1981 Boise State Broncos football team

The 1981 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 1981 NCAA Division I-AA football season. The Broncos competed in the Big Sky Conference and played their home games at Bronco Stadium, an outdoor facility on campus in Boise, Idaho. The Broncos were led by sixth-year head coach Jim Criner and were the defending champions of Division I-AA.

1981 Boise State Broncos football
NCAA Division I-AA Semifinal, L 17–23 vs. Eastern Kentucky
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 5
Record	10–3 (6–1 Big Sky)
Head coach	Jim Criner (6th season)
Offensive coordinator	Gene Dahlquist (5th season)
Defensive coordinator	Lyle Setencich (2nd season)
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	Bronco Stadium
Seasons ← 1980 1982 →

1981 Big Sky Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 Idaho State $^	6	–	1	–	0			12	–	1	–	0
No. 5 Boise State ^	6	–	1	–	0			10	–	3	–	0
Montana	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Nevada	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Weber State	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Northern Arizona	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Montana State	1	–	6	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Idaho	0	–	7	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Committee poll

Regular season

The Broncos finished the regular season at 9–2 and 6–1 in conference to tie for first in the Big Sky, but lost the tiebreaker due to the head-to-head loss to champion Idaho State in the conference opener.^[1] The Broncos avenged their 1980 loss Cal Poly-SLO, beating the 1980 Division II national champions 17–6 in Boise,^[2] but lost at Cal State Fullerton, whom they defeated in Boise in the previous season.^[3] The Broncos narrowly defeated rival Idaho for the fifth consecutive year, in the regular season finale in Moscow.^[4] The Vandals were winless in the Big Sky in 1981, which caused a change in head coaches. (BSU did not defeat the Vandals again until 1994, losing twelve straight).

Division I-AA playoffs

The Broncos were again invited to the Division I-AA playoffs, expanded to eight teams for 1981. As Big Sky runner-up, BSU played on the road in the quarterfinals at Jackson State, and won 19–7.^[5] The semifinal game was played at home against top-ranked Eastern Kentucky, whom the Broncos had narrowly defeated in the title game the year before. This time the Colonels prevailed 23–17,^[6] but lost the title game to Idaho State the following week in Texas.^[7]

The Broncos returned to the I-AA playoffs in 1988, the semifinals in 1990, and the title game in 1994, then moved up to Division I-A in 1996.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 5	7:00 pm	Northwestern State*		Bronco Stadium Boise, ID	W 32–20	19,347	[8]
September 12	7:00 pm	Rhode Island*		Bronco Stadium Boise, ID	W 33–8	19,437	[9]
September 19	7:00 pm	Idaho State		Bronco Stadium Boise, ID	L 10–21	20,486	[10]
September 26	7:00 pm	Northern Arizona	No. 10	Bronco Stadium Boise, ID	W 34–20	17,622	[11]
October 3		at Montana	No. 9	Dornblaser Field Missoula, MT	W 27–13	8,732	[12]
October 10	7:00 pm	Montana State	No. 7	Bronco Stadium Boise, ID	W 20–10	18,842	[13]
October 24	1:30 pm	at Weber State	No. 6	Wildcat Stadium Ogden, UT	W 33–19	12,306	[14]
October 31	1:00 pm	at Nevada	No. 4	Mackay Stadium Reno, NV (rivalry)	W 13–3	14,325	[15]
November 7	1:30 pm	at Cal State Fullerton*	No. 3	Titan Field Fullerton, CA	L 17–20	2,100	[16]
November 14	1:30 pm	Cal Poly*	No. 6	Bronco Stadium Boise, ID	W 17–6	17,260	[17]
November 21	8:30 pm	at Idaho	No. 4	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID (rivalry)	W 45–43	14,000	[18]
December 5	12:30 pm	at No. 4 Jackson State*	No. 5	Veterans Memorial Stadium Jackson, MS (Div. I-AA Quarterfinal)	W 17–6	11,500	[19]
December 12	11:30 am	No. 1 Eastern Kentucky*	No. 5	Bronco Stadium Boise, ID (Div. I-AA Semifinal)	L 17–23	20,176	[20]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

Personnel

Coaches

Head coach Jim Criner stayed seven seasons at Boise State before departing for Iowa State following the 1982 season. Defensive coordinator Lyle Setencich was promoted to head coach and led Boise State for four seasons, from 1983 to 1986. The defensive secondary coach in 1981 was future National Football League (NFL) head coach John Fox.^[21]

Notable players

Future NFL players included linebacker John Rade and safety Rick Woods. Defensive lineman Randy Trautman played four seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999.

Roster

1981 Boise State Broncos football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class FL 1 Ron Harvey Jr QB 13 Gerald DesPres Fr QB 18 Tim Klena So TB 34 Rodney Webster So FB 36 Robert Farmer Jr C 53 Scott Baker So LT 60 Dennis Brady Sr RT 67 Bill Madinger Sr LG 68 Greg Sutton So RG 71 Jon Zogg Jr SE 80 Kipp Bedard Sr TE 90 Duane Dlouhy Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class FS 26 David Blackburn Jr CB 28 Chris Bell Sr SS 29 Rick Woods Sr LOLB 32 Dan LeBeau Sr CB 37 Bobby Fryer Jr FS 42 Larry Alder Jr NG 43 Bob Skinner Jr RILB 44 Curt Hecker Jr ROLB 58 John Rade Jr LILB 61 Ray Santucci Sr LDT 70 Randy Trautman Sr RDT 75 Eric McCree Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class KR 5 John Broadous Jr K 10 Kenrick Camerud Jr PR 29 Rick Woods Sr P 33 Eric Brown Fr LS 66 Jeff Caves So	Head coach Jim Criner (6th year) Coordinators/assistant coaches Gene Dahlquist (OC) Lyle Setencich (DC) Bill Dutton (DL) John Fox (DB) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

^[21][22]

NFL draft

Two Bronco seniors were selected in the 1982 NFL draft, which lasted 12 rounds (334 selections).

Player	Position	Round	Overall	Franchise
Rick Woods	DB	4th	97	Pittsburgh Steelers
Randy Trautman	DT	9th	238	Washington Redskins