UCLA takes the belt, 34–28, at home over Tennessee.
AP poll, week 3: Tennessee No. 10 at UCLA No. 12 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
UCLA took the belt here, ending Tennessee’s run of 329 days and 6 defenses (reign #158) and starting reign #159. It lasted 14 days and 1 defense, until Ohio State took it on October 4, 1975.
For UCLA 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 UCLA leads 1–0–1.
About this game
UCLA defeated Tennessee 34-28 on September 20, 1975, in a regular season matchup at home. With this victory, UCLA took possession of the College Football Belt from Tennessee.
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 45689) · This game in the downloadable dataset