Since we last looked at the 1961 season, the Arlington State College Rebels had just lost to McMurray. That started a mini-slide where they would lose two of three. The following week, they rebounded to a 19-14 road win at Trinity, but lost at home to Abilene Christian, 17-15 the week later.
Those last two teams would be a staple of the Rebel schedule. Both the Tigers and Wildcats first played ASC in 1960, and would do so til the early 1970's. All three were founding members of the Southland Conference.
That always made me wonder if there were other teams invited who declined to join the SLC. Louisiana Tech appeared frequently on the Reb schedule. Northeastern Louisiana, now Louisiana-Monroe did too. We they invited and declined? I don't know that we'll ever know. I have never been able to find any definitive answers. Those things are hard to find, even today.
Speaking of Northeastern Lousiana, that's be who appeared on the slate today. Of course, they would be a school UTA is familiar with even today. But the football teams, not as much. They played often in the early 1960's, but not as conference foes. The Indians joined the SLC in 1982, but they were conference foes until 1985 when the football program disbanded. Most other UTA programs are familiar with NLU/ULM, as they were SLC rivals until ULM left for the Sun Belt in 2006. UTA would join them in 2012, renewing a decades long rivalry.
As I mentioned previously this year, the 1961 squad was one of only five four-year teams to finish over .500. They would shut out Southwestern Oklahoma to end the year.
But on this day in UTA football history, the Rebels try to rebound and renew the winning feeling against the Northeast Louisiana Indians.
Taken From the Dallas Morning News, 11-12-1961.
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