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	No. 12
AP	No. 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)
Seasons

1981 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#15/12 Ohio State §	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
#18/15 Iowa §	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
#12/10 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 / Coaches' 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	Opponent#	Rank#	Site	Result	Attendance
September 12*	Duke	#11	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH	W 34–13	86,266
September 19	Michigan State	#8	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH	W 27–13	87,084
September 26*	at Stanford	#8	Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA	W 24–19	76,102
October 3*	Florida State	#7	Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH	L 27–36	87,158
October 10	at Wisconsin	#18	Camp Randall Stadium • Madison, WI	L 21–24	78,973
October 17	Illinois		Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH	W 34–27	87,158
October 24	Indiana		Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH	W 29-10	87,182
October 31	at Purdue		Ross-Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, IN	W 45–33	69,927
November 7	at Minnesota	#18	Memorial Stadium • Minneapolis, MN	L 31–35	42,793
November 14	Northwestern		Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH	W 70–6	86,912
November 21	at #7 Michigan		Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI	W 14–9	106,043
December 30*	vs. Navy	#15	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium • Memphis, TN (Liberty Bowl)	W 31–28	43,216
*Non-Conference Game. #Rankings from AP Poll.

Depth Chart

Defensive Starters FS Doug Hill ⋅ WLB ILB ILB SLB Anthony Griggs Glen Cobb Marcus Marek Mike D’Andrea ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ SS Garcia Lane ⋅ CB Shaun Gayle ⋅ DE NT DE Chris Riehm Nick Miller Jerome Foster ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ CB Kelvin Bell ⋅ Offensive Starters SE Gary Williams Thad Jemison LT LG C RG RT Bill Roberts Scott Zalenski Jim DeLeone Joe Lukens Joe Smith ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ TE John Frank Brad Dwelle FL Cedric Anderson ⋅ QB Art Schlichter Mike Tomczak FB Vaughn Broadnax ⋅ Special Teams PK Bob Atha RB Tim Spencer Jimmy Gale

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

Purdue

by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total • Ohio St 0 17 7 21 45 Purdue 7 7 6 13 33 Date: October 31 Location: Ross-Ade Stadium • West Lafayette, Indiana Scoring summary 1 PUR Benson 11 yard pass from Campbell (Clark kick) Purdue 7-0 2 OHST Atha 53 yard field goal Purdue 7-3 2 OHST Schlichter 14 yard run (Atha kick) Ohio St 10-7 2 OHST Anderson 47 yard pass from Schlichter (Atha kick) Ohio St 17-7 2 PUR Bryant 32 yard pass from Campbell (Clark kick) Ohio St 17-14 3 PUR Clark 25 yard field goal Tie 17-17 3 OHST Gayle 2 yard run (Atha kick) Ohio St 24-17 3 PUR Clark 35 yard field goal Ohio St 24-20 4 OHST Spencer 2 yard run (Atha kick) Ohio St 31-20 4 OHST Anderson 23 yard pass from Schlichter (Atha kick) Ohio St 38-20 4 PUR Jones 1 yard run (run failed) Ohio St 38-26 4 PUR Bryant 8 yard pass from Campbell (Clark kick) Ohio St 38-33 4 OHST Frank 29 yard pass from Schlichter (Atha kick) Ohio St 45-33

• Gary Williams 126 receiving yards

Michigan

by Quarter 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 Scoring summary 1 MICH Ali Haji-Sheikh 19 yard field goal MICH 3-0 2 9:57 OSU Art Schlichter 1 yard run (Bob Atha kick) OSU 7-3 3 MICH Ali Haji-Sheikh 26 yard field goal OSU 7-6 3 MICH Ali Haji-Sheikh 23 yard field goal MICH 9-7 4 2:50 OSU Art Schlichter 6 yard run (Bob Atha kick) OSU 14-9

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

Win/Loss statistics

• Ohio State Historical Scores
• 1981 Ohio State Buckeyes Schedule and Results
• 1981 Ohio State Buckeyes Stats
• 1981 Big Ten Conference Year Summary

Draft data

• Ohio State Drafted Players