The longest winning streak in the nation still remains Ohio State’s to lose, which will be on the line Monday night in Blacksburg, Virginia. But two other specific winning streaks in FBS football now belong to the Florida Gators.
Florida had no problem putting away New Mexico State in Gainesville to open the Jim McElwain era with the Gators. Florida’s 61-13 victory over the visiting Aggies was Florida’s 25th consecutive season-opening victory. That is now the longest ongoing active winning streak to start the season after Nebraska lost the title. Nebraska was stunned by BYU on a Hail Mary play, snapping the Cornhuskers’ season-opening win streak at 29 games. That makes Florida’s 25-game streak on season openers the new longest in the nation.
Florida also took control of the nation’s new longest active winning streak against a specific opponent. Florida has defeated Kentucky 28 straight times in SEC play, dating back to 1987. The Gators kept that streak alive by escaping with an overtime victory over the Wildcats in 2014. That streak became the longest one-sided streak when Temple brought a long-awaited end to its losing streak against Penn State. Temple’s 27-10 victory ended a 31-game losing streak to Penn State (Penn State had not lost since 1941, but the two schools tied in 1950).
Florida’s 28-game run against Kentucky is tied for the sixth-longest winning streak over a single school in college football history (currently tied with Texas over Rice). Notre Dame’s 43-game streak against Navy was broken in 2006 and remains the longest winning streak on record. Clemson’s 29-game streak over Virginia and Nebraska’s 29-game streak against Kansas State will be tied with Florida over Kentucky if the Gators avoid losing to Kentucky in Lexington in two more weeks.
Helmet sticker to Reddit.