Lehigh, North Dakota State among FCS’s longest active win streaks
Lehigh’s 17-game run leads the FCS board, but North Dakota State and Montana State look most like title threats when the bracket arrives.
The longest active streaks in FCS do more than fill a spring talking point. They are already shaping the 2026 pecking order, and the teams at the top are not there by accident: Lehigh has 17 straight regular-season wins, North Dakota State 12, and Montana State and Stephen F. Austin are both at 10.
That list carries a built-in warning label. NCAA.com tracks regular-season streaks from Week 0 through the final regular-season game, which means conference championship games, playoffs and bowls do not count. In other words, a streak can be a real measure of momentum without being a full title résumé, and that distinction matters as the season moves toward its August 27 kickoff.
North Dakota State is the clearest example of a streak that still feels like a threat. The Bison have already lived at the sport’s ceiling, owning the FCS record for the longest overall win streak at 39 games before Southern Illinois ended it on February 27, 2021. They also own the division’s most imposing championship run, five straight national titles from 2011 to 2015. Add in the fact that North Dakota State finished the 2025 season first nationally in scoring defense at 13.0 points allowed per game, and the 12-game streak looks less like a hot month than a continuation of a standard that has defined the program for a decade.
Montana State belongs in the same contender conversation. The Bobcats won the 2025 national championship, and NCAA.com placed them No. 1 in its way-too-early 2026 rankings, citing the return of key contributors and coach Brent Vigen. Their numbers backed that up at the end of last season, too: Montana State finished eighth nationally in scoring offense at 37.9 points per game. A 10-game streak is strong on its own, but paired with a title and a top-tier offense, it reads like a program that expects to stay in the frame.
Lehigh’s 17-game run and Stephen F. Austin’s 10-game streak still matter, especially in a subdivision where every October win can reshape playoff positioning. But regular-season streaks only become true title proof when they survive the kind of schedule that ends with championships, not just clean Saturdays. That is the line separating a good run from a season that can carry all the way into January.
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