Nebraska takes the belt, 27–14, on the road at Washington.
AP poll, week 5: Nebraska No. 7 at Washington No. 2 · No. 1 that week: North Carolina. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Nebraska took the belt here, ending Washington’s run of 14 days and 1 defense (reign #247) and starting reign #248. It lasted 385 days and 15 defenses, until Texas A&M took it on October 10, 1998.
For Nebraska this was its 7th shot at the belt; it had held the belt twice before — and it took it back here.
It was the first of 2 meetings between the two with the belt on the line; all-time Nebraska leads 2–0.
About this game
Nebraska visited Washington on September 20, 1997, in a regular season week 5 matchup. Washington won the game 27-14, but the final score listed in the belt records shows Nebraska prevailing 27-14, meaning Nebraska took the belt from Washington by winning on the field.
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 61209) · This game in the downloadable dataset