We started the 2023 This Day in UTA Football History with three straight games in the 1970's. Today will mark the fourth entry in the 1960's. Just two weeks ago we looked at the 1961 Arlington State Rebels' win over Stephen F. Austin that victory jumped the ASC record to 2-1 on the year.
The following week, the Rebs faced the McNeese State Cowboys, not to be confused with last week's entry against McNeese State in 1967. After trailing 13-0 at half, the Rebels scored 15 in the third and got an insurance touchdown in the fourth, which they needed. McNeese scored with a minute and a half remaining, recovered the ensuing onside kick with a few seconds remaining, but Ronnie Sutherland sealed the game with an interception and then a lengthy return as time expired. The 22-19 win moved their record to 3-1.
This week's tone will be similar to last week, as today's opponent is similar to McNeese State last week.
The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs were members of the now-defunct Gulf States Conference in 1961. Essentially, that conference contained every future Louisiana member of the Southland Conference, just like last week's opponent in McNeese. Nicholls State, Northeast Louisiana (now Louisiana-Monroe), Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana and Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) were the other members.
I don't have anything to back up the thought, but Arlington State would play four teams from that conference this year. They played three the year before. In 1962, it was only one, but back up to three in 1963. Maybe they were auditioning for an invite to that conference.
Likely not as conference affiliation was not as big a deal back then as it would be in later years. Playing as an independent did not require the scheduling flexibility as we know it today and the geographic convenience of Louisiana was probably the reason they played so often.
As for Louisiana Tech, they and ASC met often in the early 1960's. Today was the first of 18 eventual meetings. Like McNeese State last week, the two would eventually meet as conference foes after the handful of non-conference match-ups.
Also like McNeese, Louisiana Tech would join the Southland Conference after the Gulf States folded at the conclusion of the 1970/71 year. Louisiana Tech and Southwestern Louisiana joined immediately in the fall of '71 while McNeese joined a year later. I'm not sure why the Cowboys were later than the other two, but these things are usually a product of football scheduling.
The 18 meetings are tied for fifth all-time for UTA's most played opponent. UTA played LTU one more time in conference play while McNeese had two more meetings as non-conference foes. Since Louisiana Tech started playing in 1901, UTA isn't as high on Louisiana Tech's all-time opponent list as they were on McNeese's. However, they are still tied for 13th on their most played list. Forty years of no football and UTA is still relatively high on their list.
What is not like McNeese is pretty noticeable. The Bulldogs came into the SLC at the height of their program's success, winning the College Division National Championship from 1970-72. UTA was at the lowest point of its four-year tenure. La Tech stayed at the top of the conference until UTA finally got their number in 1976. 1979 was the only other win against LTU in the '70's. UTA and McNeese were within a game of each other in the standings 9 of 14 times. UTA and LTU were tied or within a game only six times in 15 tries.
When Louisiana Tech won conference titles in 1971 through '74, UTA was second once in 1972. They lost to Tech 35-14 at home that year. Tech won it again in 1977 and '78. UTA was second in '78. The Mavericks lost with a more reasonable score of 28-21, again at home. It's worthy to note that had UTA won, they'd have been tied with Arkansas State, who also beat UTA at home 27-7. UTA was just in a bad position for an Independence Bowl berth that year, but still with an outside shot.
LTU was at the top again in 1982, with their 5-0 conference record light years ahead of the Mavs 1-4 mark. The final LTU championship during UTA's tenure was in 1984, a 5-1 finish, one game ahead of UTA's 4-2 mark. The 34-0 road loss sealed UTA's fate.
It really is an interesting what-if to think if Louisiana Tech had not joined the Southland Conference, would the number of championships be higher.
The irony is that despite the Bulldogs run of success, they produced NFL talent at the same rate as UTA did. Many people wonder what the University's sports teams could have done with equal funding as their peers. The academic qualities and other upsides to UTA kept the teams with talent every year.
Finally, in 1985, UTA was in the running for an outside shot at a conference title when the two schools met in the second-to-last game of the season. A 29-14 home loss sealed the Mavs fate again for the second year in a row. It was also the last home game at Maverick Stadium as the program was disbanded following the last game of the season. The teams certainly share a history.
All that was in the distant future though in 1961, as on this day in UTA football history, the Rebels host Louisiana Tech.
No comments:
Post a Comment