Sam King had the most passing yards in 1981, with 3,778 yards.

	NAME	YDS	SEASON	TM	GP	CMP	ATT	PCT	AVG	YDS/G	TD	INT	RTG	TD%	INT%
1	Sam King S. King	3,778	1981	UNLV	12	255	433	58.9	8.7	314.8	18	19	137.1	4.2	4.4
2	Jim McMahon J. McMahon	3,555	1981	BYU	12	272	423	64.3	8.4	296.3	30	7	155.0	7.1	1.7
3	Tony Eason T. Eason	3,360	1981	ILL	11	248	406	61.1	8.3	305.5	20	14	140.0	4.9	3.4
4	Matt Kofler M. Kofler	3,337	1981	SDSU	11	262	436	60.1	7.7	303.4	21	15	133.4	4.8	3.4
5	Steve Clarkson S. Clarkson	2,906	1981	SJSU	11	206	402	51.2	7.2	264.2	25	19	123.0	6.2	4.7
6	Scott Campbell S. Campbell	2,686	1981	PUR	11	185	321	57.6	8.4	244.2	18	13	138.3	5.6	4.0
7	John Elway J. Elway	2,674	1981	STAN	11	214	366	58.5	7.3	243.1	20	13	130.8	5.5	3.6
8	Bob Holly B. Holly	2,622	1981	PRIN	10	206	338	60.9	7.8	262.2	16	9	136.4	4.7	2.7
9	Dan Marino D. Marino	2,615	1981	PITT	11	200	339	59.0	7.7	237.7	34	21	144.5	10.0	6.2
10	Gary Schofield G. Schofield	2,572	1981	WAKE	11	241	404	59.7	6.4	233.8	18	22	116.9	4.5	5.4
11	Mike Pagel M. Pagel	2,484	1981	ASU	11	171	321	53.3	7.7	225.8	29	14	139.4	9.0	4.4
12	Mike Hohensee M. Hohensee	2,412	1981	MINN	11	182	362	50.3	6.7	219.3	20	12	117.8	5.5	3.3
13	Jim Kelly J. Kelly	2,403	1981	MIA	11	168	285	58.9	8.4	218.5	14	14	136.2	4.9	4.9
14	Art Schlichter A. Schlichter	2,392	1981	OSU	11	172	324	53.1	7.4	217.5	15	9	124.8	4.6	2.8
15	Sammy Shon S. Shon	2,366	1981	OHIO	11	175	320	54.7	7.4	215.1	14	17	120.6	4.4	5.3
16	Oliver Luck O. Luck	2,341	1981	WVU	11	202	371	54.4	6.3	212.8	15	15	112.7	4.0	4.0
17	Whit Taylor W. Taylor	2,318	1981	VAN	11	209	357	58.5	6.5	210.7	15	10	121.3	4.2	2.8
18	J Torchio	2,112	1981	CAL	11	155	363	42.7	5.8	192.0	9	12	93.1	2.5	3.3
19	Fred Hessen F. Hessen	2,108	1981	LAM	11	180	365	49.3	5.8	191.6	14	16	101.7	3.8	4.4
20	Steve Stamp S. Stamp	2,013	1981	TCU	8	130	235	55.3	8.6	251.6	14	17	132.5	6.0	7.2
21	Steve Woods S. Woods	1,971	1981	CHAT	11	141	282	50.0	7.0	179.2	13	14	114.0	4.6	5.0
22	Chris Garrity C. Garrity	1,966	1981	W&M	11	186	315	59.0	6.2	178.7	13	19	113.0	4.1	6.0
23	Hank Landers H. Landers	1,913	1981	BRWN	10	131	301	43.5	6.4	191.3	8	16	95.0	2.7	5.3
24	John Holman J. Holman	1,908	1981	ULM	11	146	296	49.3	6.4	173.5	15	12	112.1	5.1	4.1
25	Matt Dunigan M. Dunigan	1,898	1981	LT	10	153	318	48.1	6.0	189.8	6	16	94.4	1.9	5.0