The 1981 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began in August 1981, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 12, 1981, at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium in McAllen, Texas.
During the game's five-year stretch in McAllen, the "City of Palms", it was referred to as the Palm Bowl.
Southwest Texas State defeated North Dakota State in the championship game, 42–13, to win their first Division II national title.
[1] Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association – Virginia Union Far Western Football Conference – UC Davis and Cal State–Hayward Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – Grand Valley State Gulf South Conference – Jacksonville State Heartland Collegiate Conference – Franklin and Indiana Central Lone Star Conference – Southwest Texas State Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association – Northeast Missouri State North Central Conference – North Dakota State Northern Intercollegiate Conference – Minnesota State–Moorhead Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference – Shippensburg Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference – New Mexico Highlands South Atlantic Conference – Elon Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – Alabama A&M The 1981 NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs were the ninth single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division II college football.
The championship game was held at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium in McAllen, Texas, for the first time.