1981 Oklahoma Sooners football team

The 1981 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. They played their home games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and competed as members of the Big Eight Conference. They were coached by head coach Barry Switzer. The Sooners defeated the Houston Cougars 40–14 to win the 1981 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.

1981 Oklahoma Sooners football
Sun Bowl champion
Sun Bowl, W 40–14 vs. Houston
Conference	Big Eight Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 14
AP	No. 20
Record	7–4–1 (4–2–1 Big 8)
Head coach	Barry Switzer (9th season)
Offensive coordinator	Galen Hall (9th season)
Offensive scheme	Wishbone
Defensive coordinator	Gary Gibbs (1st season)
Captains	Terry Crouch Ed Culver Johnnie Lewis
Home stadium	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (capacity: 75,008)
Seasons ← 1980 1982 →

1981 Big Eight Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 11 Nebraska $	7	–	0	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 20 Oklahoma	4	–	2	–	1			7	–	4	–	1
Kansas	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Oklahoma State	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
No. 19 Missouri	3	–	4	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Iowa State	2	–	4	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Colorado	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Kansas State	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 12		Wyoming*	No. 3	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		W 37–20	75,920
September 26	4:00 p.m. CDT	at No. 1 USC*	No. 2	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	L 24–28	85,651
October 3		No. 20 Iowa State	No. 5	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		T 7–7	76,385
October 10	11:30 a.m. CDT	vs. No. 3 Texas*	No. 10	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Red River Shootout)	ABC	L 14–34	75,587
October 17		Kansas		Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		W 45–7	75,644
October 24		Oregon State*		Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		W 42–3	75,658
October 31		Colorado	No. 19	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK		W 49–0	75,638
November 7		at Kansas State	No. 17	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS		W 28–21	33,200
November 14		at Missouri	No. 15	Faurot Field Columbia, MO (rivalry)		L 14–19	67,364
November 21		No. 5 Nebraska		Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK (rivalry)	ESPN	L 14–37	75,833
November 28		at Oklahoma State		Lewis Field Stillwater, OK (Bedlam Series)	KTUL	W 27–3	51,100
December 26	12:00 p.m. CST	vs. Houston*		Sun Bowl Stadium El Paso, TX (Sun Bowl)	CBS	W 40–14	33,816
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[1]

Roster

1981 Oklahoma Sooners football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class C 51 Bill Bechtold   Sr QB 1 Danny Bradley Fr RB 30 Donald Brown Fr G 75 Terry Crouch (C)   Sr OT 61 Ed Culver (C)   Sr OT 70 Scott Leggett Fr QB 7 Kelly Phelps   Jr RB 4 Buster Rhymes Fr SE 2 Jim Rockford So RB 13 Steve Sewell Fr FB 23 Fred Sims Fr QB 8 Darrell Shepard Sr C 73 Chuck Thomas So G 76 Steve Williams   Jr RB 32 Stanley Wilson Jr RB 40 Chet Winters Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 31 Allen Anderson Fr LB 38 Thomas Benson So DL 90 John Blake Jr DT 80 Rick Bryan So DL 92 Tony Casillas Fr DT 78 Scott Dawson Sr DB 33 Dwight Drane So DB 6 Steve Haworth Jr NG 95 Johnnie Lewis (C) Sr LB 39 Kevin Murphy Fr DE 41 Mike Rilley   Sr LB 49 Jackie Shipp So DB 15 Elbert Watts Fr DE 88 Mike Weddington Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Barry Switzer Coordinators/assistant coaches Gary Gibbs (DC) Galen Hall (OC) Warren Harper (LB) Merv Johnson (OL) Wendell Mosley (RB) Rex Norris (AHC) Lucious Selmon (DL) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible   Injured   Redshirt Roster

Game summaries

Oklahoma State

See also: 1981 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team and Bedlam Series

Oklahoma Sooners at Oklahoma State Cowboys

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Oklahoma	7	13	7	0	27
Oklahoma State	0	3	0	0	3

at Lewis Field • Stillwater, Oklahoma

• Date: November 28
• Game attendance: 51,100
• TV: KTUL
• SoonerStats.com

Fred Sims scored three short-yardage touchdowns to lead Oklahoma to a 27–3 win over their instate rivals in a steady drizzle. Sims, who carried 23 times for 66 yards, scored on runs of two and five yards in the second quarter and a one-yard run in the third.^[2]

Rankings

See also: 1981 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
— = Not ranked. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
AP	2 (7)	3	3 (12)	2 (15)	5	10	—	—	19	17	15	—	—	—	20
Coaches Poll	2 (3)	2 (3)	3 (14)	2 (10)	6	12	20	17	13	13	11	—	—	—	14

Postseason

NFL draft

The following players were drafted into the National Football League following the season.^[3]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Team
3	67	Bill Bechtold	Center	Los Angeles Rams
5	113	Terry Crouch	Guard	Baltimore Colts
8	207	Mike Reilly	Linebacker	Los Angeles Rams
9	241	Lyndle Byford	Tackle	Kansas City Chiefs

References

1. "Seasons: 1980s". Archived from the original on September 11, 2012. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
2. Eugene Register-Guard. November 29, 1981
3. "1982 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 29, 2020.