The 1981 Duke Blue Devils football team was an American football team that represented Duke University as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their third year under head coach Shirley Wilson, the Blue Devils complied an overall record of 6–5, with a conference record of 3–3, and finished fourth in the ACC. Duke's offense became the first in ACC history to average over 300 yards a game passing.^[1]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 12		at No. 11 Ohio State*	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	L 13–34	86,266	[2]
September 19		at South Carolina*	Williams–Brice Stadium Columbia, SC	L 3–17	56,321	[3]
September 26		at Virginia	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA	W 29–24	27,523	[4]
October 3		East Carolina*	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC	W 24–14	18,250	[5]
October 10	1:30 p.m.	Virginia Tech*	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC	W 14–7	32,000	[6]
October 17		No. 6 Clemson	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC	L 10–38	26,000	[7]
October 24		at Maryland	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD	L 21–24	31,800	[8]
October 31		at Georgia Tech*	Grant Field Atlanta, GA	W 38–24	30,232	[9]
November 7		at Wake Forest	Groves Stadium Winston-Salem, NC (rivalry)	W 31–10	22,000	[10]
November 14		NC State	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC (rivalry)	W 17–7	26,750	[11]
November 21		No. 12 North Carolina	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC (Victory Bell)	L 10–31	38,525	[12]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[13]

• Chris Castor, ACC Offensive Player of the Year

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