Alabama takes the belt, 24–3, at a neutral site over USC.
AP poll, week 16: USC unranked at Alabama No. 15 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Alabama took the belt here, ending USC’s run of 35 days and 1 defense (reign #194) and starting reign #195. It lasted 301 days and 7 defenses, until Penn State took it on October 25, 1986.
For Alabama this was its 15th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 5 times before — and it took it back here.
It was the 4th of 4 belt games between the two; going in, USC led the belt series 2–1; all-time it is 2–2. Every meeting →
About this game
Alabama defeated USC 24-3 on December 28, 1985, in a postseason matchup played at a neutral site. With this victory, Alabama took possession of the College Football Belt from USC.
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 53999) · This game in the downloadable dataset