Florida has nation's longest streak of season-opening victories, thanks to Nebraska loss

Florida's 61-13 victory over New Mexico State was all sorts of things to Gators fans, and we'll detail many more of those things over the course of this Sunday.

One of the most significant ramifications of the win, though? Florida now has the nation's longest streak of season-opening victories.

The triumph over the Aggies ran Florida's streak to 26 consecutive years with a win in its season opener — and Nebraska's 33-28 loss to BYU, on a Hail Mary thrown by the backup to Cougars starter Taysom Hill, dashed the previous longest streak in the nation.

Florida has now won every season opener since 1989, when the Gators lost 24-19 to Mississippi in a rare season opener against an SEC school. Nebraska had won every season opener since 1985, when it fell to Florida State.

Florida's streak of season-opening victories spans three decades, and is one of just two active streaks nationally to do so: USC's 17 consecutive season-opening wins date back to 1999. (Texas had its streak of 15 straight season-opening wins, which had been the fourth-longest nationally, snapped by Notre Dame on Saturday.)

The Gators' streak is, of course, largely predicated on playing games against overmatched non-conference teams at home in season openers. But in 2017, when Florida meets Michigan in Cowboys Stadium, it's likely the longest streak of season-opening wins in college football will be on the line.