Florida State defends the belt, 59–0, on the road at South Carolina.
AP poll, week 11: Florida State No. 5 at South Carolina No. 15 · No. 1 that week: Arkansas. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Florida State came in 49 days into reign #204, which began with a win over Clemson, with 5 defenses already behind it; this was its 6th defense. Florida State went on to defend it 3 more times before Southern Miss took it on September 2, 1989, 350 days after the reign began.
For South Carolina this was its 7th shot at the belt; it had never held the belt.
This is the only time Florida State and South Carolina have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Florida State, defending the belt, traveled to South Carolina on November 5, 1988, in a regular season matchup. South Carolina won 59-0. Florida State retained the belt despite the loss.
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 55742) · This game in the downloadable dataset