UCLA defends the belt, 28–10, on the road at Arizona State.
AP poll, week 2: UCLA No. 5 at Arizona State No. 18 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
UCLA came in 252 days into reign #161, which began with a win over Ohio State, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. UCLA went on to defend it 9 more times before USC took it on November 20, 1976, 324 days after the reign began.
For Arizona State this was its first shot at the belt; it had never held the belt.
It was the first of 3 meetings between the two with the belt on the line; all-time Arizona State leads 2–1. Every meeting →
About this game
UCLA traveled to Arizona State on September 9, 1976, in week 2 of the regular season. Arizona State won 28-10, but UCLA was the belt holder and the final score listed shows UCLA prevailing 10-28, meaning UCLA retained 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 46363) · This game in the downloadable dataset