CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1981 Stanford

4–⁠7 (4–⁠4 Pac-10), coached by Paul Wiggin.

Schedule and results

Stanford in 1981, game by game: lost at Purdue 19–27; lost vs. San José State 6–28; lost vs. No. 8 Ohio State 19–24; lost at Arizona 13–17; won vs. No. 17 UCLA 26–23; lost at No. 7 USC 17–25; lost vs. No. 17 Arizona State 36–62; lost at No. 18 Washington 31–42; won at Oregon State 63–9; won vs. Oregon 42–3; won vs. California 42–21+54−26Lost 19–27 at Purdue-8PurdueLost 6–28 vs. San José State-22San José StateLost 19–24 vs. No. 8 Ohio State-5No. 8 Ohio StateLost 13–17 at Arizona-4ArizonaWon 26–23 vs. No. 17 UCLA+3No. 17 UCLALost 17–25 at No. 7 USC-8No. 7 USCLost 36–62 vs. No. 17 Arizona State-26No. 17 Arizona StateLost 31–42 at No. 18 Washington-11No. 18 WashingtonWon 63–9 at Oregon State+54Oregon StateWon 42–3 vs. Oregon+39OregonWon 42–21 vs. California+21California
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 12atPurdueL 19–⁠2733%
Sep 19vsSan José StateL 6–⁠2862%
Sep 26vs8Ohio StateL 19–⁠2436%
Oct 3atArizonaL 13–⁠1743%
Oct 10vs17UCLAW 26–⁠2333%
Oct 17at7USCL 17–⁠2517%
Oct 24vs17Arizona StateL 36–⁠6232%
Oct 31at18WashingtonL 31–⁠4220%
Nov 7atOregon StateW 63–⁠967%
Nov 14vsOregonW 42–⁠367%
Nov 21vsCaliforniaW 42–⁠2169%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat California 42–⁠21; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 6th in the Pac-10.

In program history: The 69th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 109 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 18
  2. Wk 2: 19

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
4–⁠7
Conference
4–⁠4 tied for 6th in Pac-10
AP final
Unranked peak No. 18
Points
314–⁠281
Coach
Paul Wiggin
Elo
1504 −30 this season
SP+ rating
7.1 No. 45 of 132; offense No. 13, defense No. 110
SRS
7.4 No. 39 of 137 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Jim Fassel
Defensive coordinator
Jack Harbaugh
Offense
West Coast
Defense
4–⁠3

Drafted in 1982

The 1982 draft
Rd 1Darrin Nelson RBMinnesota Vikings
Rd 2Doug Rogers DEAtlanta Falcons
Rd 6Andre Tyler WRTampa Bay Buccaneers

All-Pac-10

2 first team, 4 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 Pac-10 standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Washington6–⁠210–⁠210
Arizona State5–⁠29–⁠216
USC5–⁠29–⁠314
Washington State5–⁠2–⁠18–⁠3–⁠1
UCLA5–⁠2–⁠17–⁠4–⁠1
Arizona4–⁠46–⁠5
Stanford4–⁠44–⁠7
California2–⁠62–⁠9
Oregon1–⁠62–⁠9
Oregon State0–⁠71–⁠10

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