1981 Stanford Cardinals football team

1981 Stanford Cardinals football
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Record	4–7 (4–4 Pac-10)
Head coach	Paul Wiggin (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Jim Fassel (1st season)
Offensive scheme	West Coast
Defensive coordinator	Jack Harbaugh (2nd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Stanford Stadium
Seasons ← 1980 1982 →

1981 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 10 Washington $	6	–	2	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 16 Arizona State	5	–	2	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
No. 14 USC	5	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Washington State	5	–	2	–	1			8	–	3	–	1
UCLA	5	–	2	–	1			7	–	4	–	1
Arizona	4	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Stanford	4	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
California	2	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Oregon	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Oregon State	0	–	7	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1981 Stanford Cardinals football team represented Stanford University in the Pacific-10 Conference during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by second-year head coach Paul Wiggin, the Cardinal had an overall record of 4–7 (4–4 in Pac-10, tied for sixth), and played home games on campus at Stanford Stadium in Stanford, California. Ranked in the preseason top twenty, Stanford opened with four losses and dropped six of its first seven games to incur their first losing season since 1963.

From 1972 until November 17, 1981, Stanford's official nickname was Cardinals, in reference to one of the school colors, not the bird.^[1] After 1981, it became the singular Cardinal.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 12	12:20 p.m.	at Purdue*	No. 19	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	ABC	L 19–27	62,778
September 19	1:00 p.m.	San Jose State*		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (rivalry)	USA	L 6–28	67,888
September 26	1:00 p.m.	No. 8 Ohio State*		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	ESPN	L 19–24	76,102
October 3	7:00 p.m.	at Arizona		Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	USA	L 13–17	41,110
October 10	1:00 p.m.	No. 17 UCLA		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	USA	W 26–23	70,103
October 17	1:00 p.m.	at No. 7 USC		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)		L 17–25	76,291
October 24	1:00 p.m.	No. 17 Arizona State		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA		L 36–62	52,855
October 31	1:30 p.m.	at No. 18 Washington		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA		L 31–42	55,856
November 7	1:00 p.m.	at Oregon State		Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR		W 63–9	22,000
November 14	1:00 p.m.	Oregon		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	USA	W 42–3	36,106
November 21	1:00 p.m.	California		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (Big Game)	USA	W 42–21	84,536
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

^[2]

Game summaries

At Purdue

San Jose State

Ohio State

At Arizona

UCLA

At Southern California

Arizona State

At Washington

At Oregon State

Oregon

California

California at Stanford

1 2 3 4 Total California 7 0 7 7 21 • Stanford 7 14 14 7 42 Date: Saturday, November 21 Location: Stanford Stadium, Stanford, California Game attendance: 84,563 Source: Eugene Register-Guard

Scoring summary 1 STAN Elway 1-yard run (Harmon kick) STAN 7-0 1 CAL Eddings 48-yard pass from Torchio (Cooper kick) Tied 7-7 2 STAN Nelson 2-yard run (Harmon kick) STAN 14-7 2 STAN Nelson 7-yard pass from Elway (Harmon kick) STAN 21-7 3 STAN Hutchings 14-yard interception return (Harmon kick) STAN 28-7 3 CAL Tuggle 2-yard run (Cooper kick) STAN 28-14 3 STAN White 8-yard pass from Elway (Harmon kick) STAN 35-14 4 CAL Wright 18-yard pass from Torchio (Cooper kick) STAN 35-21 4 STAN White 22-yard pass from Elway (Harmon kick) STAN 42-21

Roster

1981 Stanford Cardinal football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE 83 Chris Dressel Jr QB 7 John Elway Jr HB 31 Darrin Nelson Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Paul Wiggin Coordinators/assistant coaches Jim Fassel – Offensive Coordinator Jim Anderson – Running back Dick James – Offensive line Dave Ottmar – Tight end Jack Harbaugh – Defensive Coordinator Larry Mac Duff – Defensive line Ray Handley – Outside linebacker Chuck Detwiler – Defensive back Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

^[3][4]

References