The 1981 NAIA Division I football season was the 26th season of college football sponsored by the NAIA, was the 12th season of play of the NAIA's top division for football.
This is the final season the NAIA officially recognizes a football champion from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Lone Star Conference.[3] Both the GLIAC and the Lone Star became an NCAADivision II conferences, where both continue to sponsor football (with the exception of a ten-year hiatus for the GLIAC between 1989 and 1999).