USC takes the belt, 10–3, at a neutral site over Michigan.
AP poll, week 13: Michigan No. 7 at USC No. 5 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
USC took the belt here, ending Michigan’s run of 40 days and 0 defenses (reign #140) and starting reign #141. It lasted 282 days and 4 defenses, until Stanford took it on October 10, 1970.
For USC this was its 6th shot at the belt; it had held the belt twice before — and it took it back here.
It was the first of 4 meetings between the two with the belt on the line; all-time USC leads 4–0. Every meeting →
About this game
Michigan, holding the belt, traveled to face USC at a neutral site on January 1, 1970, in a postseason matchup. USC won 10-3, taking the belt from Michigan on the field.
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 41816) · This game in the downloadable dataset