1981 NCAA Tournament
The 1981 Tournament was based on the final AP rankings. Last year's champion Georgia was defeated in the first round by Nebraska. In the first round #12 Michigan upset #5 SMU. #11 Nebraska also upset #3 Penn State in the Elite Eight.
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National Semi Final #1 (Pittsburgh Panthers at Clemson Tigers)
December 26, 1981 @ Memorial Stadium, Temp 46, Clear Skies, 7 mph crosswind
The top seeded Clemson Tigers are making their first appearance in the Final Four. Pittsburgh is just two years removed from their only trip to the finals.
Pitt quarterback Dan Marino did not exactly start the game on fire as he threw interceptions on the Panthers first two possessions. Fortunately for them, Clemson's offense didn't show up to play early on either. Twice in the first quarter they began possessions inside the Pitt 40 yard line and neither time did they score. Once they turned it over on downs and the other time they fumbled. Pitt also fumbled away the ball once in the first quarter for grand total of three first quarter turnovers. Yet the game remained scoreless heading into the second quarter. Late in the second quarter, after again taking over inside the Panthers 40 yard line, Clemson found the end zone on a Jeff McCall 4 yard touchdown run. The teams went to locker rooms with Clemson on top 7-0. Pittsburgh had the ball eight times (not counting the end of half clock run out) and turned the ball over four times. Five of their possessions were three plays or less. Clemson got the ball to start the second half and the chewed up almost have the quarter with a 14 play, 61 yard drive. They had the ball for 7:29 and settled for a 23 yard field goal by Donald Igwebuike. The third quarter ended with Clemson up 10-0 and little indication of the fantastic finish that was to come. With their offense doing very little, the Panthers reached into their bag of tricks needing to make something happen. The ran the old flea flicker play as Marino handed off to Dan Thomas who then lateralled the ball back to Marino. Marino then completed a long pass to Julius Dawkins, good for 57 yards. That play set up a Raymond Everett 37 yard field goal, putting the Panthers on the board but still trailing 10-3 with 8:46 to play in the game. The teams exchanged a series of punts and Clemson had the ball with 2:15 to play in the game. After three runs and three timeouts by Pittsburgh, Dale Hatcher came on to punt the back to Pittsburgh with just 1:44 left in the game. The Panthers came with an all out rush and got to Hatcher, blocking the punt and recovering the ball at the Clemson three yard line. Joe McCall ran for two yards and then on second and goal Thomas scored from a yard out. Tying the game at 10-10 with 1:06 remaining. Pittsburgh kicked off to Clemson and then on their first play from scrimmage disaster struck the Tigers. Homer Jordan's pass to Bubba Diggs was intercepted by Sal Sunseri at the Clemson 24 yard line. He returned the pick 12 yards to the 12 yard line. Two runs moved the ball to first and goal at the one. Marino then called his own number and dove in for the game winning touchdown with just 25 seconds on the clock. Clemson had a few last ditch plays, but time expired after a sack by Chris Doleman. The Panthers stun the Tigers and move on to the Championship game. MVP: Rich Kraynak (Pittsburgh) Defense: 15 Tkl, 1 FF One of the keys to this game was the Red Zone efficiency. Pittsburgh scored all three times in the Red Zone, while Clemson scored twice while fumbling once and turning the ball over on downs the other two times they were in there. For Pittsburgh, Dan Marino 19/30, 177, 3INT...Dan Thomas 27 yards rushing, TD...Julius Dawkins 4 rec, 99 yards...Rich Karynak 15 Tkl, Sal Sunseri 9 Tkl, INT For Clemson, Homer Jordan 10/16, 124, INT...Chuck McSwain 48 yards rushingPerry Tuttle 32 yards receiving...Jeff Davis 12 Tkl |
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National Semi Final #2 (Nebraska Cornhuskers at Texas Longhorns)
December 26, 1981 @ Memorial Stadium, Temp 32, Cloudy, 7 mph crosswind
The Nebraska Cornhuskers return to the semi final again in 1981. Last season the dispatched one of their rivals, the Oklahoma Sooners, 42-20. This year, they get their other main rival, the #2 seed Texas Longhorns. This one wasn't as close as last year. The Cornhuskers jumped out to 14-0 first quarter lead and completely shut down the Longhorns on their way to an easy 35-0 victory.
Nebraska scored on their opening possession as Roger Craig found paydirt on a 5 yard run. Later in the quarter, after recovering a Rick McIvor fumble at the Texas 24 yard line, Mike Rozier was able to score on a 9 yard run. It was 14-0 and there would be no looking back for Nebraska. In the second quarter Craig scored again. This time he broke out of the pack and busted a 79 yard TD run to make the score 21-0. Nebraska would get touchdowns in the 3rd and 4th quarter to make up the final score. MVP: Roger Craig RB (Nebraska) Rushing: 122 yards, 2 TD, Receiving: 2 catches, 12 yards For Nebraska, Turner Gill 5/11, 46...Roger Craig 122 yard rushing, 2 TD...Phil Bates 93 yards rushing, TD...Mike Rozier 66 yards rushing, TD...Anthony Steels 51 yards receiving...Brent Evans 12 Tkl For Texas, Rick McIvor 6/16, 58, 2INT...Jam Jones 48 yards rushing...Carl Robinson 45 yards rushing |
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National Championship (Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Pittsburgh Panthers)
January 2nd, 1982 @ The Rose Bowl
Nebraska returns to the championship game after losing to Georgia last year. This is their fourth appearance in the finals but they have yet to win one. Only Alabama and Oklahoma have appeared as many times. However, 'Bama has won three. Oklahoma has yet to win a title as well. The Cornhuskers appeared back to back in '70 and '71 and now ten years later have turned the trick again with '80 and '81.
Pittsburgh was in the finals in '79. They were beaten rather easily by Alabama. It was Pittsburgh's special teams that got them off to a great start in this one. Nebraska was forced to punt on their first possession and Grant Campbell had his punt blocked. Tim Lewis scooped up the ball and ran 28 yards for a touchdown putting Pittsburgh on top 7-0 very early in the game. There would be no further scoring in the first quarter as neither team could get much offense established. Late in the second quarter after exchanging turnovers, Pittsburgh extended their lead to 14-0 on a TD pass from Dan Marino to Brian Thomas. That would be the halftime score. In the 3rd quarter Pittsburgh's Wayne DiBartola broke free for a 15 yard TD run upping the Panthers lead to 21-0 as the game headed to the 4th quarter. Pittsburgh later tacked on a Raymond Everett field goal to cap the scoring and clinch the championship for the Panthers 24-0. The shutout was the first in a championship game. Nebraska now joins Oklahoma with four finals appearances and no wins. There have been three Rose Bowls. Nebraska has lost two of them. Nebraska turned the ball over seven times. Their longest drive of the game was just 8 plays. (Ended with a fumble) MVP: Sal Sunseri (Pittsburgh) Defense: 12 Tkl, 2 Stf, INT, 1 FF, 3 REC. For Nebraska, Turner Gill 4/16, 51, INT, 49 yards rushing...Mike Rozier 44 yards rushing...Roger Craig 47 yards rushing...Steve Damkroger 9 Tkl For Pittsburgh, Dan Marino 12/31, 99, TD, 2 INT...Brian Thomas 105 yards rushing |
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