Michigan defends the belt, 21–6, at home over Michigan State.
Where this game sits in the lineage
Michigan came in 7 days into reign #40, which began with a win over Syracuse, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. Michigan went on to defend it 3 more times before Ohio State took it on October 25, 1919, 343 days after the reign began.
For Michigan State this was its 2nd shot at the belt; it had never held the belt.
It was the first of 4 meetings between the two with the belt on the line; all-time Michigan leads 4–0. Every meeting →
About this game
Michigan defended the belt at home against Michigan State on November 23, 1918, winning 21-6. The victory allowed Michigan to retain the lineal championship.
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 10465) · This game in the downloadable dataset