Going into the North Texas State game, the 1977 UT Arlington Mavericks football sported a 3-2 record and had optimism for the rest season. A defense that made big plays when needed and a proven offense led by Derrick Jensen proved a worthy opponent. But the 15-6 loss to a nationally-ranked North Texas team evened their record to 3-3. More importantly, it seemed to take a little wind out of their sails.
The Mavericks went back to Cravens Field and hosted a New Mexico State squad that on paper should have seen the Mavericks favored. NMSU was 3-3, but didn't really have any marquee wins, but did have a few lopsided losses. Yet five missed field goals and a Roy Dewalt fumble from a blindside hit that led to the only NMSU score cost the Mavericks dearly in a 7-6 loss.
With that, the Mavericks had a two-game losing streak on their hands. Making it even worse, a road trip to Ruston, Louisiana to face perpetual thorn Louisiana Tech was next up for the '77 team. UTA beat the Bulldogs the prior year to snap a seven-game losing streak dating back to 1961. It was also the first win against LT since they joined the Southland Conference.
The Mavericks and Bulldogs squared off a total of 18 times in program history, good for a tie for fifth with New Mexico State for most-played opponent. To say it was a lopsided series would be a bit of an understatement. UTA won the first meeting in 1961, then dropped those seven games mentioned before the prior win in '76. Some of the losses were poor timing, particularly in the 1960's. Then-known-as Arlington State College only had three losing seasons. In each losing season, they played Louisiana Tech, which resulted in those three losses.
From a win/loss perspective, the worst period in Maverick football overall was the early to mid-1970's. From 1970 to 1975, the Mavs were 16-48. Four of the 48 belong to La Tech. It didn't help the games weren't close either. If somehow UTA's point total were doubled, they'd still have lost those games. Two would still be losses if you quadrupled the Maverick score.
But in 1976, a lot of frustrations were exercised in a 56-35 blowout in the Mavs favor. That win gave optimism that UTA could hang with anyone in the SLC. Especially since the1976 season was so close (two points difference) to an Independence Bowl berth and a co-championship for UTA.
Later in the series, UTA would get on a roll, winning three in a row from 1979-'81. After that, the Techsters never lost. They ended UTA's championship runs in 1984 and '85. The '85 game was the last home game for the Mavericks before the program was disbanded. Being in contention for a conference championship with two games remaining showed the progress UTA had made, though obviously it wasn't enough,
La Tech was expected to be good at the beginning of the '77 season. The Southland coaches had picked them second behind McNeese State. Coming into this game, Louisiana Tech had proven them right and regained some of their early '70's magic. They technically had no losses, but at 4-0-2, the two ties were for all intents and purposes one loss in the winning percentage. At 2-0-1 in the conference, they were in the driver's seat for another conference title and automatic bid to the Independence Bowl. A UTA win would give the Mavs the tiebreaker and a shot for the automatic Indy Bowl bid, though Southwest Louisiana was sitting at 2-0-1 with a win over UTA. The Cajuns would have hoped for a UTA win, as that would put them up over the Bulldogs.
With huge implications for the top of the conference standings, on this day in UTA football history, the 1977 Mavericks travel to Ruston, Louisiana for a road game against Louisiana Tech.
Taken from the Dallas Morning News, October 30, 1977.
To finish 1977, UTA returned home the first weekend in November for a home contest against Southern Mississippi. UTA never beat USM in ten tries and this homecoming contest was no different. UTA's offense was bottled up by the beefy defense of the Eagles in a 20-3 loss.
UTA snapped the four-game losing streak in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The Mavericks offense finally found itself in a 44-14 win. The defense did its usual thing in limiting the then-Indians to two second-quarter touchdowns.
In the last game of the year, with nothing on the line for either team, squeaked out a 14-7 win over long-time conference rival Lamar. Dewalt scored two touchdowns, including a 77-yarder and again the defense did its job to give the 1977 team its final 5-6 record and 3-2 in the Southland. It was the second year in a row with both of those records. It also was the second year in a row they scored more points than they gave up. The defense was much better, but the offense scored 63 less. Had the '76 offense been there for the '77 team, or the '77 defense been there for the '76 team, UTA may have made a bowl in either of both years.
Either way, the team was making tremendous improvement from their struggles in the early 1970's, giving Mav fans hope for the future.
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