaneW 19–⁠1836%
Sep 12atSouth CarolinaW 20–⁠1329%
Sep 19atMemphisW 7–⁠362%
Sep 26vsArkansasL 13–⁠2747%
Oct 3at11AlabamaL 7–⁠3817%
Oct 10vs11GeorgiaL 7–⁠3733%
Oct 17atFloridaL 3–⁠4926%
Oct 24vsVanderbiltL 23–⁠2773%
Oct 31atLSUT 27–⁠2734%
Nov 14atTennesseeL 20–⁠2826%
Nov 21vsMississippi StateW 21–⁠1729%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Mississippi State 21–⁠17; unranked in the final AP poll; 9th in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 95th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 124 on file).

Record
4–⁠6–⁠1
Conference
1–⁠5–⁠1 9th in Southeastern Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
167–⁠284
Coach
Steve Sloan
Elo
1441 −31 this season
SP+ rating
-3.4 No. 84 of 132; offense No. 76, defense No. 86
SRS
−0.7 No. 72 of 137 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
John Cropp
Defensive coordinator
Bill Canty

All-SEC

1 first team

First team

  • Pat PhenixOTAP-1

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.