Penn State defends the belt, 14–10, at a neutral site over Miami.
AP poll, week 14: Miami No. 1 at Penn State No. 2 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Penn State came in 69 days into reign #196, which began with a win over Alabama, with 4 defenses already behind it; this was its 5th defense. Penn State went on to defend it 1 more time before Alabama took it on September 12, 1987, 322 days after the reign began.
For Miami this was its 9th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 3 times before.
It was the first of 2 meetings between the two with the belt on the line; all-time it is 1–1.
About this game
Penn State defended the belt on January 2, 1987, defeating Miami 14-10 in a postseason matchup played at a neutral site during the 1986 season. The victory allowed Penn State 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 54648) · This game in the downloadable dataset