The 1981 Peach Bowl was the final game of the 1980-81 NCAA Division I college football season, serving as the national championship game. In it, the No. 1 New Mexico Coyotes, champions of the Heartlands Conference, defeated the No. 2 North Carolina Tar Heels of the Atlantic Conference 23-10, winning their first and to date only national championship. The Coyotes were regardes as "spoilers," as they were not expected to win their conference let alone the national title game that season.