Memphis takes the belt, 27–13, at home over Southern Miss.
Where this game sits in the lineage
Memphis took the belt here, ending Southern Miss’ run of 43 days and 4 defenses (reign #106) and starting reign #107. It lasted 7 days and 0 defenses, until Arkansas State took it on November 7, 1953.
For Memphis this was its first shot at the belt; it had never held the belt — and this was the day it took it.
This is the only time Memphis and Southern Miss have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Memphis defeated visiting Southern Miss 27-13 on October 31, 1953, in a regular season Week 7 matchup. With this victory, Memphis took the College Football Belt from Southern Miss.
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 63874) · This game in the downloadable dataset