FRANKLIN, Ind. — Earlham College set a Division III record for consecutive losses with 51 with a 64-20 loss to Franklin on Saturday.
Earlham, which hasn't won since 2013, broke the 38-year record held by Macalester College, which put together its 50-game losing streak from 1974 to 1979.
Franklin (7-1), the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football champions in 10 of the last 11 seasons, quickly put to rest the thought of an upset by outscoring Earlham 27-3 in the first quarter. It was 43-3 at halftime after Franklin had 517 yards of offense.
Earlham (0-8) has a week off before hosting winless Defiance (0-7), losers of 10 straight, on November 3. Earlham is far from the NCAA record held by Prairie View with 80 straight Division I-AA losses from 1989-98.
Macalester's streak ended with the opening game of 1980 when the Scots rallied to defeat Mount Senario College of Wisconsin 17-14 on a last-second field goal. The streak featured a number of lopsided games, including one against Concordia-Moorhead in 1977 when Macalester took a 6-0 lead and ended up losing 97-6.
