1981 Washington Huskies football team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 10

1981 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

	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 Washington Huskies football team was an American football team that represented the University of Washington during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. In its seventh season under head coach Don James, the team compiled a 10–2 record, finished in first place in the Pacific-10 Conference, defeated Iowa in the 1981 Rose Bowl, and outscored its opponents by a combined total of 281 to 171. Mark Jerue was selected as the team's most valuable player. Jerue, James Carter, Vince Coby, and Fletcher Jenkins were the team captains.

Schedule

September 12College of Pacific*No. 17

• Husky Stadium
• Seattle, WA

W 34–14 45,134 September 19Kansas State*No. 15

• Husky Stadium
• Seattle, WA

W 20–3 52,343 September 26at OregonNo. 16

• Autzen Stadium
• Eugene, OR

W 17–3 40,685 October 3Arizona StateNo. 12

• Husky Stadium
• Seattle, WA

L 7–26 50,410 October 10at California

• Memorial Stadium
• Berkeley, CA

W 27–26 33,600 October 17Oregon State

• Husky Stadium
• Seattle, WA

W 56–17 52,324 October 24at Texas Tech*

• Jones Stadium
• Lubbock, TX

W 14–7 36,335 October 31StanfordNo. 18

• Husky Stadium
• Seattle, WA

W 42–31 53,504 November 7at UCLANo. 16

• Memorial Coliseum
• Los Angeles, CA

L 0–31 41,818 November 14No. 3 USC

• Husky Stadium
• Seattle, WA

W 13–3 59,870 November 21No. 14 Washington StateNo. 17

• Husky Stadium
• Seattle, WA (Apple Cup)

W 23–10 60,052 January 1vs. No. 13 Iowa*No. 12

• Rose Bowl
• Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl)

W 28–0 105,611

Game summaries

Washington State

Washington St at Washington

1 2 3 4 Total Washington St 0 7 3 0 10 • Washington 0 10 10 3 23 Date: Saturday, November 21 Location: Husky Stadium, Seattle, Washington Source: Eugene Register-Guard

Scoring summary 2 WASH Nelson 39-yard field goal WASH 3-0 2 WSU Martin 6-yard run (Leland kick) WSU 7-3 2 WASH Skansi 15-yard pass from Pelluer (Nelson kick) WASH 10-7 3 WSU Leland 27-yard field goal Tied 10-10 3 WASH Jackson 23-yard run (Nelson kick) WASH 17-10 3 WASH Nelson 28-yard field goal WASH 20-10 4 WASH Nelson 34-yard field goal WASH 23-10