USC takes the belt, 42–17, at a neutral site over Ohio State.
AP poll, week 14: Ohio State No. 3 at USC No. 1 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
USC took the belt here, ending Ohio State’s run of 37 days and 0 defenses (reign #152) and starting reign #153. It lasted 299 days and 6 defenses, until Notre Dame took it on October 27, 1973.
For USC this was its 7th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 3 times before — and it took it back here.
It was the 2nd of 3 belt games between the two; going in, Ohio State led the belt series 1–0; all-time USC leads 2–1. Every meeting →
About this game
On January 1, 1973, USC defeated Ohio State 42-17 at a neutral site in a postseason game. With this victory, USC took the College Football Belt from Ohio State.
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 44013) · This game in the downloadable dataset