The 1981 Stanford Cardinals football team represented

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in the Pacific-10 Conference during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by second-year head coach

Paul Wiggin Paul David Wiggin (born November 18, 1934) is a former American football player and coach who currently serves as the senior consultant for pro personnel with the Minnesota Vikings. After graduating from Stanford University in 1957,

, the Cardinal had an overall record of 4–7 (4–4 in Pac-10, tied for sixth), and played home games on campus at

Stanford Stadium Stanford Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, located on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. It is the home of the Stanford Cardinal and hosts the university's commencemen ...

Stanford, California Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University. The population was 21,150 at the 2020 census. Stanford is an unincorporated area of ...

. Ranked in the preseason top twenty, Stanford opened with four losses and dropped six of its first seven games to incur their first losing season since 1963. From 1972 until November 17, 1981, Stanford's official nickname was Cardinals, in reference to one of the school

colors Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

, not the bird. After 1981, it became the singular ''Cardinal''.

Roster

*QB John Elway *HB

Darrin Nelson Darrin Milo Nelson (born January 2, 1959) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Minnesota Vikings and San Diego Chargers. He played college football at Stanford University. Early years Nelson att ...

Schedule

Game summaries

at Purdue

San Jose State

Ohio State

at Arizona

UCLA

at Southern California

Arizona State

at Washington

at Oregon State

Oregon

California

*Source:''
Eugene Register-Guard

References

{{Stanford Cardinal football navbox Stanford Stanford Cardinal football seasons Stanford Cardinals football