UTA FB Vol. 5 Gm. 6 - Perseverance

1978 may have been the most deceptive season for the UT Arlington football program. The Mavericks entered this week 0-5, with losses to Drake, West Texas State, North Texas, Louisiana Tech and East Carolina. But, the Movin' Mavs were either one play away or had one play go wrong that contributed in every game. Every loss was by a touchdown or less. On top of it, only one loss was to Southland Conference foe, meaning every hope for an Independence Bowl bid was alive.

The year was also a very big microcosm of the the program in the 1970's save for a very big one. The team always played above its head, or at least at its level or higher. It came from an outdated philosophy from the late 1960's and early 1970's. UTA had to play harder teams to move to the higher level as the way to move up back then was to play half  the schedule against the higher level. When UTA was the first Southland Conference school to move up, the out of conference schedule had to be tougher. But by the mid-1970's, the entire SLC was playing at the highest level, so that philosophy was no longer needed.

The major difference in 1978 was that UTA played two home games in September. That accounted for 40 percent of the true home games played in the entire decade of the 1970's. It also the big reason 1978 was the best attended season in both total attendance and average in the decade. The higher attended games are always earlier in the year. In UTA's case, it also meant that by the time they played in front of the home crowd, they were out of contention or at least playing with a losing record.



Today's opponent was New Mexico State. It was a program very similar to UTA. It was a member of the highest division much, much longer, but had been as competitive as UTA and the two were usually very evenly matched. Were it not for a 1-6 record when the Rebels/Mavs played them as a member of the lower division, the record would be much more even. At 18 of a possible 27 seasons, they were a school UTA faced quite often, second most of any team that was never a conference mate.

The Aggies came were sporting a 2-2 record, with wins over UTEP and Indiana State. A one-point squeaker to North Texas and four-point setback to Southern Illinois were the two losses. Being a road game, this one was very much in doubt for the Mavericks.

1978 was basically a tale of two seasons for UTA. After starting 0-5, would this day be the turning point? On this day in UTA football history, UTA travels to Las Cruces, New Mexico to square off against the New Mexico State Aggies.





Taken from the Fort Worth Star Telegram, 10-8-1978.