It’s never fun to lose and when a team gets on a long losing streak, it can take a toll on players and fans. But what happens when a football team can’t win a single game for a few seasons? That’s when things really get tough and you have to appreciate each player’s willingness to keep going.

In college football history, there are quite a few teams that had long losing streaks. While the teams and fans would like to forget these years, it is interesting sports trivia to look at the teams that didn’t do so well.

The Longest Losing Streaks in FCS (Division I-A)

The country’s major college football conference is called the Football Championship Subdivision, Division 1-A. And on that grand stage, the Northwestern Wildcats own one record that they would probably like stricken from the record books. When it comes to Division I-A football, they hold the title for the longest losing streak in history.

Between 1979 and 1982, the Wildcats lost 34 straight games. That’s six more than their nearest competitors, the Virginia Cavaliers, who lost 28 (1958-1961) and the Kansas State Wildcats, who also lost that many (1945-1948).

Here are all of the FBS teams that have suffered through long losing streaks of at least 20 games. 

Team Consecutive Losses When Did It Happen?

Northwestern Wildcats 34 games 1979-1982

University of Virginia Cavaliers 28 games 1958-1961

Kansas State Wildcats 28 games 1945-1948

New Mexico State Aggies 27 games 1988-1990

Eastern Michigan Eagles 27 games 1980-1982

Colorado State Rams 26 games 1960-1963

Duke Blue Devils 23 games 1999-2002

Northern Illinois Huskies 23 games 1996-1998

Duke Blue Devils 22 games 2005-2007

Ball State Cardinals 21 games 1999-2000

South Carolina Gamecocks 21 games 1998-2000

Kent State Golden Flashes 21 games 1981-1983

New Mexico Lobos 21 games 1967-1969

Temple Owls 20 games 2004-2006

TCU Horned Frogs 20 games 1974-1975

Florida State Seminoles 20 games 1972-1974

The Longest Losing Streak in College Football History

You may not have heard of this losing streak because it didn’t happen in Division 1-A, but Northwestern’s stat sheet looks great compared to Prairie View A&M’s record. In the 1990s, the football team from this small Division I-AA school in Texas lost 80 games in a row.

The Prairie View A&M Panthers had their program cut in 1990 due to a massive fiscal deficit. In June of that year, the “Houston Chronicle” reported that $100,000 dollars was missing and many people in the athletic department, including the head football coach Haney Catchings, were indicted.

In 1991, the school brought football back despite the lack of scholarships and the next seven seasons did not see a single win. To make matters look even worse, in 1991 the Panthers scored just 48 points in the entire season (1992 was not much better, but they did score 55 points that year).

After the 1997 season, the Panthers broke their losing streak and since the mid-2000s they have actually done very well. They even won the SWAC Conference Championship three years in a row from 2005 to 2007.

The small school’s comeback is a harrowing one and it pays homage to the team’s success in the Black college championships of the 1950s and 60s. You really have to give it to those players who stuck out that long drought and played hard against some tough teams.

College Football’s Oldest Rivalry and Oldest Teams

Randy Moss

Ohio State’s SEC Struggles

The Wayne Gretzky Record Book

The Number of People Who’ve Attended the Super Bowl Each Year

College World Series Champions

NFL Champions (1920–Present)

The 10 Greatest Football Movies of All Time

What Is PAT in Football?

Golfer Paul Azinger: Cancer Survivor and Major Championship Winner

Kathy Whitworth: LPGA’s Biggest Winner

Football Glossary

How Super Bowl Winners Fared the Following Season

Golfer Raymond Floyd

The Longest Home Winning Streaks in College Football History

How the Super Bowl Came to Be

Home

Entertainment

Careers

Activities

Humor

About Us Advertise Careers Privacy Policy Editorial Guidelines Contact Terms of Use EU Privacy

LiveAbout is part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family.

When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Cookies Settings Reject All Accept Cookies

It’s never fun to lose and when a team gets on a long losing streak, it can take a toll on players and fans. But what happens when a football team can’t win a single game for a few seasons? That’s when things really get tough and you have to appreciate each player’s willingness to keep going.

In college football history, there are quite a few teams that had long losing streaks. While the teams and fans would like to forget these years, it is interesting sports trivia to look at the teams that didn’t do so well.

The Longest Losing Streaks in FCS (Division I-A)

The country’s major college football conference is called the Football Championship Subdivision, Division 1-A. And on that grand stage, the Northwestern Wildcats own one record that they would probably like stricken from the record books. When it comes to Division I-A football, they hold the title for the longest losing streak in history.

Between 1979 and 1982, the Wildcats lost 34 straight games. That’s six more than their nearest competitors, the Virginia Cavaliers, who lost 28 (1958-1961) and the Kansas State Wildcats, who also lost that many (1945-1948).

Here are all of the FBS teams that have suffered through long losing streaks of at least 20 games. 

Team Consecutive Losses When Did It Happen?

Northwestern Wildcats 34 games 1979-1982

University of Virginia Cavaliers 28 games 1958-1961

Kansas State Wildcats 28 games 1945-1948

New Mexico State Aggies 27 games 1988-1990

Eastern Michigan Eagles 27 games 1980-1982

Colorado State Rams 26 games 1960-1963

Duke Blue Devils 23 games 1999-2002

Northern Illinois Huskies 23 games 1996-1998

Duke Blue Devils 22 games 2005-2007

Ball State Cardinals 21 games 1999-2000

South Carolina Gamecocks 21 games 1998-2000

Kent State Golden Flashes 21 games 1981-1983

New Mexico Lobos 21 games 1967-1969

Temple Owls 20 games 2004-2006

TCU Horned Frogs 20 games 1974-1975

Florida State Seminoles 20 games 1972-1974

The Longest Losing Streak in College Football History

You may not have heard of this losing streak because it didn’t happen in Division 1-A, but Northwestern’s stat sheet looks great compared to Prairie View A&M’s record. In the 1990s, the football team from this small Division I-AA school in Texas lost 80 games in a row.

The Prairie View A&M Panthers had their program cut in 1990 due to a massive fiscal deficit. In June of that year, the “Houston Chronicle” reported that $100,000 dollars was missing and many people in the athletic department, including the head football coach Haney Catchings, were indicted.

In 1991, the school brought football back despite the lack of scholarships and the next seven seasons did not see a single win. To make matters look even worse, in 1991 the Panthers scored just 48 points in the entire season (1992 was not much better, but they did score 55 points that year).

After the 1997 season, the Panthers broke their losing streak and since the mid-2000s they have actually done very well. They even won the SWAC Conference Championship three years in a row from 2005 to 2007.

The small school’s comeback is a harrowing one and it pays homage to the team’s success in the Black college championships of the 1950s and 60s. You really have to give it to those players who stuck out that long drought and played hard against some tough teams.

College Football’s Oldest Rivalry and Oldest Teams

Randy Moss

Ohio State’s SEC Struggles

The Wayne Gretzky Record Book

The Number of People Who’ve Attended the Super Bowl Each Year

College World Series Champions

NFL Champions (1920–Present)

The 10 Greatest Football Movies of All Time

What Is PAT in Football?

Golfer Paul Azinger: Cancer Survivor and Major Championship Winner

Kathy Whitworth: LPGA’s Biggest Winner

Football Glossary

How Super Bowl Winners Fared the Following Season

Golfer Raymond Floyd

The Longest Home Winning Streaks in College Football History

How the Super Bowl Came to Be

When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Cookies Settings Reject All Accept Cookies

It’s never fun to lose and when a team gets on a long losing streak, it can take a toll on players and fans. But what happens when a football team can’t win a single game for a few seasons? That’s when things really get tough and you have to appreciate each player’s willingness to keep going.

In college football history, there are quite a few teams that had long losing streaks. While the teams and fans would like to forget these years, it is interesting sports trivia to look at the teams that didn’t do so well.

The Longest Losing Streaks in FCS (Division I-A)

The country’s major college football conference is called the Football Championship Subdivision, Division 1-A. And on that grand stage, the Northwestern Wildcats own one record that they would probably like stricken from the record books. When it comes to Division I-A football, they hold the title for the longest losing streak in history.

Between 1979 and 1982, the Wildcats lost 34 straight games. That’s six more than their nearest competitors, the Virginia Cavaliers, who lost 28 (1958-1961) and the Kansas State Wildcats, who also lost that many (1945-1948).

Here are all of the FBS teams that have suffered through long losing streaks of at least 20 games. 

Team Consecutive Losses When Did It Happen?

Northwestern Wildcats 34 games 1979-1982

University of Virginia Cavaliers 28 games 1958-1961

Kansas State Wildcats 28 games 1945-1948

New Mexico State Aggies 27 games 1988-1990

Eastern Michigan Eagles 27 games 1980-1982

Colorado State Rams 26 games 1960-1963

Duke Blue Devils 23 games 1999-2002

Northern Illinois Huskies 23 games 1996-1998

Duke Blue Devils 22 games 2005-2007

Ball State Cardinals 21 games 1999-2000

South Carolina Gamecocks 21 games 1998-2000

Kent State Golden Flashes 21 games 1981-1983

New Mexico Lobos 21 games 1967-1969

Temple Owls 20 games 2004-2006

TCU Horned Frogs 20 games 1974-1975

Florida State Seminoles 20 games 1972-1974

The Longest Losing Streak in College Football History

You may not have heard of this losing streak because it didn’t happen in Division 1-A, but Northwestern’s stat sheet looks great compared to Prairie View A&M’s record. In the 1990s, the football team from this small Division I-AA school in Texas lost 80 games in a row.

The Prairie View A&M Panthers had their program cut in 1990 due to a massive fiscal deficit. In June of that year, the “Houston Chronicle” reported that $100,000 dollars was missing and many people in the athletic department, including the head football coach Haney Catchings, were indicted.

In 1991, the school brought football back despite the lack of scholarships and the next seven seasons did not see a single win. To make matters look even worse, in 1991 the Panthers scored just 48 points in the entire season (1992 was not much better, but they did score 55 points that year).

After the 1997 season, the Panthers broke their losing streak and since the mid-2000s they have actually done very well. They even won the SWAC Conference Championship three years in a row from 2005 to 2007.

The small school’s comeback is a harrowing one and it pays homage to the team’s success in the Black college championships of the 1950s and 60s. You really have to give it to those players who stuck out that long drought and played hard against some tough teams.

It’s never fun to lose and when a team gets on a long losing streak, it can take a toll on players and fans. But what happens when a football team can’t win a single game for a few seasons? That’s when things really get tough and you have to appreciate each player’s willingness to keep going.

In college football history, there are quite a few teams that had long losing streaks. While the teams and fans would like to forget these years, it is interesting sports trivia to look at the teams that didn’t do so well.

The Longest Losing Streaks in FCS (Division I-A)

The country’s major college football conference is called the Football Championship Subdivision, Division 1-A. And on that grand stage, the Northwestern Wildcats own one record that they would probably like stricken from the record books. When it comes to Division I-A football, they hold the title for the longest losing streak in history.

Between 1979 and 1982, the Wildcats lost 34 straight games. That’s six more than their nearest competitors, the Virginia Cavaliers, who lost 28 (1958-1961) and the Kansas State Wildcats, who also lost that many (1945-1948).

Here are all of the FBS teams that have suffered through long losing streaks of at least 20 games. 

Team Consecutive Losses When Did It Happen?

Northwestern Wildcats 34 games 1979-1982

University of Virginia Cavaliers 28 games 1958-1961

Kansas State Wildcats 28 games 1945-1948

New Mexico State Aggies 27 games 1988-1990

Eastern Michigan Eagles 27 games 1980-1982

Colorado State Rams 26 games 1960-1963

Duke Blue Devils 23 games 1999-2002

Northern Illinois Huskies 23 games 1996-1998

Duke Blue Devils 22 games 2005-2007

Ball State Cardinals 21 games 1999-2000

South Carolina Gamecocks 21 games 1998-2000

Kent State Golden Flashes 21 games 1981-1983

New Mexico Lobos 21 games 1967-1969

Temple Owls 20 games 2004-2006

TCU Horned Frogs 20 games 1974-1975

Florida State Seminoles 20 games 1972-1974

The Longest Losing Streak in College Football History

You may not have heard of this losing streak because it didn’t happen in Division 1-A, but Northwestern’s stat sheet looks great compared to Prairie View A&M’s record. In the 1990s, the football team from this small Division I-AA school in Texas lost 80 games in a row.

The Prairie View A&M Panthers had their program cut in 1990 due to a massive fiscal deficit. In June of that year, the “Houston Chronicle” reported that $100,000 dollars was missing and many people in the athletic department, including the head football coach Haney Catchings, were indicted.

In 1991, the school brought football back despite the lack of scholarships and the next seven seasons did not see a single win. To make matters look even worse, in 1991 the Panthers scored just 48 points in the entire season (1992 was not much better, but they did score 55 points that year).

After the 1997 season, the Panthers broke their losing streak and since the mid-2000s they have actually done very well. They even won the SWAC Conference Championship three years in a row from 2005 to 2007.

The small school’s comeback is a harrowing one and it pays homage to the team’s success in the Black college championships of the 1950s and 60s. You really have to give it to those players who stuck out that long drought and played hard against some tough teams.

The Longest Losing Streak in College Football History

You may not have heard of this losing streak because it didn’t happen in Division 1-A, but Northwestern’s stat sheet looks great compared to Prairie View A&M’s record. In the 1990s, the football team from this small Division I-AA school in Texas lost 80 games in a row.

The Prairie View A&M Panthers had their program cut in 1990 due to a massive fiscal deficit. In June of that year, the “Houston Chronicle” reported that $100,000 dollars was missing and many people in the athletic department, including the head football coach Haney Catchings, were indicted.

In 1991, the school brought football back despite the lack of scholarships and the next seven seasons did not see a single win. To make matters look even worse, in 1991 the Panthers scored just 48 points in the entire season (1992 was not much better, but they did score 55 points that year).

After the 1997 season, the Panthers broke their losing streak and since the mid-2000s they have actually done very well. They even won the SWAC Conference Championship three years in a row from 2005 to 2007.

The small school’s comeback is a harrowing one and it pays homage to the team’s success in the Black college championships of the 1950s and 60s. You really have to give it to those players who stuck out that long drought and played hard against some tough teams.

  • College Football’s Oldest Rivalry and Oldest Teams

  • Randy Moss

  • Ohio State’s SEC Struggles

  • The Wayne Gretzky Record Book

  • The Number of People Who’ve Attended the Super Bowl Each Year

  • College World Series Champions

  • NFL Champions (1920–Present)

  • The 10 Greatest Football Movies of All Time

  • What Is PAT in Football?

  • Golfer Paul Azinger: Cancer Survivor and Major Championship Winner

  • Kathy Whitworth: LPGA’s Biggest Winner

  • Football Glossary

  • How Super Bowl Winners Fared the Following Season

  • Golfer Raymond Floyd

  • The Longest Home Winning Streaks in College Football History

  • How the Super Bowl Came to Be

College Football’s Oldest Rivalry and Oldest Teams

College Football’s Oldest Rivalry and Oldest Teams

Randy Moss

Randy Moss

Ohio State’s SEC Struggles

Ohio State’s SEC Struggles

The Wayne Gretzky Record Book

The Wayne Gretzky Record Book

The Number of People Who’ve Attended the Super Bowl Each Year

The Number of People Who’ve Attended the Super Bowl Each Year

College World Series Champions

College World Series Champions

NFL Champions (1920–Present)

NFL Champions (1920–Present)

The 10 Greatest Football Movies of All Time

The 10 Greatest Football Movies of All Time

What Is PAT in Football?

What Is PAT in Football?

Golfer Paul Azinger: Cancer Survivor and Major Championship Winner

Golfer Paul Azinger: Cancer Survivor and Major Championship Winner

Kathy Whitworth: LPGA’s Biggest Winner

Kathy Whitworth: LPGA’s Biggest Winner

Football Glossary

Football Glossary

How Super Bowl Winners Fared the Following Season

How Super Bowl Winners Fared the Following Season

Golfer Raymond Floyd

Golfer Raymond Floyd

The Longest Home Winning Streaks in College Football History

The Longest Home Winning Streaks in College Football History

How the Super Bowl Came to Be

How the Super Bowl Came to Be

Home

Entertainment

Careers

Activities

Humor

About Us Advertise Careers Privacy Policy Editorial Guidelines Contact Terms of Use EU Privacy

LiveAbout is part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family.

Home

Home

Entertainment

Careers

Activities

Humor

About Us Advertise Careers Privacy Policy Editorial Guidelines Contact Terms of Use EU Privacy

  • About Us

  • Advertise

  • Careers

  • Privacy Policy

  • Editorial Guidelines

  • Contact

  • Terms of Use

  • EU Privacy

  • Entertainment

  • Careers

  • Activities

  • Humor

LiveAbout is part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family.

When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Cookies Settings Reject All Accept Cookies