Nebraska defends the belt, 42–17, at a neutral site over Tennessee.
AP poll, week 17: Tennessee No. 3 at Nebraska No. 2 · No. 1 that week: North Carolina. The belt vs. the polls →
Where this game sits in the lineage
Nebraska came in 104 days into reign #248, which began with a win over Washington, with 9 defenses already behind it; this was its 10th defense. Nebraska went on to defend it 5 more times before Texas A&M took it on October 10, 1998, 385 days after the reign began.
For Tennessee this was its 17th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 7 times before.
This is the only time Nebraska and Tennessee have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Nebraska defeated Tennessee 42-17 on January 2, 1998, in a neutral-site postseason matchup. As the defending belt holder, Nebraska retained the championship with the victory.
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 61707) · This game in the downloadable dataset