American college football season
1981 Ohio State Buckeyes football Conference Big Ten Conference Coaches No. 12 AP No. 15 1981 record 9–3 (6–2 Big Ten) Head coach Offensive coordinator Glen Mason (2nd season)Defensive coordinator Dennis Fryzel (3rd season)MVP Art Schlichter Captains
Home stadium Ohio Stadium (Capacity: 83,112)Seasons
1981 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf
Overall
Team
W
L
T
W
L
T
No. 15 Ohio State +
6
–
2
–
0
9
–
3
–
0
No. 18 Iowa +
6
–
2
–
0
8
–
4
–
0
No. 12 Michigan
6
–
3
–
0
9
–
3
–
0
Illinois
6
–
3
–
0
7
–
4
–
0
Wisconsin
6
–
3
–
0
7
–
5
–
0
Minnesota
4
–
5
–
0
6
–
5
–
0
Michigan State
4
–
5
–
0
5
–
6
–
0
Purdue
3
–
6
–
0
5
–
6
–
0
Indiana
3
–
6
–
0
3
–
8
–
0
Northwestern
0
–
9
–
0
0
–
11
–
0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll
The 1981 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the Ohio State University in the 1981 Big Ten Conference football season . The Buckeyes compiled a 9–3 record, including the 1981 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee , where they won, 31–28, against the Navy Midshipmen . Ohio State and Iowa were the only conference teams not to play one another, and they ended up in a tie for the Big Ten title. That cost the Buckeyes a possible outright conference championship and trip to the 1982 Rose Bowl as Iowa landed the Rose Bowl bid due to not going to the Rose Bowl longer than Ohio State.
Several Ohio State players ranked among the Big Ten leaders, including the following:
Placekicker Bob Atha led the conference with 88 points scored and 44 extra points made and ranked second with 13 field goals made and a 68.4% field goal percentage.[1]
Garcia Lane led the conference with 205 punt return yards and ranked second with an average of 8.9 yards per punt return.[1]
Running back Tim Spencer led the conference with 12 rushing touchdowns and ranked second with 1,217 rushing yards and 1,427 yards from scrimmage.[1]
Quarterback Art Schlichter ranked third in the conference with 2,551 passing yards and 2,509 total yards and fifth with a 52.3 pass completion percentage.[1]
Gary Williams ranked third in the conference with 50 receptions and fourth with 941 receiving yards.[1]
Schedule [ ]
Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance September 12 1:30 p.m. Duke * No. 11 W 34–1386,266
September 19 1:30 p.m. Michigan State No. 8 W 27–1387,084
September 26 4:30 p.m. at Stanford * No. 8 Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA W 24–1976,102
October 3 1:30 p.m. Florida State * No. 7 L 27–3687,158
October 10 2:30 p.m. at Wisconsin No. 18 Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI L 21–2478,973
October 17 1:30 p.m. Illinois Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH (Illibuck Trophy ) W 34–2787,158
October 24 1:30 p.m. Indiana W 29-1087,182
October 31 12:30 p.m. at Purdue ABC W 45–3369,927
November 7 2:00 p.m. at Minnesota No. 18 Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN L 31–3542,793
November 14 1:30 p.m. Northwestern W 70–686,912
November 21 12:30 p.m. at No. 7 Michigan Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (The Game )ABC W 14–9106,043
December 30 8:00 p.m. vs. Navy * No. 15 USA W 31–2843,216
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time
Roster [ ]
1981 Ohio State Buckeyes football team roster
Players
Coaches
Offense
Pos.
#
Name
Class
FB
38
Vaughn Broadnax
So
TE
89
John Frank
So
T
64
Jim Lachey
Fr
QB
10
Art Schlichter
Jr
RB
46
Tim Spencer
So
QB
15
Mike Tomczak
Fr
Defense
Pos.
#
Name
Class
DB
2
Shaun Gayle
So
LB
Anthony Griggs
Sr
Special teams
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
Injured
Redshirt
Depth chart [ ]
Defense
ROLB
ILB
ILB
LOLB
Anthony Griggs
Glen Cobb
Marcus Marek
Mike D’Andrea
Ben Lee
⋅
⋅
Orlando Lowry
ROV
Doug Hill
Rowland Tatum
CB
Shaun Gayle
Jeff Cisco
DE
NT
DE
Chris Riehm
Nick Miller
Jerome Foster
⋅
Spencer Nelms
⋅
CB
Kelvin Bell
Mark Eberts
Offense
SE
Gary Williams
Thad Jemison
TE
John Frank
Brad Dwelle
Special Teams
PK Bob Atha
P Gary Alders
P Karl Edwards
RB
Tim Spencer
Jimmy Gayle
[2]
Coaching staff [ ]
Earle Bruce – Head Coach (3rd year)
Dennis Fryzel – Defensive Coordinator (3rd year)
Glen Mason – Offensive Coordinator (4th year)
Bill Myles – Offensive Line (5th year)
Nick Saban – Defensive Backs (2nd year)
Wayne Stanley – Running Backs (3rd year)
Steve Szabo – Defensive Line (3rd year)
Bob Tucker – Defensive Outside Linebackers (3rd year)
Fred Zechman – Quarterbacks/Receivers (3rd year)
Game summaries [ ]
Duke [ ]
This section is empty. You can help by . (November 2018 )
Michigan State [ ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Michigan St
0
0 7 6
13
• Ohio St
7
10 0 10
27
Date: September 12Location: Ohio Stadium Game attendance: 87,084
Stanford [ ]
1
2 3 4 Total
• Ohio State
0
17 7 0
24
Stanford
3
3 0 13
19
Date: September 26Location: Stanford Stadium • Palo Alto, CaliforniaTelevision network: ESPN
Scoring summary 1 Stanford Mark Harmon 25-yard field goal Stanford 3-0
2 OSU Shaun Gayle 1-yard run (Atha kick)OSU 7-3
2 Stanford Mark Harmon 39-yard field goal) OSU 7-6
2 OSU Robert Atha 45-yard field goal OSU 10-6
2 OSU Brad Dwelle 5-yard pass from Art Schlichter (Atha kick) OSU 17-6
3 OSU Brad Dwelle 7-yard pass from Art Schlicther (Atha kick) OSU 24-6
4 Stanford Donald Lonslinger 4-yard pass from John Elway (pass failed) OSU 24-12
4 Stanford Michael Tolliver 23-yard pass from John Elway (Harmon kick) OSU 24-19
Florida State [ ]
1
2 3 4 Total
• Florida St
10
13 13 0
36
Ohio State
7
14 0 6
27
Date: October 3Location: Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OhioTelevision network: USA
[3]
Wisconsin [ ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Ohio St
7
7 0 7
21
• Wisconsin
0
17 0 7
24
Date: October 10Location: Camp Randall Stadium Game attendance: 78,973
Illinois [ ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Illinois
10
10 7 0
27
• Ohio St
21
3 7 3
34
Date: October 17Location: Ohio Stadium
Indiana [ ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Indiana
7
3 0 0
10
• Ohio St
3
9 14 3
29
Date: October 24Location: Ohio StadiumGame attendance: 87,182
Purdue [ ]
1
2 3 4 Total
• Ohio St
0
17 7 21
45
Purdue
7
7 6 13
33
Date: October 31Location: Ross-Ade Stadium Game attendance: 69,927
Minnesota [ ]
Ohio State Buckeyes at Minnesota Golden Gophers
1
2
3 4 Total
Ohio St
14
7
7 3 31
Minnesota
0
7
14 14 35
at Memorial Stadium , Minneapolis, Minnesota
Date : November 7Game time : 1:00 p.m.Game weather : Clear, 64 °F (18 °C)Game attendance : 42,793Referee : Glenn FortinBox Score
Game information
First quarter
OSU – John Frank 7-yard pass from Art Schlichter (Bob Atha kick), 5:33. Ohio St 7–0. Drive: 8 plays, 76 yards.
OSU – Tim Spencer 73-yard run (Bob Atha kick), 0:00. Ohio St 14–0. Drive: 2 plays, 80 yards, 0:10.
Second quarter
MINN – Todd Hallstrom 1-yard pass from Mike Hohensee (Jim Gallery kick), 9:53. Ohio St 14–7. Drive: 11 plays, 80 yards, 5:07.'
OSU – Tim Spencer 2-yard run (Bob Atha kick), 7:39. Ohio St 21–7. Drive: 6 plays, 74 yards, 2:14.
Third quarter
MINN – Jay Carroll 27-yard pass from Mike Hohensee (Jim Gallery kick), 11:25. Ohio St 21–14. Drive: 12 plays, 64 yards, 2:35.
MINN – Frank Jacobs 17-yard pass from Mike Hohensee (Jim Gallery kick), 8:34. Tie 21–21. Drive: 4 plays, 36 yards, 1:20.
OSU – Art Schlichter 1-yard run (Bob Atha kick), 0:30. Ohio St 28–21. Drive: 9 plays, 57 yards, 3:39.
Fourth quarter
OSU – Bob Atha 31-yard field goal, 8:18. Ohio St 31–21. Drive: 4 plays, 27 yards, 1:13.
MINN – Jay Carroll 18-yard pass from Mike Hohensee (Jim Gallery kick), 6:56. Ohio St 31–28. Drive: 5 plays, 68 yards, 1:23.
MINN – Jay Carroll 28-yard pass from Mike Hohensee (Jim Gallery kick), 2:38. Minnesota 35–31. Drive: 5 plays, 40 yards, 1:03
Top passers
OSU – Art Schlichter – 13/33, 169 yards, TD, INT
MINN – Mike Hohensee – 37/67, 444 yards, 5 TD, INT
Top rushers
OSU – Tim Spencer – 16 rushes, 135 yards, 2 TD
MINN – Tony Hunter – 6 rushes, 19 yards
Top receivers
OSU – Gary Williams – 4 receptions, 72 yards
MINN – Chester Cooper – 12 receptions, 182 yards
Northwestern [ ]
1
2 3 4 Total
Northwestern
0
6 0 0
6
• Ohio St
7
28 28 7
70
Date: November 14Location: Ohio StadiumGame attendance: 86,916
Michigan [ ]
1
2 3 4 Total
• Ohio State
0
7 0 7
14
Michigan
3
0 6 0
9
Date: November 21Location: Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MichiganGame attendance: 106,043TV announcers (ABC): Al Michaels
Scoring summary 1 MICH Ali Haji-Sheikh 19-yard field goal MICH 3-0
2 OSU Art Schlichter 1-yard run (Robert Atha kick)OSU 7-3
3 MICH Ali Haji-Sheikh 26-yard field goal OSU 7-6
3 MICH Ali Haji-Sheikh 24-yard field goal MICH 9-7
4 OSU Art Schlichter 6-yard run (Robert Atha kick) OSU 14-9
Liberty Bowl [ ]
1981 Liberty Bowl
1
2 3 4 Total
• Ohio State
10
7 7 7
31
Navy
7
6 7 8
28
Date: December 30Location: Liberty Bowl • Memphis, Tennessee
1982 NFL draftees [ ]
Player
Round
Pick
Position
NFL club
Art Schlichter
1
4
Quarterback
Baltimore Colts
Anthony Griggs
4
105
Linebacker
Philadelphia Eagles
Bob Atha
12
317
Kicker
St. Louis Cardinals
References [ ]
Venues Bowls & rivalries Culture & lore
History
Block O
Brutus Buckeye
"Across the Field "
"Buckeye Battle Cry "
"Carmen Ohio "
"Hang On Sloopy "
Marching band
Neutron Man
The Ten Year War
Snow Bowl (1950)
1969 Michigan game
1973 Michigan game
The Kick
Holy Buckeye
2005 Texas game
2006 Michigan game
2016 Penn State game
Media People Seasons National championship seasons in bold
Western Conference Big Ten Big Nine Big Ten National championships in bold