I really wish I could have experienced the Arlington State College, later the UT Arlington, Rebels in the 1960's. Not just in football, though obviously they believed that sport was the cornerstone. Men's basketball was a combined 82-163 overall and 14-34 in Southland Conference play from their four-year jump in 1959 to the end 1968/69 season. Their best finish was a tie for second in the SLC in 66/67, where they finished 14-12 and 4-4, both were bests in the decade for the Rebels. I can't help but wonder how much of the current MBB culture stems from this era, especially in the student support side.
Baseball had one season in the decade, a 6-18, 0-8 conference mark. Cross Country finished last in four years and second to last in the other conference meet. Golf had the second-best performance of all he sports, getting second in the conference meet twice and third out of five a separate four times. Tennis was near golf with two runner-up finishes, two third places and one fourth. The track team had one top half finish, a third in 1964. There were three second to last place finishes and two lasts. The women's teams were still years from their first competition.
But the football team was competitive, and in some cases dominant, throughout the decade. Their record was 61-42-1 during the decade. They won a conference title twice, while finishing second twice and last once. The optimism surrounding Athletics at UTA was pretty high during the decade.
When we last checked in with the 1967 UTA Rebels, they were fresh off a 16-14 win over Arkansas State to go to 8-1 on the year. As covered in 2017 in this series, the final game was a convincing 16-10 home win against the defending co-champs in Lamar. It was the first undefeated champs in conference history. All that was next was the waiting.
The team was a strong candidate for a berth in the Pecan Bowl. It was the second real flirt with a bowl, as the 9-2 1960 squad was in the mix for the at-large berth in the Tangerine Bowl before The Citadel Bulldogs got the nod. Later, they had an outside shot in 1968, but Arkansas State won their meeting, the conference and the Pecan Bowl berth.
A couple of days after the Lamar game, it became official.
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| From the Dallas Morning News, November 20, 1967 |
In a twist that I didn't remember, I did not cover this game in 2017. How it slipped my mind then, I don't remember. They were close to several bowl bids in their University history, but this was the only one. It may be the biggest game in the program's history.
Other close misses include 1976, where they lost to Arkansas State, 14-13 at home. Had they won that one, they would have gone to the Independence Bowl. They still had a chance when they beat Lamar to end the season, but didn't get a Southwestern Louisiana win over McNeese State. In 1977, had they beaten Louisiana Tech, they would have been SLC champs and Independence Bowl participants. In 1979, the only home and conference loss of the year was to McNeese State, 14-13. The Cowboys would run the SLC undefeated on their way to a second Indy Bowl. In 1981, the last year UTA won a conference title, the Indy Bowl no longer took the SLC champs.
I can't understate how rare bowl appearances were during UTA's time as a football-sponsoring institution. The 1981 season was UTA's last at the I-A, now Football Bowl Subdivision, level. There were 137 teams in 1-A in 1981 to go with 16 bowls. Less than a quarter of all team made a bowl. Now, there are 133 FBS teams, but a whopping 42 bowls. Almost two-thirds of all teams make a bowl.
The pinnacle of the decade, and probably the entire program, came in today's entry, the only postseason appearance for UTA football as a four-year school. I even ranked this the fifth best moment in the history of the Athletic Department.
As mentioned in the article above, today's opponent was North Dakota State. They are just one of those programs that have success in whatever classification they are in at the time. They have won or claimed three national titles at the College Division, five in Division II and nine at the Football Championship Subdivision level. They have an all-time winning percentage of two-thirds.
They have played in six bowl games total, all between 1964 and 1970. They went 5-1 in those games. They were heavy favorites coming in, receiving a polling position of second in both the Coaches and the AP polls. UTA, meanwhile, was third in the Coaches, but sixth in the AP.
Both teams had nine wins, while the Bison had zero losses. The Rebels lone loss was to the University Division's West Texas State.
Pretty impressive to think UTA's company during this time was North Dakota State and San Diego State, who would win the national title in 1967.
In addition to the daunting opponent, weather forecasts leading up to the game proved dire, freezing temperatures with precipitation. A southern underdog team playing a northern squad in freezing, icy weather? Just another typical script confronted by the 1967 UTA Rebels.
On this day in UTA football history, the Rebels play in the postseason for the first time at the four-year level as the North Dakota State Bison await the Rebs in the Pecan Bowl.
Taken from the Dallas Morning News, December 17, 1967.
