Arkansas State takes the belt, 20–0, on the road at Memphis.
Where this game sits in the lineage
Arkansas State took the belt here, ending Memphis’ run of 7 days and 0 defenses (reign #107) and starting reign #108. It lasted 329 days and 4 defenses, until Mississippi State took it on October 2, 1954.
For Arkansas State 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 Arkansas State and Memphis have met with the belt on the line.
About this game
Arkansas State visited Memphis on November 7, 1953, and defeated the home team 20-0 in a regular season game. With this victory, Arkansas State took the College Football Belt from Memphis.
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 63875) · This game in the downloadable dataset