Stories
When the belt changes hands
The belt has changed hands 327 times. By month, by week of the season and by day of the week, here is when it happens — and the one calendar day it has moved 21 times.
Novemberthe month with the most title changes (117)
No. 1 November: 117 title changes
Title changes by month: January 29, August 2, September 56, October 113, November 117, December 10. Per belt game, the most dangerous month for a holder is January: the belt moved in 44% of the 66 belt games played then, against 20% overall.
No. 2 Week 8 is the belt’s busiest week
Counting by week of the regular season, the belt has changed hands most in week 8 (38 times); then week 7 (32), week 5 (27), week 11 (25), and week 9 (24). The postseason accounts for 32 title changes on its own — 21 of them on New Year’s Day.
No. 3 21 title changes on one calendar day
The single date the belt has moved most often is January 1: Columbia 7–0 Stanford (1933), Auburn 6–0 Michigan State (1937), USC 14–0 Tennessee (1939), Alabama 29–21 Texas A&M (1941), Alabama 61–6 Syracuse (1952), Baylor 13–7 Tennessee (1956), and 15 more.
No. 4 Not on a Saturday: 47 times
By day of the week: Saturday 280, Thursday 16, Friday 14, Monday 9, Tuesday 4, Wednesday 3, Sunday 1. Thanksgiving Day has taken the belt 5 times, most recently Villanova 23–9 Muhlenberg in 1925. The most recent non-Saturday title change was Louisville 24–21 Miami, a Friday in 2025.
What it means
The belt’s calendar is the sport’s calendar with the volume turned up: it moves when the games are hardest, and it rests when the holder is playing the soft part of its schedule. Per belt game, the holder is safest in October (17% of belt games change hands) and most exposed in January (44%) — the bowls, where the holder is matched with someone good on purpose.
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