1981 Season

FBS Football Rankings

Season

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Week

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Division

Conference

FBS standings

136 ranked teams

Rank	Team	Champion	Record	Rating	Raw points	Opponent rating	Move
1	Penn State FBS · FBS Independents	—	10–2	335.54	396.59	197.35	—
2	Clemson FBS · ACC	★	12–0	301.84	360.21	145.05	—
3	Pittsburgh FBS · FBS Independents	—	11–1	292.50	342.45	166.36	▲ 3
4	SMU FBS · Southwest	—	10–1	282.19	351.24	142.17	—
5	Georgia FBS · SEC	—	10–2	277.06	339.80	148.03	▼ 2
6	Nebraska FBS · Big 8	—	9–3	273.28	325.00	167.88	▼ 1
7	North Carolina FBS · ACC	—	10–2	258.22	317.28	133.54	▲ 3
8	Texas FBS · Southwest	—	10–1–1	257.68	278.56	170.51	▲ 3
9	Arizona State FBS · Pac-10	—	9–2	252.78	319.97	120.18	▼ 1
10	Alabama FBS · SEC	—	9–2–1	250.90	301.93	144.69	▼ 3
11	Miami FBS · FBS Independents	—	9–2	250.54	285.65	164.70	▼ 2
12	BYU FBS · Western Athletic	—	11–2	232.11	288.56	102.40	—
13	Oklahoma FBS · Big 8	—	7–4–1	222.53	262.52	155.28	—
14	Washington FBS · Pac-10	—	10–2	221.00	258.05	125.27	▲ 7
15	Michigan FBS · Big Ten	—	9–3	220.65	267.46	123.78	▲ 2
16	Arkansas FBS · Southwest	—	8–4	214.95	244.03	152.89	▼ 1
17	USC FBS · Pac-10	—	9–3	214.90	235.03	151.85	▼ 3
18	West Virginia FBS · FBS Independents	—	9–3	213.96	240.42	147.95	▲ 7
19	Southern Miss FBS · FBS Independents	—	9–2–1	195.36	228.01	109.37	▲ 1
20	Houston FBS · Southwest	—	7–4–1	192.66	205.52	161.38	▲ 2
21	Wyoming FBS · Western Athletic	—	8–3	189.04	219.90	115.05	▲ 2
22	Texas A&M FBS · Southwest	—	7–5	187.51	212.90	148.66	▲ 2
23	UCLA FBS · Pac-10	—	7–4–1	183.76	199.06	149.03	▼ 5
24	Florida FBS · SEC	—	7–5	183.09	206.83	145.84	▼ 8
25	Hawai'i FBS · Western Athletic	—	9–2	182.27	212.24	105.36	▲ 1
26	Washington State FBS · Pac-10	—	8–3–1	181.07	192.10	139.33	▲ 1
27	Ohio State FBS · Big Ten	—	9–3	180.68	208.78	114.29	▲ 2
28	Missouri FBS · Big 8	—	8–4	179.35	197.27	137.19	—
29	Mississippi State FBS · SEC	—	8–4	177.48	191.65	138.62	▲ 5
30	Iowa FBS · Big Ten	—	8–4	174.85	186.96	138.37	▼ 11
31	Yale FBS · Ivy	—	9–1	170.28	203.22	72.02	▼ 1
32	Utah FBS · Western Athletic	—	8–2–1	169.98	194.64	106.54	▼ 1
33	Temple FBS · FBS Independents	—	5–5	168.14	153.11	186.48	—
34	San José State FBS · PCAA	—	9–3	160.68	182.15	100.99	▲ 1
35	Notre Dame FBS · FBS Independents	—	5–6	159.91	176.48	151.97	▲ 1
36	Boston College FBS · FBS Independents	—	5–6	159.49	157.94	171.78	▲ 2
37	Miami (OH) FBS · Mid-American	—	8–2–1	158.83	169.48	102.16	—
38	Toledo FBS · Mid-American	—	9–3	155.36	180.41	83.54	▲ 1
39	Syracuse FBS · FBS Independents	—	4–6–1	155.34	161.38	169.09	▲ 2
40	Tulsa FBS · Missouri Valley	—	6–5	154.23	182.03	113.91	—
41	Kansas FBS · Big 8	—	8–4	153.44	149.48	139.77	▼ 9
42	McNeese FBS · Southland	—	7–3–1	145.24	175.68	81.79	—
43	South Carolina FBS · FBS Independents	—	6–6	139.97	120.95	168.66	▲ 1
44	West Texas FBS · Missouri Valley	—	7–4	139.39	150.47	106.29	▼ 1
45	Maryland FBS · ACC	—	4–6–1	138.10	139.15	155.15	▲ 1
46	Florida State FBS · FBS Independents	—	6–5	137.64	114.04	161.75	▼ 1
47	Drake FBS · Missouri Valley	—	10–1	136.79	146.29	74.47	—
48	Cincinnati FBS · FBS Independents	—	6–5	135.58	131.07	141.67	—
49	Illinois FBS · Big Ten	—	7–4	134.80	120.86	140.53	—
50	Southern Illinois FBS · Missouri Valley	—	7–4	133.15	150.06	89.38	▲ 2
51	Auburn FBS · SEC	—	5–6	131.99	127.23	149.88	▼ 1
52	Navy FBS · FBS Independents	—	7–4–1	129.57	121.88	124.82	▼ 1
53	Baylor FBS · Southwest	—	5–6	129.29	122.63	149.89	▲ 1
54	Oklahoma State FBS · Big 8	—	7–5	128.73	115.91	140.35	▼ 1
55	Central Michigan FBS · Mid-American	—	7–4	127.84	144.28	85.64	—
56	Tennessee FBS · SEC	—	8–4	126.20	120.99	119.88	—
57	Duke FBS · ACC	—	6–5	124.98	121.03	135.15	▲ 1
58	Tulane FBS · FBS Independents	—	6–5	124.68	134.49	116.99	▼ 1
59	Michigan State FBS · Big Ten	—	5–6	123.17	130.12	126.35	—
60	Bowling Green FBS · Mid-American	—	5–5–1	120.33	146.30	87.55	—
61	Arkansas State FBS · Southland	—	6–5	119.54	134.58	96.09	—
62	TTexas-Arlington FBS · Southland	—	6–5	119.42	119.04	113.06	—
63	PPacific FBS · PCAA	—	5–6	119.39	125.28	122.67	—
64	The Citadel FBS · Southern	—	7–3–1	115.54	144.72	64.95	▲ 1
65	Kentucky FBS · SEC	—	3–8	114.21	108.80	160.90	▼ 1
66	Louisiana Tech FBS · Southland	—	4–6–1	112.70	137.72	97.58	—
67	Colgate FBS · FBS Independents	—	7–3	109.27	120.09	76.44	—
68	Dartmouth FBS · Ivy	—	6–4	107.14	123.91	71.29	▲ 3
69	Ole Miss FBS · SEC	—	4–6–1	107.01	88.55	152.30	▼ 1
70	Arizona FBS · Pac-10	—	6–5	106.70	101.16	115.09	▼ 1
71	Iowa State FBS · Big 8	—	5–5–1	105.17	86.47	141.52	▼ 1
72	Wake Forest FBS · ACC	—	4–7	104.93	108.76	129.24	▲ 1
73	Wisconsin FBS · Big Ten	—	7–5	104.89	89.29	123.62	▼ 1
74	Virginia Tech FBS · FBS Independents	—	7–4	103.45	92.53	104.96	▲ 1
75	Rice FBS · Southwest	—	4–7	103.14	82.03	160.19	▼ 1
76	Stanford FBS · Pac-10	—	4–7	102.02	92.97	140.85	—
77	Minnesota FBS · Big Ten	—	6–5	100.06	92.35	113.23	—
78	Fresno State FBS · PCAA	—	5–6	98.75	118.50	89.65	▲ 1
79	Furman FBS · Southern	—	8–3	98.14	98.61	67.62	▼ 1
80	Vanderbilt FBS · SEC	—	4–7	98.11	76.61	152.09	—
81	William & Mary FBS · FBS Independents	—	5–6	97.87	110.53	93.74	—
82	UNLV FBS · FBS Independents	—	6–6	96.56	76.98	124.60	—
83	San Diego State FBS · Western Athletic	—	6–5	94.39	76.62	119.65	—
84	VMI FBS · Southern	—	6–3–1	94.23	101.41	67.96	—
85	Princeton FBS · Ivy	—	5–4–1	94.23	104.82	74.33	—
86	Louisville FBS · FBS Independents	—	5–6	93.63	95.85	105.95	—
87	NC State FBS · ACC	—	4–7	93.59	59.13	167.12	▲ 1
88	Indiana State FBS · Missouri Valley	—	5–5–1	93.34	115.03	68.59	▼ 1
89	Indiana FBS · Big Ten	—	3–8	90.00	86.01	137.55	—
90	Rutgers FBS · FBS Independents	—	5–6	88.67	56.90	147.50	—
91	Ohio FBS · Mid-American	—	5–6	87.14	93.11	89.04	—
92	Chattanooga FBS · Southern	—	7–3–1	82.59	76.15	70.28	▲ 1
93	Colorado FBS · Big 8	—	3–8	82.41	54.63	161.93	▼ 1
94	Air Force FBS · Western Athletic	—	4–7	79.48	76.23	113.06	—
95	New Mexico FBS · Western Athletic	—	4–7–1	77.38	69.30	115.52	—
96	North Texas FBS · FBS Independents	—	2–9	77.23	73.48	134.47	—
97	Purdue FBS · Big Ten	—	5–6	76.22	49.25	128.96	—
98	Utah State FBS · PCAA	—	5–5–1	76.10	47.29	116.99	—
99	Holy Cross FBS · FBS Independents	—	6–5	75.59	64.69	89.55	—
100	TCU FBS · Southwest	—	2–7–2	74.47	45.25	159.61	—
101	East Carolina FBS · FBS Independents	—	5–6	72.50	42.24	125.11	—
102	California FBS · Pac-10	—	2–9	67.84	25.20	173.92	—
103	Western Carolina FBS · Southern	—	4–7	67.41	87.64	70.16	—
104	Harvard FBS · Ivy	—	5–4–1	64.76	57.40	70.27	—
105	Richmond FBS · FBS Independents	—	4–7	63.80	58.31	98.64	—
106	Kansas State FBS · Big 8	—	2–9	61.05	33.31	151.54	—
107	Texas Tech FBS · Southwest	—	1–9–1	60.75	29.79	165.70	▲ 2
108	Oregon FBS · Pac-10	—	2–9	59.19	38.14	138.55	—
109	LSU FBS · SEC	—	3–7–1	58.56	29.18	137.79	▼ 2
110	CCal State Fullerton FBS · PCAA	—	3–8	55.41	51.20	98.34	—
111	Army FBS · FBS Independents	—	3–7–1	50.10	26.35	117.95	—
112	Virginia FBS · ACC	—	1–10	47.87	23.61	151.09	▲ 3
113	Kent State FBS · Mid-American	—	4–7	47.27	36.14	84.78	—
114	LLong Beach State FBS · PCAA	—	2–8	47.06	31.64	111.50	—
115	Northern Illinois FBS · Mid-American	—	3–8	45.60	49.45	76.64	▲ 1
116	Western Michigan FBS · Mid-American	—	6–5	45.58	15.74	82.54	▲ 1
117	Georgia Tech FBS · FBS Independents	—	1–10	45.46	5.31	162.81	▼ 5
118	Lamar FBS · Southland	—	4–6–1	42.46	15.26	93.07	—
119	Ball State FBS · Mid-American	—	4–7	40.02	24.50	80.12	—
120	Brown FBS · Ivy	—	3–7	39.61	43.50	64.37	—
121	Cornell FBS · Ivy	—	3–7	39.30	37.40	72.64	—
122	WWichita State FBS · Missouri Valley	—	4–6–1	39.03	1.00	102.15	—
123	UL Monroe FBS · FBS Independents	—	5–6	33.75	3.06	83.70	—
124	New Mexico State FBS · Missouri Valley	—	3–8	33.57	27.84	80.22	—
125	Colorado State FBS · Western Athletic	—	0–12	30.76	1.00	151.65	—
126	Northwestern FBS · Big Ten	—	0–11	27.48	1.00	144.57	—
127	Oregon State FBS · Pac-10	—	1–10	25.62	1.00	130.24	—
128	UTEP FBS · Western Athletic	—	1–10	24.68	4.45	115.66	—
129	Memphis FBS · FBS Independents	—	1–10	24.29	7.89	122.24	—
130	Louisiana FBS · Southland	—	1–9–1	21.56	3.91	102.60	—
131	App State FBS · Southern	—	3–7–1	17.87	1.00	69.30	—
132	Marshall FBS · Southern	—	2–9	17.60	19.03	65.86	—
133	Pennsylvania FBS · Ivy	—	1–9	16.93	1.00	87.55	—
134	Columbia FBS · Ivy	—	1–9	11.68	4.60	76.46	—
135	Illinois State FBS · Missouri Valley	—	3–7	10.62	1.00	55.49	—
136	Eastern Michigan FBS · Mid-American	—	0–11	3.02	1.00	80.21	—