Washington State defends the belt, 27–7, at home over Montana State.
Where this game sits in the lineage
Washington State came in 287 days into reign #179, which began with a win over Washington, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. It was the last defense: Michigan took the belt in the very next belt game, on September 10, 1983.
For Montana State this was its first shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t; this remains its only belt game.
This is the only time Montana State and Washington State have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Washington State defeated Montana State 27-7 on September 3, 1983, in week 2 of the regular season. The defending belt holder retained the championship with the victory.
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 52004) · This game in the downloadable dataset