Nebraska takes the belt, 38–6, at a neutral site over Alabama.
AP poll, week 14: Alabama No. 2 at Nebraska No. 1 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Nebraska took the belt here, ending Alabama’s run of 35 days and 0 defenses (reign #148) and starting reign #149. It lasted 252 days and 0 defenses, until UCLA took it on September 9, 1972.
For Nebraska this was its 5th shot at the belt; it had held the belt once before — and it took it back here.
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
Nebraska defeated Alabama 38-6 on January 1, 1972, in a neutral-site matchup. With the victory, Nebraska took the College Football Belt from Alabama.
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 43267) · This game in the downloadable dataset