Texas takes the belt, 21–17, at a neutral site over Alabama.
AP poll, week 10: Alabama No. 2 at Texas No. 5 · No. 1 that week: Arkansas. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Texas took the belt here, ending Alabama’s run of 366 days and 10 defenses (reign #126) and starting reign #127. It lasted 288 days and 4 defenses, until Arkansas took it on October 16, 1965.
For Texas this was its 2nd shot at the belt; it had never held the belt — and this was the day it took it.
It was the first of 2 meetings between the two with the belt on the line; all-time it is 1–1.
About this game
Texas defeated Alabama 21-17 on January 1, 1965, in a neutral site matchup to claim the College Football Belt. The victory transferred the lineal championship from Alabama to Texas.
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 38593) · This game in the downloadable dataset