Ohio State defends the belt, 27–16, at a neutral site over USC.
AP poll, week 13: Ohio State No. 1 at USC No. 2 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Ohio State came in 81 days into reign #139, which began with a win over Purdue, with 6 defenses already behind it; this was its 7th defense. Ohio State went on to defend it 8 more times before Michigan took it on November 22, 1969, 406 days after the reign began.
For USC this was its 5th shot at the belt; it had held the belt twice before.
It was the first of 3 meetings between the two with the belt on the line; all-time USC leads 2–1. Every meeting →
About this game
Ohio State traveled to face USC on January 1, 1969, in a postseason matchup, with the Buckeyes defending the belt. Ohio State won 27-16, retaining the 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 Game record: College Football Data (id 41154) · This game in the downloadable dataset