USC defends the belt, 30–9, at home over Michigan State.
AP poll, week 5: Michigan State unranked at USC No. 2 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
USC came in 6 days into reign #164, which began with a win over Alabama, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. It was the last defense: Arizona State took the belt in the very next belt game, on October 14, 1978.
For Michigan State this was its 8th shot at the belt; it had held the belt once before.
This is the only time Michigan State and USC have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
USC defended the belt on September 29, 1978, defeating visiting Michigan State 30-9 in week 5 of the regular season. The victory allowed USC to retain the lineal championship.
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 48221) · This game in the downloadable dataset