Penn State defends the belt, 19–0, on the road at West Virginia.
AP poll, week 10: Penn State No. 2 at West Virginia unranked · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Penn State came in 7 days into reign #196, which began with a win over Alabama, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. Penn State went on to defend it 5 more times before Alabama took it on September 12, 1987, 322 days after the reign began.
For West Virginia this was its 5th shot at the belt; it had never held the belt.
This is the only time Penn State and West Virginia have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Penn State visited West Virginia on November 1, 1986, in a regular season week 10 matchup. West Virginia won 19-0. Penn State, as the belt holder, retained the belt 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 54455) · This game in the downloadable dataset