The 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the Clemson Tigers, unbeaten and untied, claiming the 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[citation needed] as it pitted the Big West Conference champion vs. the Mid-American Conference champion.
With all other highly-ranked teams remaining idle, the Crimson Tide moved up in the next poll: No.
2 Alabama fell 24-21 to a Georgia Tech team which wouldn’t win another game all year.
The Fighting Irish, under the new leadership of former high school coach Gerry Faust, soon fell out of the polls and finished 5-6, their first losing season since 1963.
2 showdown in Los Angeles, USC scored a touchdown in the final seconds to nip Oklahoma 28-24.
2 Penn State beat Boston College 38-7, but the Nittany Lions were leapfrogged by No.
12 Iowa; the surprising Hawkeyes had already defeated two top-ten teams in non-conference play.
1 team lost for the fifth time in eight weeks, as Penn State was upset 17-14 by Miami.
8 North Carolina in the highest-ranked ACC matchup up to that time, with the Tigers prevailing 10-8.
Clemson's match-up with North Carolina proved to be the landmark game of the season and a huge turning point for the ACC.
This game which Clemson won 10–8 marked the first time two ACC teams met while ranked in the top 10.
ABC broadcast this game live nationally, a huge bit of exposure for what was usually known as a basketball conference.
The game ended with Jeff Bryant recovering a lateral with a minute left.
7 Nebraska, which had dominated its Big 8 schedule, won 31-7 over Iowa State to clinch the conference title and a spot in the Orange Bowl.
2 Clemson completed an undefeated regular season with a 29-13 win at South Carolina.
5 Nebraska finished its season with a 37-14 win over Oklahoma, and the top five remained the same.
8 Texas would represent the conference in the Cotton Bowl because the Mustangs were on probation.
7-ranked Wolverines were upset by the unranked Buckeyes, giving the Big Ten title to Iowa.
15 UCLA 22–21 and knock the Bruins out of Rose Bowl contention; this delivered the Pac-10 championship to No.
4-ranked Crimson Tide defeated archrival Auburn 28-17 in Birmingham, setting a new NCAA Division I record for coaching victories and tying Georgia for the SEC championship.
For the second year in a row, the national championship was impacted by a premature bowl-game selection.
As in 1980, the Sugar Bowl organizers hoped to create a de facto national title game by inviting an undefeated independent team to play against the SEC champion.
However, just as Notre Dame had done the previous year, Pittsburgh lost its last regular season game after having already agreed to play in the Sugar Bowl.
Entering the game, the top four teams in order were Clemson, Georgia, Alabama, and Nebraska.
Pittsburgh, which was the consensus number one until being beaten soundly by Penn State in their season finale, beat defending national champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
Also in the national title hunt till the very end, Alabama lost to number six Texas in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
Kenneth Sims of Texas was the first pick overall in the 1982 NFL draft and was the winner of the Lombardi Award, given to the nation's best lineman.
Southern Methodist won the Southwest Conference and was ranked fifth, but was ineligible for post-season play due to NCAA probation, but could have still qualified for the national title.
[citation needed] The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player Source: [4][5]