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1981 UTEP

1–⁠10 (1–⁠6 Western Athletic Conference), coached by Bill Michael, then Billy Alton (interim, final 9 games).

Schedule and results

UTEP in 1981, game by game: lost vs. New Mexico State 7–14; lost vs. Texas A&M–Kingsville 15–37; lost vs. No. 13 BYU 8–65; lost at Utah 10–38; lost at New Mexico 3–26; lost at Wyoming 12–63; won vs. Colorado State 35–29; lost at Arizona 15–48; lost vs. Hawai’i 7–35; lost at San Diego State 14–59; lost vs. UNLV 20–27+7−57Lost 7–14 vs. New Mexico State-7New Mexico StateLost 15–37 vs. Texas A&M–Kingsville-22Texas A&M–Kings…Lost 8–65 vs. No. 13 BYU-57No. 13 BYULost 10–38 at Utah-28UtahLost 3–26 at New Mexico-23New MexicoLost 12–63 at Wyoming-51WyomingWon 35–29 vs. Colorado State+6Colorado StateLost 15–48 at Arizona-33ArizonaLost 7–35 vs. Hawai’i-28Hawai’iLost 14–59 at San Diego State-45San Diego StateLost 20–27 vs. UNLV-7UNLV
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 5vsNew Mexico StateL 7–⁠1447%
Sep 12vsTexas A&M–KingsvilleL 15–⁠3759%
Sep 19vs13BYUL 8–⁠659%
Oct 2atUtahL 10–⁠3814%
Oct 10atNew MexicoL 3–⁠2623%
Oct 17atWyomingL 12–⁠6313%
Oct 24vsColorado StateW 35–⁠2941%
Oct 31atArizonaL 15–⁠4815%
Nov 7vsHawai’iL 7–⁠3513%
Nov 21atSan Diego StateL 14–⁠5914%
Nov 28vsUNLVL 20–⁠2730%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to UNLV 27–⁠20; unranked in the final AP poll; 8th in the Western Athletic Conference.

In program history: The 87th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 94 on file).

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
1–⁠10
Conference
1–⁠6 8th in Western Athletic Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
146–⁠441
Coach
Bill Michael, then Billy Alton (interim, final 9 games)
Elo
1207 −109 this season
SP+ rating
-26.6 No. 128 of 132; offense No. 97, defense No. 130
SRS
−22.1 No. 129 of 137 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—

Drafted in 1982

The 1982 draft
Rd 5Del Thompson RBKansas City Chiefs
Rd 7Joey Whitley DBGreen Bay Packers

1981 Western Athletic Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
BYU7–⁠111–⁠213
Hawai’i5–⁠19–⁠2
Wyoming6–⁠28–⁠3
Utah4–⁠1–⁠18–⁠2–⁠1
New Mexico3–⁠4–⁠14–⁠7–⁠1
Air Force2–⁠34–⁠7
San Diego State3–⁠56–⁠5
UTEP1–⁠61–⁠10
Colorado State0–⁠80–⁠12

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