1981 NCAA Division II football season

Regular season

August – November 1981

Postseason

December 1981

National Championship

Palm Bowl
Veterans Stadium
McAllen, TX

Champions

Southwest Texas State

Division II football season

«1980

1982»

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]

Conference changes and new programs

Prior to the 1981 season, the Mid-Continent Conference was shifted from Division II to Division I-AA; its four members, Eastern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Western Illinois, and Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State), all made the transition.
- Northern Michigan and Youngstown State, who had been members of the Mid-Continent the previous season, departed the league before the shift. NMU remained in Division II while YSU departed for the Ohio Valley Conference in Division I-AA.

School	1980 Conference	1981 Conference
Eastern Washington	Evergreen (NAIA)	D-II Independent
Mankato State	Northern	North Central
Northern Michigan	Mid-Continent	D-II Independent
Portland State	I-AA Independent	D-II Independent
St. Cloud State	Northern	North Central
Tennessee State	Mid-Continent (D-II)	Ohio Valley (I-AA)

Conference standings

1981 Lone Star Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Southwest Texas State $^	6	–	1	–	0	13	–	1	–	0
Texas A&I	5	–	2	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
Abilene Christian	5	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Angelo State	5	–	2	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
East Texas State	4	–	3	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Sam Houston State	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Howard Payne	1	–	6	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Stephen F. Austin	0	–	7	–	0	1	–	10	–	0

$ – Conference champion ^ – Division II playoff participant

1981 Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
NE Missouri State $	4	–	1	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Missouri-Rolla	3	–	1	–	1	6	–	3	–	1
NW Missouri State	3	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Central Missouri State	2	–	2	–	1	4	–	4	–	3
SE Missouri State	2	–	3	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Lincoln (MO)	0	–	5	–	0	0	–	11	–	0

$ – Conference champion ^ – Division II playoff participant

Conference summaries

Conference Champions
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 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

Postseason

1981 NCAA Division II National Football Championship playoffs
Teams	8
Finals Site	Veterans Stadium McAllen, TX
Champions	Southwest Texas State (1st title)
Runner-Up	North Dakota State (1st championship game)
Semifinalists	Northern Michigan Shippensburg State

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.

Playoff bracket

First round Campus sites		Semifinals Campus sites		Championship McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium McAllen, TX


Northern Michigan	55

Elizabeth City State	6
		Northern Michigan	0

		Southwest Texas State	62
Southwest Texas State	38

Jacksonville State	22
				Southwest Texas State	42

				North Dakota State	13
North Dakota State	24

Puget Sound	10
		North Dakota State	18

		Shippensburg State	6
Shippensburg State	40

Virginia Union	27

References

↑ "1981 NCAA Division II National Football Championship Bracket" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. p. 13. Retrieved January 4, 2014.

NCAA Division II football

Seasons

Playoffs

Championship games

Bowl era	East: Tangerine Bowl (1964–1967), Boardwalk Bowl (1968–1972) Mideast: Grantland Rice Bowl (1964–1972) Midwest: Pecan Bowl (1964–1970), Pioneer Bowl (1971–1972) West: Camellia Bowl (1964–1967)

Playoff era	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Records & statistics

Appearances
Individual records
Team records

NCAA football seasons

Pre-regulation	1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905

IAAUS/NCAA	1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955

NCAA University Division/ Division I	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

NCAA Division I-A/FBS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

NCAA Division I-AA/FCS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

NCAA Division II	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

NCAA Division III	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

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