1981 Iowa State Cyclones football team

1981 Big Eight Conference football standings
	$ – Conference champion; Rankings from AP Poll

1981 Iowa State Cyclones football
1981 Iowa State Cyclones football
Conference	Big Eight Conference
1981 record	5–5–1 (2–4–1 Big Eight)
Head coach	Donnie Duncan (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	Mack Brown (2nd season)
Home stadium	Cyclone Stadium; (Capacity: 48,000)
	Seasons ← 1980 1982 →

The 1981 Iowa State Cyclones football team represented Iowa State University during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. They played their home games at Cyclone Stadium in Ames, Iowa. They participated as members of the Big Eight Conference. The team was coached by head coach Donnie Duncan. The offensive coordinator was Mack Brown.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 12	1:30 pm	West Texas State*		Cyclone Stadium Ames, IA		W 17–13	49,854	^[1]
September 19	1:30 pm	Iowa*		Cyclone Stadium Ames, IA (Battle for the Cy-Hawk Trophy)	WOI/WQAD (delay)	W 23–12	53,922
September 26	1:30 pm	Kent State*		Cyclone Stadium Ames, IA		W 28–19	50,594
October 3	1:30 pm	at No. 5 Oklahoma	No. 20	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		T 7–7	76,385
October 10	9:30 pm	at San Diego State*	No. 12	San Diego Stadium San Diego, CA	WOI	L 31–52	27,561
October 17	1:30 pm	No. 8 Missouri		Cyclone Stadium Ames, IA (rivalry)		W 34–13	53,220
October 24	1:30 pm	Colorado	No. 14	Cyclone Stadium Ames, IA		W 17–10	50,103
October 31	1:30 pm	at Kansas State	No. 11	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS (rivalry)		L 7–10	26,650
November 7	1:30 pm	Kansas		Cyclone Stadium Ames, IA		L 11–24	49,720
November 14	1:30 pm	at No. 7 Nebraska		Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE		L 7–31	76,258
November 21	1:35 pm	Oklahoma State		Cyclone Stadium Ames, IA		L 7–27	46,387
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^ "ISU tops stubborn West Texas". Sioux City Journal. September 13, 1981. Retrieved May 2, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Iowa State Football Record Book" (PDF). Iowa State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-01-06. Retrieved November 25, 2014.

v t Iowa State Cyclones football
Venues	Clyde Williams Field (1915–1974) Jack Trice Stadium (1975–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Iowa (Cy-Hawk Trophy) Kansas State (Farmageddon) Missouri (Telephone Trophy)
Culture & lore	History Cy the Cardinal "ISU Fights" Iowa State University Cyclone Marching Band 2011 Oklahoma State game
People	Head coaches All-Americans 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 2022

1981 Big Eight Conference football standings
v t	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 11 Nebraska $	7	–	0	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
No. 20 Oklahoma	4	–	2	–	1	7	–	4	–	1
Kansas	4	–	3	–	0	7	–	5	–	0
Oklahoma State	4	–	3	–	0	7	–	5	–	0
No. 19 Missouri	3	–	4	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Iowa State	2	–	4	–	1	5	–	5	–	1
Colorado	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Kansas State	1	–	6	–	0	2	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll