1981 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

1981 North Carolina Tar Heels football
1981 North Carolina Tar Heels football
Gator Bowl champion
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);
Captain	Shelton Robinson, Lee Shaffer
Home stadium	Kenan Memorial Stadium
	Seasons ← 1980 1982 →

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.^[1]

1981 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings
v t e	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

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 12	1:00 p.m.	East Carolina*	No. 13	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		W 56–0	51,300	^[2]
September 19	1:00 p.m.	Miami (OH)*	No. 10	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		W 49–7	49,500	^[3]
September 26	1:00 p.m.	Boston College*	No. 9	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		W 56–14	48,000	^[4]
October 3	1:30 p.m.	at Georgia Tech*	No. 6	Grant Field Atlanta, GA		W 28–7	39,263	^[5]
October 10	1:00 p.m.	Wake Forest	No. 5	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)		W 48–10	51,692	^[6]
October 17	1:00 p.m.	at NC State	No. 4	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC (rivalry)		W 21–10	56,200	^[7]
October 24	1:00 p.m.	South Carolina*	No. 3	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (rivalry)		L 13–31	50,500	^[8]
October 31	1:30 p.m.	at Maryland	No. 9	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD		W 17–10	32,100	^[9]
November 7	12:30 p.m.	No. 2 Clemson	No. 8	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	ABC	L 8–10	53,611	^[10]
November 14	1:30 p.m.	at Virginia	No. 13	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA (South's Oldest Rivalry)		W 17–14	30,047	^[11]
November 21	1:30 p.m.	at Duke	No. 12	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC (Victory Bell)		W 31–10	38,525	^[12]
December 28	9:00 p.m.	vs. Arkansas*	No. 11	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl)	ABC	W 31–27	71,009	^[13]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

1981 North Carolina Tar Heels football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
OT	`54`	Dave Drechsler	So
OL		Kevin Wilson	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
OLB	`84`	Mike Wilcher	Jr
LB	`93`	Calvin Daniels	Sr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class