Penn State takes the belt, 23–3, on the road at Alabama.
AP poll, week 9: Penn State No. 2 at Alabama No. 8 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Penn State took the belt here, ending Alabama’s run of 301 days and 7 defenses (reign #195) and starting reign #196. It lasted 322 days and 6 defenses, until Alabama took it on September 12, 1987.
For Penn State this was its 17th shot at the belt; it had held the belt twice before — and it took it back here.
It was the first of 3 meetings between the two with the belt on the line; all-time Alabama leads 2–1. Every meeting →
About this game
Penn State traveled to Alabama on October 25, 1986, in week 9 of the regular season for belt game #1126. Alabama lost 23-3, and Penn State took the belt from the home team by winning on the field.
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 54407) · This game in the downloadable dataset