1981 USC Trojans football team

1981 USC Trojans football
1981 USC Trojans football
Fiesta Bowl, L 10–26 vs. Penn State
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 13
AP	No. 14
Record	9–3 (5–2 Pac-10)
Head coach	John Robinson (6th season);
Defensive coordinator	R. C. Slocum (1st season)
Captains	Marcus Allen; Chip Banks;
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
	Seasons ← 1980 1982 →

1981 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 10 Washington $	6	–	2	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
No. 16 Arizona State	5	–	2	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
No. 14 USC	5	–	2	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
Washington State	5	–	2	–	1	8	–	3	–	1
UCLA	5	–	2	–	1	7	–	4	–	1
Arizona	4	–	4	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Stanford	4	–	4	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
California	2	–	6	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Oregon	1	–	6	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Oregon State	0	–	7	–	0	1	–	10	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1981 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their sixth year under head coach John Robinson, the Trojans compiled a 9–3 record (5–2 against conference opponents), finished in a tie for second place in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10), and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 284 to 170.^[1]

Quarterback John Mazur led the team in passing, completing 93 of 194 passes for 1,128 yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions. Marcus Allen led the team in rushing with 433 carries for 2,427 yards and 22 touchdowns. Jeff Simmons led the team in receiving yards with 28 catches for 543 yards and one touchdown.^[2] Allen became the first player in NCAA history to rush for over 2,000 yards in one season. He also gained a total of 2,683 offensive yards, led the nation in scoring, and won the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, and Walter Camp Award and was also the Pac-10 player of the year.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 12	Tennessee*	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 43–7	62,147	^[3]
September 19	at Indiana*	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	ONTV	W 21–0	51,167
September 26	No. 2 Oklahoma*	No. 1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	W 28–24	85,651
October 3	at Oregon State	No. 1	Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR		W 56–22	33,000
October 10	Arizona	No. 1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		L 10–13	56,315
October 17	Stanford	No. 7	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)		W 25–17	76,291
October 24	at Notre Dame*	No. 5	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 14–7	59,075
October 31	No. 14 Washington State	No. 4	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 41–17	60,972
November 7	at California	No. 3	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		W 21–3	74,000
November 14	at Washington	No. 3	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA		L 3–13	47,347
November 21	No. 15 UCLA	No. 10	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)	ABC	W 22–21	89,432
January 1, 1982	vs. No. 7 Penn State*	No. 8	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ (Fiesta Bowl)	NBC	L 10–26	71,053
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

1981 USC Trojans football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
RB	`33`	Marcus Allen	Sr
WR		Brad Anderson
TE		Mark Boyer
TE		Fred Cornwell
RB		Fred Crutcher
G	`64`	Roy Foster	Sr
RB		Anthony Gibson
RB		John Kamana
RB		Zephrini Lee
C	`66`	Bruce Matthews	Jr
QB	`11`	John Mazur	So
RB		Bob McClanahan
WR	`22`	Malcolm Moore	So
OT	`72`	Don Mosebar	Jr
QB	`7`	Sean Salisbury	Fr
WR	`29`	Jeff Simmons	Jr
OL		Tony Slaton	So
RB		Todd Spencer
OL	`93`	Kelly Thomas	Jr
QB	`15`	Scott Tinsley	Jr
WR		Timmie Ware
WR		Timmy White

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
MG		George Achica
LB	`51`	Chip Banks	Sr
LB		Jeff Brown
S	`47`	Joey Browner	Jr
DL		Keith Browner
LB	`87`	August Curley	Jr
DT	`94`	Byron Darby	Jr
LB	`52`	Jack Del Rio	Fr
DL		Dennis Edwards
DL		John Harvey
LB		Neil Hope
LB		Tim Sullivan
DB		Joe Turner
DL		Charles Ussery
DB		Troy West
DB		Marv Williams

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`5`	Steve Jordan	Fr
K		Scott Livingston
P		Dave Pryor

Head coach

John Robinson

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Game summaries

Tennessee

Tennessee at #5 USC

	1	2	3	4	Total
Volunteers	0	0	7	0	7
• No. 5 Trojans	6	20	10	7	43

Date: September 12
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
Game attendance: 62,147

Marcus Allen 22 Rush, 210 Yds, 4 TD (sat out most of second half)^[4]

Indiana

Marcus Allen 40 rushes, 274 yards ^[5]

Oklahoma

#2 Oklahoma at #1 USC

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 2 Sooners	7	10	0	7	24
• No. 1 Trojans	7	7	0	14	28

Date: September 26
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
Game attendance: 85,651
TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles

^[6]

Marcus Allen 39 rushes, 208 yards ^[7]

Oregon State

Marcus Allen 35 rushes, 233 yards ^[8]

Washington State

Marcus Allen 44 rushes, 289 yards ^[9]

California

Marcus Allen 46 rushes, 243 yards ^[10]

UCLA

#15 UCLA Bruins (7–2–1) vs #10 USC Trojans (8–2)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
UCLA	7	11	3	0	21
USC	3	9	0	10	22

at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California

Date: November 21
Game attendance: 89,432
TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles
^[11]

Game information

First quarter

USC – Steve Jordan 38-yard field goal. USC 3–0.
UCLA – Kevin Nelson 11-yard run (Norm Johnson kick). UCLA 7–3.

Second quarter

USC – Steve Jordan 44-yard field goal. UCLA 7–6.
USC – Marcus Allen 7-yard run (pass failed). USC 12–7.
UCLA – Ricky Coffman 23-yard pass from Tom Ramsey (pass good). UCLA 15–12.
UCLA – Norm Johnson 32-yard field goal. UCLA 18–12.

Third quarter

UCLA – Norm Johnson 28-yard field goal. UCLA 21–12.

Fourth quarter

USC – Steve Jordan 22-yard field goal. UCLA 21–15.
USC – Marcus Allen 5-yard run (Steve Jordan kick), 2:14. USC 22–21.

Top passers

UCLA – Tom Ramsey – 12/25, 154 yards, TD, 2 INT
USC – John Mazur – 9/22, 65 yards, INT

Top rushers

UCLA – Kevin Nelson – 26 rushes, 79 yards, TD
USC – Marcus Allen – 40 rushes, 219 yards, 2 TD

Top receivers

UCLA – Jo-Jo Townsell – 5 receptions, 85 yards
USC – Jeff Simmons – 2 receptions, 64 yards

George Achica blocked Norm Johnson's game-winning 46-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds to preserve the USC victory.

Vs. Penn State (Fiesta Bowl)

#7 Penn State vs. #8 USC

	1	2	3	4	Total
• No. 7 Nittany Lions	7	10	9	0	26
No. 8 Trojans	7	0	3	0	10

Date: January 1, 1982
Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona
Game attendance: 71,053
TV announcers (NBC Sports): Charlie Jones and Len Dawson

Source:

Awards and honors

Marcus Allen, Heisman Trophy^[12]
Marcus Allen, Maxwell Award
Marcus Allen, Walter Camp Award^[13]
Marcus Allen, Pac-10 Player of the Year
Marcus Allen, All-Pac-10^[14]

1981 team players in the NFL

References

^ "Southern California Yearly Results (1980-1984)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
^ "1981 Southern California Trojans Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
^ "USC puts Tennessee to rout in 43–7 win". The Los Angeles Times. September 13, 1981. Retrieved August 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "USC Mauls Vols". The Register-Guard. Eugene. September 13, 1981.
^ 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement
^ "USC Wins, 28-24, in Final 2 Seconds". The New York Times. September 27, 1981. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
^ 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement
^ 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement
^ 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement
^ 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement
^ Eugene Register-Guard, 1981 Nov 22.
^ "Heisman.com - Heisman Trophy". Archived from the original on April 11, 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2007.
^ "Football". Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
^ "Sports". Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved January 30, 2009.

[1] "Southern California Yearly Results (1980-1984)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.

[2] "1981 Southern California Trojans Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 21, 2015.

[3] "USC puts Tennessee to rout in 43–7 win". The Los Angeles Times. September 13, 1981. Retrieved August 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

[4] "USC Mauls Vols". The Register-Guard. Eugene. September 13, 1981.

[5] 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement

[6] "USC Wins, 28-24, in Final 2 Seconds". The New York Times. September 27, 1981. Retrieved November 23, 2019.

[7] 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement

[8] 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement

[9] 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement

[10] 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement

[11] Eugene Register-Guard, 1981 Nov 22.

[12] "Heisman.com - Heisman Trophy". Archived from the original on April 11, 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2007.

[13] "Football". Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2008.

[14] "Sports". Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved January 30, 2009.

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v t e USC Trojans football
Venues	Athletic Park (1895–1898) Fiesta Park (1897–1898, 1901–1902, 1904–1906, 1916) Chutes Park (1900) Prager Park (1903) Bovard Field (1904–1910, 1914–1915, 1917–1923) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923–present) Jones Field/Kennedy Field (practice)
Bowls and rivalries	Bowl games Notre Dame Stanford UCLA: Victory Bell
Culture and lore	Traveler George Tirebiter Giles Pellerin "Fight On" Spirit of Troy Student Body Right Tommy Trojan Tribute to Troy Athletics scandal 1967 "Game of the Century" "Bush Push" 2007 Stanford game So This Is College
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911–1913 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 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 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 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold