Volume 25 · Number 2 · Winter 2008
End of the Streak
(Wayne Tilcock)
All good things must come to an end, and for UC Davis, the end of a 37-year streak of consecutive winning football seasons came on Oct. 27 when South Dakota State beat the Aggies 28-21, thereby ensuring the program’s first losing record since 1969.
The streak became the signature of a program that enjoyed an NCAA Division II record 18 trips to the playoffs, 20 consecutive league championships and 300 winning games during the last 37 seasons.
The streak began in 1970 under then head coach Jim Sochor (1970–88), continued through Bob Foster (1989–92) and was extended by Bob Biggs, who took over the head coach position in 1993.
That stretch was the second-longest active winning streak in college football, behind only Linfield College (Oregon), which is currently at 51 consecutive seasons.
But it was a record that became increasingly difficult to maintain — during the previous two seasons it came down to wins of the final games of the season.
“[The streak] is something we can all be very, very proud of,” said Biggs. “This team’s players can hold their heads high. . . . They probably have had as many setbacks in terms of injuries as any team we’ve ever had, and I’ve never heard them complain. They went out and fought hard. It just didn’t work out.”