Without either team playing a game this past weekend, Notre Dame and the Air Force Academy currently hold the distinction of sharing the Football Bowl Subdivision’s longest winning streak in the nation with eight apiece.
That was made possible when reigning national champion LSU had its 16 consecutive victories snapped by Mississippi State this past weekend in a 44-34 defeat at home to the Bulldogs.
The Fighting Irish closed the 2019 season with six straight victories, and then opened 2020 with home wins versus Duke (27-13) and USF (52-0). Unfortunately, their slated trip to Wake Forest last weekend was rescheduled for Dec. 12 because of a rash of COVID-19 outbreaks last week that saw football activities get suspended, starting on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Falcons won their final eight contests in 2019 to finish with the same 11-2 record as Notre Dame. This year they were to play only two games to vie for the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy: hosting Navy this weekend (Oct. 3), and then traveling to Army for a Nov. 7 showdown. But the Mountain West Conference announced last week it will return to action Oct. 24, similar to the Big Ten
With a victory over the Midshipmen, Air Force would take sole possession of the longest FBS winning streak.
Notre Dame had this upcoming Oct. 3 weekend as a bye, and then likely would be prohibitive favorites in the ensuing two contests at home versus 0-2 Florida State (Oct. 10), a 52-10 loser at Miami last Saturday night, and 1-2 Louisville (Oct. 17).
The Oct. 24 contest at No. 24 Pitt — the first road trip of the year — is expected to be more competitive, but the Irish also are projected to be heavy road favorites at Georgia Tech (Oct. 31) before hosting No. 1 Clemson on Nov. 7.
This is the first time since the end of the 2012 regular season Notre Dame owns the nation’s longest winning streak. Back then the Irish shared it with Ohio State, under first-year head coach Urban Meyer, when both finished 12-0 prior to the postseason. The Buckeyes were ineligible to play in a bowl that season, while Notre Dame lost 42-14 to Alabama in the BCS Championship.
The longest winning streak in the 11-year Brian Kelly era was 13, which began with the 21-17 Citrus Bowl win over LSU to cap the 2017 campaign, and then the 12-0 regular season in 2018 that earned a berth into the College Football Playoff, where it lost to Clemson (30-3). Still, that was not the longest winning streak at the time, as reigning national champ Alabama had won 16 straight.
The all-time Fighting Irish winning streak is 23 straight in 1988 (12-0, national champions) followed by an 11-0 start in 1989. Especially notable is 11 of the victories were against teams that finished in the Associated Press top 18 — and seven of them in the top 10.
Notre Dame had a 39-game unbeaten streak from 1946 to 1950, but there were also two ties involved during that string: Army (0-0) in 1946 and USC (14-14) in 1948.
Since 1950, the second-longest winning streak is 17 in 1992-93, followed by a tie for 13 between the 2017-18 units and the 1973-74 editions, which was highlighted by the 11-0 national championship in 1973.
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