Miami defends the belt, 37–14, at a neutral site over Nebraska.
AP poll, week 16: Nebraska No. 4 at Miami No. 1 · No. 1 that week: Maryland. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Miami came in 453 days into reign #253, which began with a win over Florida State, with 18 defenses already behind it; this was its 19th defense. Miami went on to defend it 12 more times before Ohio State took it on January 3, 2003, 818 days after the reign began.
For Nebraska this was its 8th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 3 times before.
This is the only time Miami and Nebraska have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Miami defeated Nebraska 37-14 on January 3, 2002, in a postseason matchup played at a neutral site. As the defending belt holder, Miami's victory allowed the Hurricanes to retain the college football belt.
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 Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 220032390) · This game in the downloadable dataset