Ole Miss defends the belt, 14–6, at a neutral site over Rice.
AP poll, week 11: Rice No. 12 at Ole Miss No. 3 · No. 1 that week: Navy. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Ole Miss came in 415 days into reign #123, which began with a win over Tennessee, with 12 defenses already behind it; this was its 13th defense. Ole Miss went on to defend it 6 more times before LSU took it on November 4, 1961, 721 days after the reign began.
For Rice this was its 2nd shot at the belt; it had never held the belt.
This is the only time Ole Miss and Rice have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Ole Miss defeated Rice 14-6 on January 2, 1961, in a postseason matchup played at a neutral site. The belt-holding Ole Miss squad successfully defended their title with the victory.
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 36115) · This game in the downloadable dataset