1981 Ohio State Buckeyes football team

1981 Ohio State Buckeyes football

Liberty Bowl Champions Big Ten Co-Champions
Liberty Bowl, W 31–28 vs. Navy
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#12
AP	#15
1981 record	9–3 (6–2 Big Ten)
Head coach	Earle Bruce
MVP	Art Schlichter
Captain	Glen Cobb
Captain	Art Schlichter
Home stadium	Ohio Stadium (Capacity: 83,112)

	Conf					Overall
1981 Big Ten football standings
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#15 Ohio State §	6	–	2	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
#18 Iowa §	6	–	2	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
#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 college football season of 1981-1982. The Buckeyes compiled a 9–3 record, including the 1981 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee, where they won 31–28 against the Navy Midshipmen.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent^#	Rank^#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 12	1:30 PM	Duke*	#11	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH		W 34–13	86,266
September 19	1:30 PM	Michigan State	#8	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH		W 27–13	87,084
September 26	4:30 PM	at Stanford*	#8	Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA		W 24–19	76,102
October 3	1:30 PM	Florida State*	#7	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH		L 27–36	87,158
October 10	2:30 PM	at Wisconsin	#18	Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, WI		L 21–24	78,973
October 17	1:30 PM	Illinois		Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH (Illibuck Trophy)		W 34–27	87,158
October 24	1:30 PM	Indiana		Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH		W 29-10	87,182
October 31	12:30 PM	at Purdue		Ross-Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, IN	ABC	W 45–33	69,927
November 7	2:00 PM	at Minnesota	#18	Memorial Stadium • Minneapolis, MN		L 31–35	42,793
November 14	1:30 PM	Northwestern		Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH		W 70–6	86,912
November 21	12:30 PM	at #7 Michigan		Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI (The Game)	ABC	W 14–9	106,043
December 30	8:00 PM	vs. Navy*	#15	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN (Liberty Bowl)	USA	W 31–28	43,216
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. All times are in Eastern Time.

Depth Chart

Defense

FS
Garcia Lane
⋅

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

LT	LG	C	RG	RT
William Roberts	Scott Zalenski	Jim DeLeone	Joe Lukens	Joe Smith
Jim Lachey	⋅	Kirk Lowdermilk	⋅	Jim Carson

TE
John Frank
Brad Dwelle

FL
Cedric Anderson
⋅

QB
Art Schlichter
Mike Tomczak

FB
Vaughn Broadnax
⋅

Special Teams
PK Bob Atha
P Gary Alders
P Karl Edwards

RB
Tim Spencer
Jimmy Gayle

^[1]

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 notes

Stanford

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Ohio State	0	17	7	0	24
Stanford	3	3	0	13	19

Date: September 26
Location: Stanford Stadium • Palo Alto, CA
Television 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 3
Location: Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
Television network: USA

^[2]

Michigan

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Ohio State	0	7	0	7	14
Michigan	3	0	6	0	9

Date: November 21
Location: Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI
Game attendance: 106,043
TV 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 30
Location: Liberty Bowl • Memphis, TN

^[3]

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

↑ 1982 Ohio State Football Media Guide
↑ http://www.seminoles.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/fsu-m-footbl-fsuosuhist.html
↑ http://admin.xosn.com/fls/17300//pdf/fb/m-footbl-bowls.pdf

Win/Loss statistics

Draft data

Ohio State Drafted Players

Ohio State Buckeyes football

Venues	Recreation Park (1890–1897) Ohio Field (1898–1921) Ohio Stadium (1922–present) Woody Hayes Athletic Center (practice)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Illinois Michigan (The Ten Year War) Penn State

Culture & lore	History Brutus Buckeye "Across the Field" "Buckeye Battle Cry" "Carmen Ohio" Neutron Man The Ohio State University Marching Band "Holy Buckeye" "Game of the Century" Block O "Hang On Sloopy" WBNS-TV WBNS WBNS-FM Ohio State IMG Sports Network

People	Head coaches All-Century Team Yearly statistical leaders NFL draftees Statistical leaders

Seasons	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

National championship seasons in bold