Clemson defends the belt, 23–3, at home over Furman.
AP poll, week 3: Furman unranked at Clemson No. 3 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Clemson came in 253 days into reign #203, which began with a win over Penn State, with one defense already behind it; this was its second defense. It was the last defense: Florida State took the belt in the very next belt game, on September 17, 1988.
For Furman this was its 2nd shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t: 2 attempts in all, every one of them a loss or a tie.
This is the only time Clemson and Furman have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Clemson defended the belt at home against Furman on September 10, 1988, winning 23-3 in week 3 of the regular season. The victory allowed Clemson 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 55338) · This game in the downloadable dataset