South Carolina defends the belt, 24–3, at home over Western Carolina.
AP poll, week 8: Western Carolina unranked at South Carolina No. 24 · No. 1 that week: Penn State. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
South Carolina came in 21 days into reign #208, which began with a win over Georgia, with one defense already behind it; this was its second defense. It was the last defense: NC State took the belt in the very next belt game, on October 28, 1989.
For Western Carolina this was its first shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t; this remains its only belt game.
This is the only time South Carolina and Western Carolina have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
South Carolina defended the belt on October 21, 1989, defeating visiting Western Carolina 24-3 in a regular season matchup. The victory allowed South Carolina 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 56285) · This game in the downloadable dataset