There’s another exciting aspect of Saturday’s last-second win over TCU that not many people know about. Baylor took back posession of the College Football Belt.
The College Football Belt has become a famous Internet tradition ever since creative fans researched the first college football champions and assigned the team (the Nebraska Cornhuskers of 1971) the College Football Belt.
From that point forward, the team with the Belt would retain it until losing a game – in which case, the triumphant team would then take possession of the Belt.
Every week, whoever maintains this simple but captivating website (collegefootballbelt.com) updates the team currently in posession of the College Football Belt. They have tracked the Belt’s possession for years.
According to the website’s proprietors, “The Belt has traveled through many conferences, with both good teams & bad teams but one thing has remained constant – it is always decided on the field.”
After feedback from readers suggesting a different starting point (such as the first documented college football game in 1869), the website’s proprietors traced the Belt’s lineage – but it converged on the same track it is on now. “With over 1300 games in the Belt lineage, we feel comfortable in saying that you could choose any team in the history of college football as the starting point & that lineage will converge with the current champion in a reasonable amount of time,” they said.
Baylor held the Belt for 12 games between 2012 and 2013 until losing to Oklahoma State last year. From there, the Belt bounced to Oklahoma, then to TCU last week when they beat Oklahoma.
But now, finally, the Belt is back where it belongs – at our great university. Let’s hope we keep it for a long time.
– Chicago senior Danny Huizinga
Baylor Business Fellow
