Date | Opponent | Site | Result | Attendance | Source |
---|
September 5 | Texas A&M* | | L 28–29 | 33,751 | [3] |
September 12 | at No. 6 Georgia* | | L 13–27 | 79,400 | [4] |
September 19 | at Arizona | | W 14–13 | 40,096 | [5] |
September 26 | San Jose State* | - California Memorial Stadium
- Berkeley, CA
| L 24–27 | 34,000 | [6] |
October 10 | Washington | - California Memorial Stadium
- Berkeley, CA
| L 26–27 | 33,600 | [7] |
October 17 | at No. 17 Arizona State | | L 17–45 | 63,110 | [8] |
October 24 | at UCLA | | L 6–34 | 41,637 | [9] |
October 31 | Oregon State | - California Memorial Stadium
- Berkeley, CA
| W 45–3 | 25,000 | [10] |
November 7 | No. 3 USC | - California Memorial Stadium
- Berkeley, CA
| L 3–21 | 74,000 | [11] |
November 14 | at No. 17 Washington State | | L 0–19 | 31,000 | [12] |
November 21 | at Stanford | | L 21–42 | 84,536 | [13] |
- *Non-conference game
- Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
|
[14]
- ^ "1981 California Golden Bears Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
- ^ "California 2015 Football Information Guide" (PDF). CalBears.com. Cal Golden Bears Athletics. p. 166. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2016. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
- ^ "Mouse offense roars through half, but Aggies snare Cal Bears 29–28". The Sunday Oregonian. September 6, 1981. Retrieved November 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Bears' mistakes help Georgia prevail 27–13". The Sacramento Bee. September 13, 1981. Retrieved October 31, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Small caliber California outguns Arizona 14–13". The Sacramento Bee. September 20, 1981. Retrieved November 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Spartans shock Bears, 27–24". The San Francisco Examiner. September 27, 1981. Retrieved November 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Huskies 'let it hang out,' hang Bears in late flurry". The Bellingham Herald. October 11, 1981. Retrieved November 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Arizona State clobbers Cal". The San Francisco Examiner. October 18, 1981. Retrieved November 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "UCLA swamps Cal 34–6". The Palm Beach Post. October 25, 1981. Retrieved November 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Cal buries an offense, OSU". Oakland Tribune. November 1, 1981. Retrieved November 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "USC's Trojans wear down Cal". Santa Cruz Sentinel. November 8, 1981. Retrieved November 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Cougs can smell Roses". The Spokesman-Review. November 15, 1981. Retrieved November 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Nelson, Stanford have a really big game". The Los Angeles Times. November 22, 1981. Retrieved November 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ 2015 Football Information Guide (PDF). Cal Athletics. 2015. p. 166. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2016.