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1981 BC Lions season
General manager Bob Ackles
Head coach Vic Rapp
Home field Empire Stadium
Results
Record10–6
Division place3rd, West
Playoff finishLost West Final

The 1981 BC Lions finished in third place in the West Division with a 10–6 record.

Joe Paopao had an excellent season with 3777 yards passing and 28 passing touchdowns and running back Larry Key had 19 touchdowns in a bounceback season after missing most of the 1980 season due to injury. Wideout Ty Gray had a breakout season with 1428 yards receiving.

The Lions beat Winnipeg in the West Semi-Final, but fell to the Eskimos 22–16 in the Western Final when Warren Moon hit Brian Kelly for a late 4th quarter touchdown. The Western Final included a game changing officiating error involving a Devon Ford kickoff return for a Lions touchdown when the officials incorrectly stated he stepped out-of-bounds. Television replays showed he clearly did not step out-of-bounds (video replay was instituted 25 years later in 2006).

Running back Larry Key and centre Al Wilson made the CFL all-star team.

This season marked the first time in Lions history that every regular season (16 in all) and playoff game (2) was televised.

Offseason

CFL Draft

Round Pick Player Position School

Preseason

Game Date Opponent Results Venue Attendance
Score Record

Regular season

Season standings

West Division
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Edmonton Eskimos 16 14 1 1 576 277 29
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 16 11 5 0 517 299 22
BC Lions 16 10 6 0 438 377 20
Saskatchewan Roughriders 16 9 7 0 431 371 18
Calgary Stampeders 16 6 10 0 306 367 12

[1]

Season schedule

Week Game Date Opponent Results
Score Record
1 1 July 4 vs. Montreal Alouettes W 48–8 1–0
2 Bye
3 2 July 16 at Toronto Argonauts W 32–28 2–0
4 3 July 25 vs. Ottawa Rough Riders W 31–17 3–0
5 4 July 31 at Calgary Stampeders W 52–29 4–0
6 5 Aug 9 at Saskatchewan Roughriders W 28–24 5–0
7 6 Aug 16 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats L 23–37 5–1
8 7 Aug 23 at Montreal Alouettes W 29–14 6–1
9 8 Aug 29 vs. Calgary Stampeders W 31–21 7–1
10 9 Sept 4 at Ottawa Rough Riders L 7–17 7–2
11 10 Sept 13 at Edmonton Eskimos L 21–38 7–3
12 11 Sept 19 vs. Toronto Argonauts W 45–14 8–3
13 12 Sept 27 at Winnipeg Blue Bombers L 10–46 8–4
14 13 Oct 3 vs. Edmonton Eskimos L 12–22 8–5
15 Bye
16 14 Oct 17 vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers L 22–49 8–6
17 15 Oct 25 at Hamilton Tiger-Cats W 34–7 9–6
18 16 Oct 31 vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders W 13–5 10–6

[2]

Playoffs

West Semi-Final

Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
BC Lions 0 11 3 1 15
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 7 1 0 3 11

West Final

Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
BC Lions 3 13 0 0 16
Edmonton Eskimos 6 3 6 7 22

Offensive leaders

Player Passing yds Rushing yds Receiving yds TD
Joe Paopao 3777 25 0 0
Larry Key 1098 237 19
John Henry White 482 386 1
Tyrone Gray 10 1428 9
Ricky Ellis 13 594 4
Al Charuk 0 582 5
Harry Holt 4 367 2

Awards and records

1981 CFL All-Stars

1981 CFL Western All-Stars

References

  1. ^ "CFL.ca". Archived from the original on 2009-07-14. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  2. ^ "British Columbia Lions All-Time Canadian Football League (CFL) Records". Archived from the original on 2009-03-11. Retrieved 2009-03-08.


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