1981 NCAA Division I-A football rankings explained

Season:1981
Preseason Number 1:Michigan
Champions:Clemson
Conference:Big Ten, Big 8, Pac-10 (3)

Two human polls comprised the 1981 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-A football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship, instead that title is bestowed by one or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.

Legend

 Increase in ranking
 Decrease in ranking
 Not ranked previous week
 National champion
 Win–loss record
 Number of first place votes
Tied with team above or below also with this symbol

AP Poll

Coaches Poll

Arizona State, SMU, and Miami (FL) (after a November 3, 1981 ruling) were on probation by the NCAA during the 1981 season; they were therefore ineligible to receive votes in the Coaches Poll.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "1981 NCAA Division I-A football rankings".

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