Auburn defends the belt, 35–23, at home over Maryland.
AP poll, week 11: Maryland No. 11 at Auburn No. 3 · No. 1 that week: Pittsburgh. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Auburn came in 7 days into reign #184, which began with a win over Florida, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. Auburn went on to defend it 3 more times before Miami took it on August 27, 1984, 303 days after the reign began.
For Maryland this was its 7th shot at the belt; it had held the belt once before.
This is the only time Auburn and Maryland have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Auburn defended the belt at home against Maryland on November 5, 1983, winning 35-23 in week 11 of the regular season. The victory allowed Auburn 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 52471) · This game in the downloadable dataset