UCLA takes the belt, 31–13, on the road at Wisconsin.
AP poll, week 3: UCLA No. 9 at Wisconsin No. 20 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
UCLA took the belt here, ending Wisconsin’s run of 7 days and 0 defenses (reign #170) and starting reign #171. It lasted 7 days and 0 defenses, until Iowa took it on September 26, 1981.
For UCLA this was its 9th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 3 times before — and it took it back here.
This is the only time UCLA and Wisconsin have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
UCLA visited Wisconsin on September 19, 1981, in week 3 of the regular season. Wisconsin won the game 31-13. With this victory, UCLA took possession of the College Football Belt from Wisconsin.
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 50635) · This game in the downloadable dataset