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1981 Washington State

8–⁠3–⁠1 (5–⁠2–⁠1 Pac-10), coached by Jim Walden.

Schedule and results

Washington State in 1981, game by game: won vs. Montana State 33–21; won at Colorado 14–10; won vs. No. 18 Arizona State 24–21; won vs. Pacific 31–0; won at Oregon State 23–0; tied vs. UCLA 17–17; won at Arizona 34–19; lost at No. 4 USC 17–41; won vs. Oregon 39–7; won vs. California 19–0; lost at No. 17 Washington 10–23; lost vs. No. 14 BYU 36–38+32−24Won 33–21 vs. Montana State+12Montana StateWon 14–10 at Colorado+4ColoradoWon 24–21 vs. No. 18 Arizona State+3No. 18 Arizona StateWon 31–0 vs. Pacific+31PacificWon 23–0 at Oregon State+23Oregon StateTied 17–17 vs. UCLA0UCLAWon 34–19 at Arizona+15ArizonaLost 17–41 at No. 4 USC-24No. 4 USCWon 39–7 vs. Oregon+32OregonWon 19–0 vs. California+19CaliforniaLost 10–23 at No. 17 Washington-13No. 17 WashingtonLost 36–38 vs. No. 14 BYU-2No. 14 BYU
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 12vsMontana StateW 33–⁠2180%
Sep 19atColoradoW 14–⁠1051%
Sep 26vs18Arizona StateW 24–⁠2141%
Oct 3vsPacificW 31–⁠073%
Oct 10atOregon StateW 23–⁠071%
Oct 17vsUCLAT 17–⁠1747%
Oct 24atArizonaW 34–⁠1945%
Oct 31at4USCL 17–⁠4123%
Nov 7vsOregonW 39–⁠776%
Nov 14vsCaliforniaW 19–⁠077%
Nov 21at17WashingtonL 10–⁠2334%
Dec 18Bowls & playoffvs14BYUHoliday BowlL 36–⁠3826%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to BYU 38–⁠36 in the Holiday Bowl; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 4th in the Pac-10.

In program history: The tied 29th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 111 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 7: 18
  2. Wk 8: 16
  3. Wk 9: 14
  4. Wk 11: 17
  5. Wk 12: 14
  6. Wk 13: 20
  7. Wk 14: 20

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
8–⁠3–⁠1
Conference
5–⁠2–⁠1 tied for 4th in Pac-10
AP final
Unranked peak No. 14
Points
297–⁠197
Coach
Jim Walden
Elo
1559 +101 this season
SP+ rating
14.5 No. 23 of 132; offense No. 32, defense No. 32
SRS
13.8 No. 22 of 137 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Pat Ruel
Defensive coordinator
Bob Padilla

Drafted in 1982

The 1982 draft
Rd 5Paul Sorensen DBCincinnati Bengals
Rd 6Pat Beach TEBaltimore Colts

All-Pac-10

2 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 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.