As October moves past the halfway mark, our series for this year returns to 1972. While historians look back at the '72 squad with general enthusiasm, no one would know it at this point in time. When we last checked in with the '72 Mavericks, they were fresh off their 21-3 loss to Oklahoma State. That loss moved them to 0-2.
It didn't get better from there as they lost to on the road to Toledo, 38-24. The fourth road game in a row did not fare any better as the Mavs fell to TCU in Fort Worth 38-14. At least that road game was a small distance for Maverick fans to follow. Hard to get excited for an 0-3 squad facing a team in the premier conference from the region. A good crowd of 22,000 plus was on hand, so they were at least traveling in some number.
Finally, last week, the team's first home game occurred as conference favorite Louisiana Tech came to Arlington. I mentioned last week how much the Bulldogs dominated UTA during this era, and specifically mentioned the 35-14 loss. While the stat sheet wasn't dominated by Louisiana Tech offensively, Tech won the rushing yardage battle 196-150, passing yards 154-78 and first downs 19-13, they intercepted nine, yes nine Maverick passes. That interception record is still a Southland Conference record for most thrown in a game.
So that sets the stage for today's match-up. At 0-5 on the year, 0-1 in conference play, things certainly looked bleak. After an 0-10 mark in 1970 and a 2-9 mark in '71, things looked like much of the same for '72. The Mavs had been outscored 170-72 to this point in the season, or a rough average score of 34-14.
Today's opponent is New Mexico State. I chronicled the opponent when the 1967 team played them. Click the link for the significance of the Aggies to the Mavs football fortunes.
Instead, there are two important components of today's entry.
The first, despite the poor start, today was a turning point. It may not seem obvious at first. But if you know, you know. Pay attention to the score and, just as importantly, keep checking in with The Maverick Rambler every Saturday to find the payoff.
The second is a point I've made many, many times. UTA is the worst-case study of a team moving up to the highest level I have ever seen, in this case the College Division to the University Division.
The first reason, I don't have actual numbers, but I have several quotes from coaches and other administrators that the budget stayed essentially the same. There was no greater allocation for the athletic budget. As the rest of the Southland moved up, UTA's budget and scholarships did not. Recruiting was limited in comparison. UTA received good fortune that some of their better players in the late 1970's were walk-ons and they were attracted to UTA for the school itself.
Also, their stadium situation was deteriorating. The on-campus Memorial Stadium was a wood bleacher stadium with a capacity of just over 10,000 and a small press box area. The locker rooms were in the nearby P.E. Building, which is still standing on campus. It was demoed in the mid-1970's and replaced by the Maverick Activities Center. Seeing a better opportunity, the team moved to Turnpike Stadium in 1970, later renamed Arlington Stadium when the Texas Rangers moved from Washington D.C. There were multiple headaches with this situation, some known, others unforeseen.
The Texas Rangers became the primary tenants this year and controlled the events 24 hours before and after games. This obviously created issues in September when Major League Baseball was still in season. The same was true when the venue was occupied by a minor league team in '70 and '71.
In 1970, there were zero home games in the first month of the season. In 1971, the September 25th game versus Toledo was the home opener. There obviously were no home September games this year, as mentioned above.
In following years, there were none in 1973, '74, '75 and only one in 1976, the last year of playing in the stadium. Now, there were other appearances early in the area, but just not at home. They played North Texas at Texas Stadium in '73 and '75. There was supposed to be an Arlington Stadium home match in September in 1974, but the Rangers said they had to rethink that idea, so they trekked down to the Cotton Bowl instead. Maverick Stadium may owe its existence to that last series of events.
11 total September home games in the 1960's transitioned to only five in the 1970's. And of those five, three were at Cravens Field when they played there from '77 to '79. It rebounded to eight in the '80's, a decade that was obviously cut short. One last note on the poor early home showing, the season generally started a week or two later in the 1960's than they did in the '70's and the '60's still outdrew their later counterpart.
The poor early home slate was compounded by a major factor. The criteria for a move to a higher classification was far simpler then when compared to now. In those days, 50 percent of the schedule had to be against those in the higher division. What does the coach have to do to accomplish that feat when there's an 11-game schedule and five are conference games? Oh, and every conference member is in the lower division.
That equals six games against the higher-caliber teams. The other major factor is when the schedule's usually see conference games. Of the 22 seasons in the Southland Conference, UTA's first conference game came after an average of almost four non-conference games were recorded.
So, on the one hand, we have a need to play higher-division teams, see usually tougher in competition, coupled with no home games during the majority of the first third of the season while playing these teams with a dash of little budgetary support and what is the outcome? A poor performance before fans get their first look. I can't think of a better way to suppress casual fan support than that.
Now, let's put your perspective into that of the fans. Your support is dwindling and the team plays in a baseball stadium with fan amenities built around minor league baseball. The team you support is consistently losing. For the fair-weather fan, you attend a school with tepid school spirit and your school's team is 0-4 with a home opener.
I think the point is made. A lot of school officials thought Maverick Stadium was the panacea for the program's ills. The reality is that the budget and scheduling were far more damaging.
All of this was on display in 1972. And sadly, if the team turns it around so late in the season, no one would know until it was too late. Would that be the case this year?
On this day in UTA football history, the Mavericks travel to Las Cruces for an affair with New Mexico State in 1972.
Taken from the Dallas Morning News, October 22, 1972.
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