Arizona takes the belt, 28–16, at home over Illinois.
AP poll, week 3: Illinois No. 21 at Arizona No. 20 · No. 1 that week: Pittsburgh. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Arizona took the belt here, ending Illinois’ run of 250 days and 0 defenses (reign #211) and starting reign #212. It lasted 21 days and 2 defenses, until California took it on September 29, 1990.
For Arizona this was its 7th shot at the belt; it had held the belt once before — and it took it back here.
This is the only time Arizona and Illinois have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Arizona defeated Illinois 28-16 on September 8, 1990, in the third week of the regular season. With this home victory, Arizona took possession of the College Football Belt from Illinois.
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 56587) · This game in the downloadable dataset