1981 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

1981 North Carolina Tar Heels football
Gator Bowl, W 31–27 vs. Arkansas
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 9
Record	10–2 (5–1 ACC)
Head coach	Dick Crum (4th season)
Home stadium	Kenan Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 50,000)

1981 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 1 Clemson $	6	–	0	–	0			12	–	0	–	0
No. 9 North Carolina	5	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
Maryland	4	–	2	–	0			4	–	6	–	1
Duke	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
NC State	2	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Wake Forest	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Virginia	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1981 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Tar Heels were led by fourth-year head coach Dick Crum and played their home games at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They competed as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, finishing in second.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result
September 12	East Carolina*	No. 13	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	W 56–0
September 19	Miami (OH)*	No. 10	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	W 49–7
September 26	Boston College*	No. 9	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	W 56–14
October 3	at Georgia Tech*	No. 6	Grant Field Atlanta, GA	W 28–7
October 10	Wake Forest	No. 5	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)	W 48–10
October 17	at NC State	No. 4	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC (rivalry)	W 21–10
October 24	South Carolina*	No. 3	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)	L 13–31
October 31	at Maryland	No. 9	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD	W 17–10
November 7	No. 2 Clemson	No. 8	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	L 8–10
November 14	at Virginia	No. 13	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA (South's Oldest Rivalry)	W 17–14
November 21	at Duke	No. 12	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC (Victory Bell)	W 31–10
December 28	vs. Arkansas*	No. 11	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)	W 31–27
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game time

Roster

1981 North Carolina Tar Heels football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class OT 54 Dave Drechsler So	Defense Pos. # Name Class OLB 84 Mike Wilcher Jr LB 93 Calvin Daniels Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Dick Crum Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt