1981 Cornell Big Red football team

1981 Cornell Big Red football
Conference	Ivy League
Record	3–7 (2–5 Ivy)
Head coach	Bob Blackman (5th season)
Defensive coordinator	Pete Noyes (1st season)
Captain	Dave Kimichik, Steve Ross
Home stadium	Schoellkopf Field

1981 Ivy League football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Yale +	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	1	–	0
Dartmouth +	6	–	1	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Princeton	5	–	1	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
Harvard	4	–	2	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
Brown	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Cornell	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Columbia	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
Penn	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions

The 1981 Cornell Big Red football team represented Cornell University in the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season as a member of the Ivy League.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result
September 19	at Penn	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)	L 22–29
September 26	Colgate	Schoellkopf Field Ithaca, NY (rivalry)	L 10–34
October 3	at Rutgers	Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, NJ	L 17–31
October 10	Harvard	Schoellkopf Field Ithaca, NY	L 17–31
October 17	at Brown	Brown Stadium Providence, RI	W 14–9
October 24	at Dartmouth	Memorial Field Hanover, NH (rivalry)	L 7–42
October 31	Bucknell	Schoellkopf Field Ithaca, NY	W 22–15
November 7	Yale	Schoellkopf Field Ithaca, NY	L 17–23
November 14	Columbia	Schoellkopf Field Ithaca, NY (rivalry)	W 15–9
November 21	at Princeton	Princeton University Stadium Princeton, NJ	L 14–37