1981 USC Trojans football team

The 1981 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their sixth year under head coach John Robinson, the Trojans compiled a 9–3 record (5–2 against conference opponents), finished in a tie for second place in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10), and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 284 to 170.^[1]

1981 USC Trojans football
Fiesta Bowl, L 10–26 vs. Penn State
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 13
AP	No. 14
Record	9–3 (5–2 Pac-10)
Head coach	John Robinson (6th season)
Defensive coordinator	R. C. Slocum (1st season)
Captains	Marcus Allen Chip Banks
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (c. 92,604, grass)
Seasons ← 1980 1982 →

1981 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

v t e	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

Quarterback John Mazur led the team in passing, completing 93 of 194 passes for 1,128 yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions. Marcus Allen led the team in rushing with 433 carries for 2,427 yards and 22 touchdowns. Jeff Simmons led the team in receiving yards with 28 catches for 543 yards and one touchdown.^[2] Allen became the first player in NCAA history to rush for over 2,000 yards in one season. He also gained a total of 2,683 offensive yards, led the nation in scoring, and won the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, and Walter Camp Award and was also the Pac-10 player of the year.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 12	Tennessee*	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 43–7	62,147	^[3]
September 19	at Indiana*	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	ONTV	W 21–0	51,167
September 26	No. 2 Oklahoma*	No. 1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	W 28–24	85,651
October 3	at Oregon State	No. 1	Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR		W 56–22	33,000
October 10	Arizona	No. 1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		L 10–13	56,315
October 17	Stanford	No. 7	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)		W 25–17	76,291
October 24	at Notre Dame*	No. 5	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 14–7	59,075
October 31	No. 14 Washington State	No. 4	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 41–17	60,972
November 7	at California	No. 3	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		W 21–3	74,000
November 14	at Washington	No. 3	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA		L 3–13	47,347
November 21	No. 15 UCLA	No. 10	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)	ABC	W 22–21	89,432
January 1, 1982	vs. No. 7 Penn State*	No. 8	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ (Fiesta Bowl)	NBC	L 10–26	71,053
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

1981 USC Trojans football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 33 Marcus Allen Sr WR Brad Anderson TE Mark Boyer TE Fred Cornwell RB Fred Crutcher G 64 Roy Foster Sr RB Anthony Gibson RB John Kamana RB Zephrini Lee C 66 Bruce Matthews Jr QB 11 John Mazur So RB Bob McClanahan WR 22 Malcolm Moore So OT 72 Don Mosebar Jr QB 7 Sean Salisbury Fr WR 29 Jeff Simmons Jr OL Tony Slaton So RB Todd Spencer OL 93 Kelly Thomas Jr QB 15 Scott Tinsley Jr WR Timmie Ware WR Timmy White	Defense Pos. # Name Class MG George Achica LB 51 Chip Banks Sr LB Jeff Brown S 47 Joey Browner Jr DL Keith Browner LB 87 August Curley Jr DT 94 Byron Darby Jr LB 52 Jack Del Rio Fr DL Dennis Edwards DL John Harvey LB Neil Hope LB Tim Sullivan DB Joe Turner DL Charles Ussery DB Troy West DB Marv Williams	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 5 Steve Jordan Fr K Scott Livingston P Dave Pryor	Head coach John Robinson Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible   Injured   Redshirt

Game summaries

Tennessee

Tennessee at #5 USC

1 2 3 4 Total Volunteers 0 0 7 0 7 • No. 5 Trojans 6 20 10 7 43 Date: September 12 Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles Game attendance: 62,147

Scoring summary 1 USC Allen 9-yard run (kick failed) USC 6–0 2 USC White 50-yard pass from Mazur (run failed) USC 12–0 2 USC Allen 12-yard run (Livingston kick) USC 19–0 2 USC Allen 4-yard run (Livingston kick) USC 26–0 3 USC Allen 55-yard run (Livingston kick) USC 33–0 3 USC Livingston 47-yard field goal USC 36–0 3 TEN Morris 1-yard pass from Cockrell (Reveiz kick) USC 36–7 4 USC Boyer 3-yard pass from Salisbury (Jordan kick) USC 43–7

See also: 1981 Tennessee Volunteers football team

Marcus Allen 22 Rush, 210 Yds, 4 TD (sat out most of second half)^[4]

Indiana

• Marcus Allen 40 rushes, 274 yards ^[5]

Oklahoma

#2 Oklahoma at #1 USC

1 2 3 4 Total No. 2 Sooners 7 10 0 7 24 • No. 1 Trojans 7 7 0 14 28 Date: September 26 Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles Game attendance: 85,651 TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles

See also: 1981 Oklahoma Sooners football team

^[6]

• Marcus Allen 39 rushes, 208 yards ^[7]

Oregon State

• Marcus Allen 35 rushes, 233 yards ^[8]

Washington State

• Marcus Allen 44 rushes, 289 yards ^[9]

California

• Marcus Allen 46 rushes, 243 yards ^[10]

UCLA

See also: 1981 UCLA Bruins football team and Victory Bell (UCLA–USC)

#15 UCLA Bruins (7–2–1) vs #10 USC Trojans (8–2)

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
UCLA	7	11	3	0	21
USC	3	9	0	10	22

at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California

• Date: November 21
• Game attendance: 89,432
• TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles
• ^[11]

Game information

First quarter USC – Steve Jordan 38-yard field goal. USC 3–0. UCLA – Kevin Nelson 11-yard run (Norm Johnson kick). UCLA 7–3. Second quarter USC – Steve Jordan 44-yard field goal. UCLA 7–6. USC – Marcus Allen 7-yard run (pass failed). USC 12–7. UCLA – Ricky Coffman 23-yard pass from Tom Ramsey (pass good). UCLA 15–12. UCLA – Norm Johnson 32-yard field goal. UCLA 18–12. Third quarter UCLA – Norm Johnson 28-yard field goal. UCLA 21–12. Fourth quarter USC – Steve Jordan 22-yard field goal. UCLA 21–15. USC – Marcus Allen 5-yard run (Steve Jordan kick), 2:14. USC 22–21. Top passers UCLA – Tom Ramsey – 12/25, 154 yards, TD, 2 INT USC – John Mazur – 9/22, 65 yards, INT Top rushers UCLA – Kevin Nelson – 26 rushes, 79 yards, TD USC – Marcus Allen – 40 rushes, 219 yards, 2 TD Top receivers UCLA – Jo-Jo Townsell – 5 receptions, 85 yards USC – Jeff Simmons – 2 receptions, 64 yards

George Achica blocked Norm Johnson's game-winning 46-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds to preserve the USC victory.

Vs. Penn State (Fiesta Bowl)

#7 Penn State vs. #8 USC

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 7 Nittany Lions 7 10 9 0 26 No. 8 Trojans 7 0 3 0 10 Date: January 1, 1982 Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona Game attendance: 71,053 TV announcers (NBC Sports): Charlie Jones and Len Dawson Source:

Main article: 1982 Fiesta Bowl

See also: 1981 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

Awards and honors

• Marcus Allen, Heisman Trophy^[12]
• Marcus Allen, Maxwell Award
• Marcus Allen, Walter Camp Award^[13]
• Marcus Allen, Pac-10 Player of the Year
• Marcus Allen, All-Pac-10^[14]

1981 team players in the NFL

• Marcus Allen
• Chip Banks
• Joey Browner
• Keith Browner
• Fred Cornwell
• August Curley
• Byron Darby
• Jack Del Rio
• Dennis Edwards
• Riki Ellison
• John Harvey
• Michael Marper
• Bruce Matthews
• Don Mosebar
• Jeff Simmons
• Tony Slaton
• Kelly Thomas
• Joe Turner
• Troy West

References

1. . College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
2. "1981 Southern California Trojans Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
3. "USC puts Tennessee to rout in 43–7 win". The Los Angeles Times. September 13, 1981. Retrieved August 18, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "USC Mauls Vols". The Register-Guard. Eugene. September 13, 1981.
5. 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement
6. "USC Wins, 28-24, in Final 2 Seconds". The New York Times. September 27, 1981. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
7. 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement
8. 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement
9. 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement
10. 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement
11. Eugene Register-Guard, 1981 Nov 22.
12. . Archived from the original on April 11, 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2007.
13. . Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
14. . Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved January 30, 2009.