- Source: 1981 NCAA Division I-AA football season
The 1981 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I-AA level, began in August 1981 and concluded with the 1981 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game on December 19, 1981, at Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas. The Idaho State Bengals won their first I-AA championship, defeating the Eastern Kentucky Colonels in the Pioneer Bowl, 34−23.
Conference changes and new programs
Prior to the 1981 season, the Mid-Continent Conference reclassified from Division II to Division I-AA with its four members, Eastern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Western Illinois, and Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State). Northern Michigan and Youngstown State, which had been members of the Mid-Continent in the 1980 season, departed the league before the shift; Northern Michigan remained in Division II, and Youngstown State transitioned to I-AA as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference.
Conference standings
Conference champions
Postseason
After holding four-team playoffs after the first three I-AA seasons, the NCAA increased the bracket size to eight this postseason. It grew to twelve in 1982 and sixteen in 1986. The eight-team field was determined via automatic bids to five conference champions (Idaho State, South Carolina State, Eastern Kentucky, Jackson State, and Rhode Island), a bid to the top-ranked independent team (Tennessee State), and two at-large bids (Boise State and Delaware).
= NCAA Division I-AA playoff bracket
=* Next to team name denotes host institution
* Next to score denotes overtime
Source:
References
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- 1981 NCAA Division I-AA football season
- NCAA Division I Football Championship
- 1981 NCAA Division I-AA football rankings
- NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision
- List of NCAA Division I FCS football programs
- 2005 NCAA Division I-AA football season
- 1981 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game
- 1978 NCAA Division I-AA football season
- 1982 NCAA Division I-AA football season
- 1998 NCAA Division I-AA football season
