1981 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team

1981 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
	Rankings from AP Poll

1981 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football
1981 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football
Conference	Independent
1981 record	1–10
Head coach	Bill Curry (2nd season);
Captain	Dave Lutz ; Lance Skelton ; Mark Bradley ; Ken Carney
Home stadium	Grant Field ; (Capacity: 58,121)
	Seasons ← 1980 1982 →

The 1981 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team represented the Georgia Institute of Technology during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Yellow Jackets were led by second-year head coach Bill Curry, and played their home games at Grant Field in Atlanta. Georgia Tech produced abysmal results for the second consecutive year under Curry, finishing with a record of 1–10, their worst season in terms of winning percentage in school history (it would later be matched by another 1–10 season in 1994). Their sole win was a season-opening upset victory over the second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in Birmingham.

Schedule[]

Date	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 12	at No. 2 Alabama	Legion Field Birmingham, Alabama	ESPN	W 24–21	78,865	^[1]
September 19	at Florida	Florida Field Gainesville, Florida		L 6–27	63,876
September 26	Memphis State	Grant Field Atlanta		L 15–28	32,463
October 3	No. 6 North Carolina	Grant Field Atlanta, Georgia		L 7–28	39,263
October 10	at Tennessee	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, Tennessee (rivalry)		L 7–10	94,478
October 17	Auburn	Grant Field Atlanta (rivalry)		L 7–31	50,263
October 24	at Tulane	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans		L 10–27	37,431	^[2]
October 31	Duke	Grant Field Atlanta		L 24–38	30,232
November 7	at Notre Dame	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, Indiana		L 3–35	59,075
November 14	Navy	Grant Field Atlanta, Georgia		L 14–20	20,129
December 5	No. 2 Georgia	Grant Field Atlanta (Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate)	ABC	L 7–44	58,623
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Sources:^[3]^[4]

Roster[]

1981 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
QB	`2`	Mike Kelley	Sr
QB	`12`	Jim Bob Taylor	Jr
RB		Robert Lavette
RB		Ronny Cone
WR		Kenny Thompson
WR		Jeff Keisler
TE	`9`	Ken Whisenhunt	So
G	`64`	Ben Utt	Sr
T	`78`	Dave Lutz	Jr
OL		Ellis Gardner
OL		Ken Howell
OL		Mark Schultz
OL		Dean Waters

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DL		Mark Bradley
DL		Donnie Chisholm
DL		Marvin Dyett
LB	`56`	Robert Jaracz
LB		Rob Horton
LB		Lance Skelton
LB		Duane Wood
CB	`22`	Jack Westbrook	So
DB		Sammy Brown
DB		Paul Menegazzi
DB		Mark Sheffield
DB		Ted Thurson

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

Head coach

Bill Curry

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

References[]

^ "Tech 24, Alabama 21 - it really did happen". The Atlanta Constitution. September 13, 1981. Retrieved February 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Tulane trounces Tech 27–10". The Atlanta Constitution. October 25, 1981. Retrieved October 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "1981 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Schedule and Results". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
^ 2011 Georgia Tech Media Guide. p. 173

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[1] "Tech 24, Alabama 21 - it really did happen". The Atlanta Constitution. September 13, 1981. Retrieved February 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.

[2] "Tulane trounces Tech 27–10". The Atlanta Constitution. October 25, 1981. Retrieved October 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.

[3] "1981 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Schedule and Results". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2017.

[4] 2011 Georgia Tech Media Guide. p. 173

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football
Venues	Piedmont Park (1899–1901; 1903–1904) Brisbane Park (1902) The Flats (1905–1906, 1912) Ponce de Leon Park (1907–1911) Grant Field (1913–1987) Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field (1988–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Auburn Clemson Georgia: Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate Tennessee Vanderbilt Virginia Tech
Culture & lore	Buzz Ramblin' Wreck "Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" "Up with the White and Gold" Marching band Heisman shift 1916 Cumberland game 1990 game at Virginia
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
National championship seasons in bold

1981 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
v t	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 4 Pittsburgh		–		–		11	–	1	–	0
No. 3 Penn State		–		–		10	–	2	–	0
No. 8 Miami (FL)		–		–		9	–	2	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–		9	–	2	–	1
No. 17 West Virginia		–		–		9	–	3	–	0
Colgate		–		–		7	–	3	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		–		7	–	4	–	0
Navy		–		–		7	–	4	–	1
Cincinnati		–		–		6	–	5	–	0
Florida State		–		–		6	–	5	–	0
Holy Cross		–		–		6	–	5	–	0
Tulane		–		–		6	–	5	–	0
UNLV		–		–		6	–	6	–	0
South Carolina		–		–		6	–	6	–	0
Temple		–		–		5	–	5	–	0
Boston College		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
East Carolina		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Northeast Louisiana		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Louisville		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Notre Dame		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Rutgers		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
William & Mary		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Syracuse		–		–		4	–	6	–	1
Richmond		–		–		4	–	7	–	0
Army		–		–		3	–	7	–	1
North Texas State		–		–		2	–	9	–	0
Georgia Tech		–		–		1	–	10	–	0
Memphis State		–		–		1	–	10	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll