“The Streak” lives on at Linfield University.
With a 42-21 win over Pacific University (Ore.) on Saturday, the Linfield Wildcats moved to 5-0 (3-0 conference) on the season and guaranteed themselves a 66th consecutive winning season.
Beginning in 1956, “The Streak” is the longest run of consecutive winning season in the history of college football in any division or at any level. The second-longest winning streak is held by the University of Mount Union (Ohio), at 42 years.
Linfield remains at the top of the Division III Northwest Conference. The Wildcats entered this week nationally ranked No. 7 in the latest D3football.com Top 25 and No. 5 in the latest American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) poll.
The first half Saturday was a physical, back-and-forth contest, and Linfield took a slim 14-7 lead into halftime. But the Wildcats marched down the field for a quick touchdown to start the second half and never looked back.
The winning tradition kicked off under legendary coach Paul Durham and is a major point of pride at Linfield: in nearly seven decades, Linfield has won 83.7% of its regular-season games, and 81.1% overall.
“The Streak is testament to the power of sticking to your core values and principles,” said head football coach Joseph Smith. “We focus on putting the team ahead of the individual, creating a work ethic that is always focused on improvement, having a positive attitude and being a man of your word; those values and principles are why we have won more than 80% of our games here for more than six decades.”
Since the Streak began, Linfield has won 43 conference championships, posted 22 undefeated regular seasons and recorded five undefeated seasons, with four national championships, three national runner-up trophies and seven trips to the national semifinals.
“I love this program,” Smith said. “I could not be prouder of the players that have come before, as well as the players and coaches that are making it happen now. The credit goes to the men in the arena, and this year’s team is, indeed, to quote Theodore Roosevelt, daring greatly.”
Read more about the 42-21 win over Pacific at golinfieldwildcats.com.
To learn more about the Streak, visit linfield.edu/thestreak.