The 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the Clemson Tigers, unbeaten and untied, taking the mythical national championship after a victory over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. This was also the first year of the California Bowl, played in Fresno, California; this game fancied itself as a "junior" version of the Rose Bowl as it pitted the Big West champion vs. the MAC champion.
This was the final season in which the Ivy League competed in Division I-A.; the league was lowered to Division I-AA (FCS) for 1982. Through 2009 season, the Ivy League has yet to participate in the post-season tournament, despite an automatic bid, citing academic concerns.
Read more about 1981 NCAA Division I-A Football Season: Rule Changes, Octoberfest, September, October, November, Important Game, Conference Standings, Notable Rivalry Games, Orange Bowl, #1 and #2 Progress, Bowl Games, Final AP Poll, Heisman Trophy, Award Winners
Famous quotes containing the words division, football and/or season:
“Between married persons, the cement of friendship is by the laws supposed so strong as to abolish all division of possessions: and has often, in reality, the force ascribed to it.
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—David Hume (1711–1776)
“In this dream that dogs me I am part
Of a silent crowd walking under a wall,
Leaving a football match, perhaps, or a pit,
All moving the same way.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Only he who has had the good fortune to read them in the nick of time, in the most perceptive and recipient season of life, can give any adequate account of them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)