Syracuse defends the belt, 21–7, on the road at Michigan State.
Where this game sits in the lineage
Syracuse came in 21 days into reign #39, which began with a win over Brown, with 2 defenses already behind it; this was its third defense. Syracuse went on to defend it 4 more times before Michigan took it on November 16, 1918, 378 days after the reign began.
For Michigan State this was its first shot at the belt; it had never held the belt.
This is the only time Michigan State and Syracuse have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Syracuse traveled to Michigan State on November 24, 1917, as the defending belt holder. Michigan State won the game 21-7, but Syracuse retained the belt as the defending champion.
Written by Claude, strictly from this site’s own record of the game — the score and what it meant for the belt. CFBD doesn’t have a box score for games this old, so nothing here is invented beyond what’s verifiably on file.
Sources Game record: College Football Data (id 10187) · This game in the downloadable dataset