Michigan takes the belt, 20–17, at home over Washington State.
AP poll, week 3: Washington State unranked at Michigan No. 8 · No. 1 that week: Pittsburgh. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Michigan took the belt here, ending Washington State’s run of 294 days and 1 defense (reign #179) and starting reign #180. It lasted 7 days and 0 defenses, until Washington took it on September 17, 1983.
For Michigan this was its 22nd shot at the belt; it had held the belt 5 times before — and it took it back here.
This is the only time Michigan and Washington State have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Washington State visited Michigan on September 10, 1983, in a regular season week 3 matchup. Michigan won 20-17, taking the College Football Belt from Washington State.
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 52038) · This game in the downloadable dataset