Michigan takes the belt, 23–6, at a neutral site over Washington.
AP poll, week 15: Washington No. 16 at Michigan No. 5 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Michigan took the belt here, ending Washington’s run of 47 days and 1 defense (reign #168) and starting reign #169. It lasted 254 days and 0 defenses, until Wisconsin took it on September 12, 1981.
For Michigan this was its 19th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 3 times before — and it took it back here.
It was the first of 4 meetings between the two with the belt on the line; all-time it is 2–2. Every meeting →
About this game
Washington visited Michigan on January 1, 1981, in a postseason matchup. Michigan won 23-6, taking the college football belt from Washington on the field.
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 50473) · This game in the downloadable dataset