Illinois takes the belt, 9–7, on the road at Ohio State.
Where this game sits in the lineage
Illinois took the belt here, ending Ohio State’s run of 28 days and 2 defenses (reign #41) and starting reign #42. It lasted 357 days and 5 defenses, until Wisconsin took it on November 13, 1920.
For Illinois this was its first shot at the belt; it had never held the belt — and this was the day it took it.
It was the first of 5 meetings between the two with the belt on the line; all-time Ohio State leads 4–1. Every meeting →
About this game
Illinois visited Ohio State on November 22, 1919, and defeated the belt-holder 9-7. With this victory on the field, Illinois claimed the College Football Belt from Ohio State.
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 10995) · This game in the downloadable dataset