1981 East Carolina Pirates football team

The 1981 East Carolina Pirates football team was an American football team that represented East Carolina University as an independent during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their second season under head coach Ed Emory, the team compiled a 5–6 record.^[1]

1981 East Carolina Pirates football
Conference	Independent
Record	5–6
Head coach	Ed Emory (2nd season)
Home stadium	Ficklen Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1980 1982 →

1981 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

v t e	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

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 5	Western Carolina	Ficklen Memorial Stadium Greenville, NC		W 42–6	24,873	[2]
September 12	at No. 13 North Carolina	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC		L 0–56	51,300	[3]
September 19	at NC State	Carter–Finley Stadium Raleigh, NC (rivalry)		L 10–31	52,200	[4]
September 26	Toledo	Ficklen Memorial Stadium Greenville, NC		W 28–24	21,137	[5]
October 3	at Duke	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC		L 14–24	18,250	[6]
October 10	at Richmond	City Stadium Richmond, VA (Tobacco Bowl)		W 17–13	12,621	[7]
October 17	at Southwestern Louisiana	Cajun Field Lafayette, LA		W 35–31	13,378	[8]
October 24	Miami (FL)	Ficklen Memorial Stadium Greenville, NC	WITN	L 6–35	20,282	[9]
October 31	at West Virginia	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV		L 3–20	41,364	[10]
November 7	East Tennessee State	Ficklen Memorial Stadium Greenville, NC		W 66–23	21,342	[11]
November 14	William & Mary	Ficklen Memorial Stadium Greenville, NC		L 21–31	15,842	[12]
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game