1981 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team

1981 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football
Conference	Independent
Record	1–10
Head coach	Bill Curry (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Rip Scherer (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Ken Blair (2nd season)
Captains	Dave Lutz Lance Skelton Mark Bradley Ken Carney
Home stadium	Grant Field

1981 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Pittsburgh		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
No. 3 Penn State		–		–				10	–	2	–	0
No. 8 Miami (FL)		–		–				9	–	2	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–				9	–	2	–	1
No. 17 West Virginia		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
Colgate		–		–				7	–	3	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Navy		–		–				7	–	4	–	1
Cincinnati		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Florida State		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Holy Cross		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Tulane		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
UNLV		–		–				6	–	6	–	0
South Carolina		–		–				6	–	6	–	0
Temple		–		–				5	–	5	–	0
Boston College		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
East Carolina		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Northeast Louisiana		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Louisville		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Notre Dame		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Rutgers		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
William & Mary		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Syracuse		–		–				4	–	6	–	1
Richmond		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Army		–		–				3	–	7	–	1
North Texas State		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
Georgia Tech		–		–				1	–	10	–	0
Memphis State		–		–				1	–	10	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1981 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team represented the Georgia Institute of Technology during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Yellow Jackets were led by second-year head coach Bill Curry, and played their home games at Grant Field in Atlanta. Georgia Tech produced abysmal results for the second consecutive year under Curry, finishing with a record of 1–10, their worst season in terms of winning percentage in school history (it would later be matched by another 1–10 season in 1994). Their sole win was a season-opening upset victory over the second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in Birmingham.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 12	at No. 2 Alabama	Legion Field Birmingham, AL (rivalry)	ESPN	W 24–21	78,865
September 19	at Florida	Florida Field Gainesville, FL		L 6–27	63,876
September 26	Memphis State	Grant Field Atlanta, GA		L 15–28	32,463
October 3	No. 6 North Carolina	Grant Field Atlanta, GA		L 7–28	39,263
October 10	at Tennessee	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN (rivalry)		L 7–10	94,478
October 17	Auburn	Grant Field Atlanta, GA (rivalry)		L 7–31	50,263–50,326
October 24	at Tulane	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA		L 10–27	37,431
October 31	Duke	Grant Field Atlanta, GA		L 24–38	30,232
November 7	at Notre Dame	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		L 3–35	59,075
November 14	Navy	Grant Field Atlanta, GA		L 14–20	20,129
December 5	No. 2 Georgia	Grant Field Atlanta, GA (Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate)	ABC	L 7–44	58,623
Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1981 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 2 Mike Kelley Sr QB 12 Jim Bob Taylor Jr RB Robert Lavette RB Ronny Cone WR Kenny Thompson WR Jeff Keisler TE 9 Ken Whisenhunt So G 64 Ben Utt Sr OT 78 Dave Lutz Jr OL Ellis Gardner OL Ken Howell OL Mark Schultz OL Dean Waters	Defense Pos. # Name Class DL Mark Bradley DL Donnie Chisholm DL Marvin Dyett LB 56 Robert Jaracz LB Rob Horton LB Lance Skelton LB Duane Wood CB 22 Jack Westbrook So DB Sammy Brown DB Paul Menegazzi DB Mark Sheffield DB Ted Thurson	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Bill Curry Coordinators/assistant coaches Rip Scherer – Offensive coordinator Jeff McLean – Running backs Terry Tuley – Wide receivers Brad Roper – Tight ends Mac McWhorter – Offensive line Mark Hunter – Offensive line Ken Blair – Defensive coordinator John Guy – Defensive line Barry Wilson – Inside linebackers Mike Dean – Defensive backs Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt