1981 Purdue Boilermakers football team

1981 Big Ten Conference football standings
	+ – Conference co-champions; Rankings from AP Poll

1981 Purdue Boilermakers football
1981 Purdue Boilermakers football
Conference	Big Ten
1981 record	5–6 (3–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jim Young (5th season);
Home stadium	Ross–Ade Stadium; (Capacity: 69,200)
	Seasons ← 1980 1982 →

The 1981 Purdue Boilermakers football team represented Purdue University during the 1981 Big Ten Conference football season.

Several Purdue players ranked among the Big Ten leaders, including the following:

Wide receiver Steve Bryant led the Big Ten with 60 receptions and 11 receiving touchdowns and ranked second with 971 receiving yards and fifth with 66 points scored.^[1]
Quarterback Scott Campbell ranked second in the conference with 185 pass completions, a 57.6% pass completion percentage, 2,686 passing yards, a 138.3 passing efficiency rating, and 2,809 total yards.^[1]
Running back Jimmy Smith ranked fourth in the conference with 152 rushing attempts and ninth with 540 rushing yards.^[1]

Schedule[]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 12	No. 19 Stanford*	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, Indiana	W 27–19	69,958
September 19	at Minnesota	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis	L 13–16	41,530
September 26	No. 13 Notre Dame*	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, Indiana (Shillelagh Trophy)	W 15–14	70,007
October 3	at Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, Wisconsin	L 14–20	68,603
October 10	Illinois	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, Indiana (Purdue Cannon)	W 44–20	69,846
October 17	at Northwestern	Dyche Stadium Evanston, Illinois	W 35–0	20,777
October 24	Michigan State	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, Indiana	W 27–26	69,877
October 31	Ohio State	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, Indiana	L 33–45	69,927
November 7	at Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, Iowa	L 7–33	60,114
November 14	No. 11 Michigan	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, Indiana	L 10–28	69,736
November 21	at Indiana	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, Indiana (Old Oaken Bucket)	L 17–20	48,466
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Statistics

^ ^a ^b ^c "1981 Big Ten Conference Year Summary". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
^ College Football @ Sports-Reference.com
^ Palm Beach Post. 1981 Sept 27.
^ 2018 Purdue record book. Retrieved 2018-Dec-25.
^ 2012 Purdue football information guide

v t Purdue Boilermakers football
Venues	Stuart Field (1892–1924) Ross–Ade Stadium (1924–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Chicago Illinois (Purdue Cannon) Indiana (Old Oaken Bucket) Notre Dame (Shillelagh Trophy)
Culture & lore	Boilermaker Special Cradle of Quarterbacks Holy Buckeye Purdue Pete Purdue Wreck "Hail Purdue!" All-American Marching Band
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 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

1981 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t	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