College Football Belt Blog

Great Upsets in Belt Game History

The USF Bulls pulled off a huge upset of the Florida Gators. The Gators were favored by 18.5 points. Here are some other notable CFB Belt game upsets:

• 1981 – Wisconsin 21, #1 Michigan 14
  The unranked Badgers stunned the top-ranked Wolverines in Madison, snapping Michigan’s short reign and handing the belt to Wisconsin for a single week.
• 1998 – Texas A&M 28, #2 Nebraska 21
  The Aggies halted Nebraska’s 15-game belt streak in College Station, turning a title defense into an unexpected transfer of power.
• 2007 – Auburn 20, #4 Florida 17
  Florida looked invincible after its national championship run, but Auburn walked into Gainesville as a two-touchdown underdog and left with the belt.
• 2007 – Arkansas 50, #1 LSU 48 (3OT)
  Darren McFadden and the Razorbacks outlasted top-ranked LSU in Baton Rouge, one of the wildest belt exchanges of the modern era.
• 2012 – Baylor 52, #1 Kansas State 24
  The Wildcats were eyeing a title shot before the Bears detonated those dreams in Waco, seizing the belt with a 28-point shocker.

2025 Season Preview

Posted August 6, 2025

Last year the belt moved from the Big Ten to the SEC, switched teams 4 times, and missed the playoffs after sticking with Washington the previous year and making it into the championship game.

Who knows what is in store this year? It looks likely the belt will either stay in the SEC or find its way into the ACC this season — and hopefully end up in the playoffs.

The season kicks off with LIU at Florida — a pretty boring game for a belt championship but the LIU logo is pretty cool.

Florida at LSU is where we should see our first real challenge.

Five College Football Belt Underachievers

Posted August 5, 2025

Some college football blue bloods have achieved incredible success in national championships, AP rankings, and bowl wins — but their College Football Belt resumes don’t quite match up. Based on a combination of belt wins, reigns, and win percentage, here are five programs punching below their weight:

• Notre Dame — One of college football's most legendary programs ranks only 23rd in belt wins and has a fairly unremarkable belt game profile.
• Penn State — Ranks only 33rd in wins and has a abysmal 38.9 winning percentage in belt games.
• Oklahoma — Ranks just below Penn State in wins and has only reigned as belt champion 4 times.
• Iowa — 6-8-0 record with only 2 reigns. Ranked 59th in total belt wins. Iowa is not a true blue blood but you'd expect better than those stats from a program of their calibre.
• Nebraska — Nebraska has a strong 70.4 winning percentage (19-8-1 record) but has had only 3 reigns and ranks only 25nd in total wins.