What a Season

While I wanted this up sooner, this will likely be my last post about the 2024 UT Arlington volleyball team this year. The fact it comes in December is remarkable and a long time coming. A season to remember has finally ended in the 2024 NCAA volleyball tournament.

After completing an amazing run in the Western Athletic Conference tournament that culminated in an instant classic in the championship match between UTA and GCU, UTA took its WAC championship title to the NCAA Tournament Selection committee for an automatic berth.

Coming into Selection Sunday, UTA had a 29-2 record and a 43 RPI ranking. I have no memory of a higher ranking for either category. The Mavs won 26 in 2002 when I was a student broadcaster. There were 25 wins in 2006 and 2014. Ironically, both those teams lost in the tournament to the eventual champion, meaning a 26th win in either season would have been against the eventual winner. Also of note, both those years, the eventual tourney champ won a match in the NCAA tourney. Since the turn of the century, UTA's conference has won a match in the NCAA tourney three times. Two of those times were in 2006 and 2014. Undoubtedly, UTA played a role in getting those teams a favorable seed.

The Mavericks were sent down to Austin as the equivalent of the third seed like in what would occur in the baseball and softball tournaments. If it was similar to the basketball tournament, it would have been an 11 seed.

The UT Austin Longhorns were seeded third in their 16-team section of the bracket. There are four main sections in the bracket with 16 teams each. and only the top eight teams are seeded within the region. The University of Southern California was also sent to Austin as a six seed and that would be UTA's opponent.

Shooting Woes

I mentioned in the last basketball post that I was slowly starting to dislike the way I was covering some UT Arlington athletic events. I don't want this to be a source straight game recaps, but rather a place for opinions to be expressed regarding the UTA Intercollegiate Athletic Department. So I'm gonna try a different approach with my first women's basketball entry.

I had something typed up prior to Thanksgiving, but an outage caused the post to be deleted. I had a self-imposed deadline because of the holidays and really don't like it took this long for the first women's basketball blog entry to be posted. But it did change the tone of the entry somewhat as my first take has adjusted slightly after the Houston game, where some of the concerns and observations I had were challenged or disputed. 

At an overall record of 3-5, with only two of those wins against Division I, my initial impression is the Mavericks are underperforming compared to the preseason expectations. However, the schedule is definitely tiered. There are four losses to teams in the top half of DI and the fifth is to one that's seven spots from the top half.

The losses include a 73-54 setback at Arizona, 71-60 at Louisiana Tech, 93-65 at Arkansas, 73-55 at Purdue and a 71-46 drugging in Dallas by SMU. Arizona was a return trip in a home and home. La Tech was a part of the Western Athletic Conference / Conference USA scheduling alliance. I'm not certain of the rest, but it would appear they are guarantee games where that school writes a check for a one-and-done series at their place. 

The wins include a 105-35 home win against the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association's Arlington Baptist, a too-close 73-71 road win at East Texas A&M (I love their name change to reflect their historic roots, BTW) and now a 61-57 home win at College Park Center, the fourth straight in the series for UTA.

Instant Classic

The UT Arlington Mavericks volleyball team is not only the Western Athletic Conference regular seasons champs, but the Tournament champs after Saturday's win against Grand Canyon University in the championship game.

It was a memorable weekend, one that would likely have an impact on the top ten moments entry, UTA competed in an instant classic in the championship match. It culminated three days of intense volleyball at College Park Center, and not just in matches involving UTA. 

The Mavericks opened the weekend against Abilene Christian in the one/eight seed match. Continuing the sweeps from the prior two matches of the year, UTA swept the Wildcats, winning 25-17, 25-18, 25-14. It was the exact dominant performance the average fan would expect from the first game or match of any sports tournament featuring the same seeds. It showed to me UTA was ready and came on a mission. 

However, after the first round was complete, I became very apprehensive.

Hoops at the Start Line

 It has been an interesting start to the 2024/25 basketball season for both the men and women. As it stands, basketball for either gender may be the hardest sports to determine how they will fare when evaluating the team in the offseason as well as the early portion of the non-conference season. The transfer portal just decimates rosters and creates a turnover unprecedented in the history of the NCAA.

I have been watching the games, wondering how to evaluate both of them. I don't want the appearance of ignoring either squad, so I'll just dive into the UT Arlington men's basketball team and follow one for the women soon. I'm going to try a different style with them and see which I like.

The men have faced two non-Division I teams at home, easily one of the ten best teams not in a Power 5 conference and two DI road games. I challenge anyone to look at those factors and come to a conclusion about a team.

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 12 - It Ends Here

The final entry of This Day in UTA Football History is fairly straightforward when all qualifying seasons are on the table. In 2013, the final game of 1985, and therefore the program, occurred on this day in that season, as it was in the inaugural year of this blog. 

However, since it was covered in 2013, there were some interesting options on the table this year, though none were just outwardly striking. In 1963, the Arlington State Rebels lost to the Trinity Tigers 12-7 in San Antonio. That wrapped up a 1-8 season. In 1968, the UT Arlington Rebels beat the Lamar Tech Cardinals 37-20 to wrap up a 6-4, 3-1 mark in the Southland Conference. The prior game knocked the Rebs out of contention of the outright SLC championship race and dropped them out of the national polls. I still contend, looking at the stats, rosters and schedule results, the 1968 Rebels were one of the best all-time teams that ran into a couple of bad luck scenarios. 

But the game I will feature today is the finale of the 1974 Mavericks, though at the time, what would make this game distinct had yet to show itself.

Postseason Accolades

I mentioned in the comments of the last volleyball post that the UT Arlington Mavericks squad should be well represented. The awards and all-conference teams were announced by the Western Athletic Conference today and as a whole, it came to fruition.

I'll start with Player of the Year. While some teams had an impact player or two, it is hard to suppress what graduate student Brianna Ford did at her outside hitter position. She led the WAC in kills, kills per set, points and was fourth in hitting percentage, sixth in blocks, seventh in aces, ninth in blocks per set and tenth in digs. Were she playing on another team, some of those numbers would likely be higher as UTA spread the wealth around. UTA would have been good without her, but her presence on both the offensive and defensive side is what propelled the Mavs to their highest win total in three and a half decades.

Ford is the ninth Player of the Year in program history and the first since Olaya Pazo in 2002. 

Postseason Time

The regular season has concluded for all volleyball programs in the Western Athletic Conference. For the first time since a nine-match conference slate in the Southland Conference in 1992, UT Arlington has run the gamut undefeated.

Coming into the week, or rather, since my last blog post, UTA beat Tarleton for a 14-0 conference mark. With a Utah trip on the schedule, the Mavs were looking to make a mark in the history books.

Southern Utah has been on a slide of late and hosted on Thursday. The Thunderbirds took a set from UTA in Arlington and repeated that feat again, with UTA taking the other three sets. After a less-than-comfortable 25-21 set win, the Mavs and 'birds went toe-to-toe in set two, with neither team getting more than a three-point lead. At the end of the set, SUU staved off two set points for UTA and then claimed the set on their first try for a 26-24 win. They ended on a 4-0 run.

That appeared to upset UTA as the final two sets were won by 11 points each time and UTA moved one match away from perfection. 

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 11 - Last One Out, Get the Lights

I've said it before when referencing the 1985 UT Arlington football squad that I have a morbid fascination with this team. The overall record of 4-6-1 is misleading. There's a real chance this is the best team that won only four games in UTA history. With maybe the exception of the 1978 team, 1985 could be the best six loss team. Of course, as most of us know, this was also the last year of the program. I think it was that misleading record that contributed to the ultimate doom of the program, at least when looking at the micro scale of a singular season.

The beginning of October was the last time the 2024 edition of This Day in UTA football checked in with the 1985 squad. They had just beaten Wichita State. That win upped the record to 2-2 on the year. The 31-3 win would be the biggest margin of victory on the year.

The following week, six turnovers cost the squad as a 10-7 fourth quarter lead turned into a 21-10 loss at Drake. There were just some teams that had UTA's number. Drake was one of them. At 0-3 all-time, the Mavs never figured out their number. The Bulldogs were never really a consistent winner, UTA could never just get past them. Had the Mavs who beat Wichita State showed up against Drake, it would have been another UTA win.

Lamar came to Arlington for homecoming the following week. As I'll go into greater detail next week, Lamar was a team that was opposite of Drake. UTA just had their number. The 37-17 win improved UTA to 3-3, and just as importantly, 1-0 in Southland Conference play.

That conference record would jump to 2-0 to end October. Northeast Louisiana, or Louisiana-Monroe today, came to Arlington and for the second year in a row, the Mavs knocked them off, 27-13. For the first time on the season, UTA sported more wins than losses at 4-3. They were in the driver's seat in SLC play at 2-0.

Then the wheels fell off. 

Championship a Long Time Coming

 Coming into this academic year, there was a paradox on campus for the UT Arlington Mavericks. One team sport dominates all the others for conference championships and postseason wins. However, that same team sport had the longest drought between conference titles.

At 12, this program was second to all UTA sports in the conference title tally, with the men's tennis team taking the lead with 13 thanks to two WAC titles in a row. Men's indoor track was tied at 12 while the outdoor squad and women's tennis had 11.

Coming in, all those previous teams kept adding titles with the last decade or less. The program in question hadn't won a title in the previous 21 seasons. But no longer.

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 10 - Divergent Paths

The 1968 UT Arlington Rebels make their third and final appearance today in the 2024 edition of This Day in UTA Football History. This is the second time 1968 has appeared in the series, with the first coming in 2013. In that year, I mentioned this was one of my favorite seasons ever. One of my favorite games of all time comes next week, but I'll link it here. It was a classic for the ages. 

The last look at the 1968 Rebels this year was a game against McNeese State. The win against the Cowboys moved their season record to 3-2. After the win, the Coaches poll had UTA at number 14 whereas the AP poll had the Rebs at 12th.

The next week was UTA's second game against a higher Division opponent, a 41-0 loss to West Texas State. The Buffaloes were one of the better University Division teams during 1968 and the loss didn't drop UTA's ranking much, 20th in coaches and 19th in the AP. 

While the 3-3 record on the surface was disappointing, the fact that two were to a higher division opponent and a third was a narrow loss to the defending national champions gave comfort to UTA fans.

Running like a New Machine

The UT Arlington volleyball team flipped the schedule from Thursday/Saturday matches to Saturday/Monday matches this week, but the result stayed steady as the Mavericks grabbed two wins against California Baptist and Abilene Christian. 

CBU took the Mavs to five sets in Riverside, California earlier in the year. CBU is one of the few teams in the Western Athletic Conference UTA has not swept. Southern Utah and Utah Valley are the others, though UTA has only played once.

It looked like the Mavs would cruise early in the match as they took the first set 25-17. UTA looked in control and like they were operating smoothly. The passes were clean and the attacks were on target. But set two looked like CBU ironed out their offense as they had a hitting percentage near a third. UTA's defense looked a step behind and the score was flipped 18-25. Set three and four saw a return to the first set as the Mavs allowed 18 and 19 points en route to a 3-1 match win.

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 9 - Homecoming Game

As the UT Arlington Athletic Department prepares for homecoming week today, This Day in UTA Football History will take a peek at 1963 season's homecoming match.

Back in the days of the Arlington State College / UTA football program, homecoming centered around the football game. Nowadays, the University has done a good job of incorporating all three team sports in the week-long festivities. Today, the Volleyball team hosts California Baptist. Monday, the men's basketball team opens the season with a mid-day game against North Texas-Dallas while volleyball team will play Abilene Christian at College Park Center in the evening. On Thursday, the women's basketball team plays Arlington Baptist at 6:30 pm. On Saturday, volleyball has a mid-day match against Utah Valley while the men's basketball guys take on Louisiana Tech at 5 pm.

There are other myriad activities as well that include students getting involved in the University. This link shows many of those activities.

Back in the day, there were other various events, notably a bonfire and a football game. Other events came and went. Others like Bed Races or Oozeball had staying power, though aren't exclusively homecoming anymore. When I was a student, homecoming occurred in February. There have been changes over the years, but I can't think of a better way than how it is now. If a football resurrection occurs in the future, I hope nothing changes in the current line-up and the just add a football game to the lineup.

Speed Bump?

The skipping record of Western Conference volleyball action where the UT Arlington squad lands two wins in the week continued this past week. It wasn't the flawless victory seen in past weeks but in volleyball, sets matter, though matches matter the most. A sweep is the same mark in the win column as a five-set match. As UTA won the most in both scenarios making another post starts and ends with UTA atop the WAC standings.

It was road-trip week starting in Seattle on Thursday. Much like the 3-0 sweep a couple weeks ago in Arlington, the Redhawks were met the same fate but unlike the Arlington affair, SU was not an easy out in the first two sets. While UTA scored 25 in both, the Redhawks got the maximum points a set loser can have each time. In the third, UTA pushed aside two straight 25-23 wins and secured the match with a comfy 25-13 win, I'll save the individual accolades for later, but it was the same ladies who have been doing the same damage all year.

On Saturday, the Mavericks faced their first real stress in conference play as the Utah Valley Wolverines hosted UTA. After six straight sweeps prior to that affair, UTA lost the first two sets to UVU. You'd have to go back to the second conference match to get to a five-set contest involving UTA. That is what they would be shooting for to keep their perfect conference mark. 

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 8 - I Just Wanna Go Home

It's been a while since On This Day in UTA Football History checked in with the 1974 season. In 2013, I opened the entire series with the season opener, a 33-6 loss to Western Michigan in Kalamazoo. In this year's version, the second week of the season was the first feature for the 1974 UT Arlington football team. In that game, the score was closer, but a 12-3 loss is still a loss, even if it was against a Southwest Conference school in TCU. 

There's not much of a spoiler alert, but 1974 was a bad season. There is only one season in the UTA books worse than 1974, and that was a winless mark in 1970. A look at the 129-150-2 overall record of UTA as a University and the .463 winning percentage looks a little below average. Factoring out the two seasons mentioned and all of a sudden, the winning percentage rises to .496, or two games below .500. It was just an incredible amount of poor performance.

And that really was the mark of Head Coach Harold "Bud" Elliott. He was competitive, but ultimately mediocre. He'd win more in 1975 and improve again to a game below .500 in '76. That year, he was a win away from the Independence Bowl, which debuted that year. '76 was also the first year in the 1970's where the offense scored more points than the defense gave up. 

Another Large Step

At some point, I'd expect the record to stop skipping, but another week is done in Western Athletic Conference volleyball action and another 2-0 week for UT Arlington. The opponents are likely the toughest the conference will have to offer and the Mavericks aced the test.

The Mavs are now in the driver's seat for their first conference regular season title in 22 years. Weird to say, but the team sport with the best history, most conference titles and NCAA tournament appearances and wins has had a drought so long that students on campus were not alive for the last titles. 

The conference season is half complete and UTA is up on second-place Grand Canyon by two matches, three games up on third-place Utah Valley and three-and-a-half up on fourth-place Utah Tech and Southern Utah. UTA in now 2-0 against Grand Canyon, while they are 1-0 versus UT and SUU.

They got to two of those three records this past week with two dominant performances, both sweeps. First up was the 'lopes in Arlington. After a 3-1 win in Phoenix, including a 25-8 shellacking in the first set. I firmly expected a tough, hard-fought match.

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 7 - Regionality

The halfway mark to the standard football season has passed, so as we start the second half of the season, let's revisit the 1963 season. When we last checked in with that version of the Arlington State Rebels, they lost to one of the best rivals of the 1960's, East Texas State, 8-17. That outcome dropped their record to 0-2.

The following week, the home opener against Sam Houston State, was a close, high-scoring affair where the Rebs had the lead in the third quarter before losing it, regained it in the fourth before losing it and eventually ended the game with a potential game-winning pass broken up at the goal line. In the end it was a 34-28 Bearkat win. Sam Houston would go on to have a winning season at 4-3-1. Proving odds and Vegas lines mean little, it was an interesting dynamic as the Rebels were actually favored in that game.

ASC also set a record they didn't want at the time, but would be broken in 1970 as this was the fourth straight loss for the program, dating back to the prior year. It would be broken later this year and eventually shattered in 1970 to '71.

Big Showdown Looming

 Another Western Athletic Conference week is in the book for the UT Arlington volleyball squad and they repeated the same formula from the previous two conference weeks as they went undefeated, going 2-0.

It would have been easier to stumble in the third week of WAC play than in any other week due what's on tap this week. But as it is, other than some brief hiccups, the Mavericks did not drop a set in two sweeps. The wins moved their conference mark to 6-0 and 16-2 overall.

On Thursday, the Seattle Redhawks came to town and until SU went on a brief 4-0 run near the end of the third set, the Mavericks never took a timeout. That is pretty significant as coaches use timeouts to manage the runs by their opponents. Seattle made mild runs here and there and held brief, small leads. But the Mavs never looked stressed or out of control. By contrast, prior to the SU run / timeout in the third, UTA was leading 24-17 and Seattle looked demoralized. It has been a while since I have seen a Maverick opponent look like they were readily waving the white flag, but I did on Thursday.

Realignment Rumors

At the beginning of the month, I opined on the current state of the UT Arlington Athletic Department's place in the current landscape of college athletics, specifically in regard to their lack of a football program limiting the potential conference landing spots should the Western Athletic Conference lose one more member.

In it, I mentioned the few, limited possibilities as California Baptist is likely a prime target for the West Coast Conference and Tarleton State's Football Bowl Subdivision aspirations will likely lead to a Conference USA spot at a minimum. With few to no institutions willing to join, the WAC is in a rough spot. 

UTA potential could have a home in the Ohio Valley Conference, joining fellow Sun Belt Conference cast-off Little Rock. The Missouri Valley Conference and UTA briefly flirted before nothing formal advanced prior to UTA joining the WAC. The Atlantic Sun Conference likely would be receptive too, but I know of nothing actually occurring between the two. 

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 6 - We're About to be Good Friends

The 1960's were unquestionably the best time to be an Arlington State College / UT Arlington football fan. The team was riding momentum from a highly successful decade as a junior college program, flirted with a bowl within two years of moving up, went to and won a bowl game, had a winning percentage of .575, a home winning percentage of two-thirds, formation of the Southland Conference, attendance that led the SLC, sent players to the National Football League, etc.

I looked up attendance for a post last week and the top five highest average attended seasons were from this decade and 13 of the top 14 attended games were from this time period. That is due to so many reasons listed above, but it is just jarring to see attendance records hold 50 plus years later. Considering what occurred in the 1970's and ultimately the disbandment of the program, obviously it is understandable, but the duality of the University in the 1960's into the 1970's is evident in the football program too.

When we last checked in with the 1968 squad, they picked up their first win of the season against Northeast Louisiana. After notching a 1-1 record, they hit the road again and traveled to the University Division's New Mexico State.

Keep Rolling

 I'm going to shake up how I cover the UT Arlington volleyball squad this week. The last few weeks I have covered it set by set however, it feels long and congested to me. Proofreading it sometimes feels like a slog, so I'm not sure what it feels like to the average reader. I'll let you judge how it flows and tell me in the comments which you prefer, or if it matters.

This past week was like most of the rest of the 2024 season. There wasn't much that was left in doubt. So far, the Western Athletic Conference race isn't shaping up as predicted but that's a common occurrence.

Southern Utah, predicted eighth in the nine-team WAC, visited College Park Center for an early season test for number one. The Thunderbirds defeated Abilene Christian and Tarleton State in week one. ACU (6) and Tarleton (5) were predicted middle of the pack, so while they weren't world beating wins, SUU was hitting above their projections. 

Despite a third set hiccup, the Mavericks won handily in four, 25-13, 25-14, 19-25, 25-14. There was no real sweat in either set save the third. The Mavs took control early and kept it handily. In three set wins, if your opponent didn't surpass 14, that is a blowout.

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 5 - Not Shocked

September was rarely a good month for the UT Arlington football program. As today's edition of This Day in UTA Football History enters October, fortunes start to look up, though at the time, no one knows it of course. Which is ultimately what I think was the biggest fan suppressor. 

Of the four decades that Arlington State College / UTA sponsored a football program, from 1959-85, only one had a winning record in the September months. The lone winning decade was '59's 1-0 mark. The '60's saw a 12-13 total September mark. Not good, but not terrible. What is terrible would be the next two decades. The 1970's were a dismal 7-29. They averaged less than one win a year in the first month of the season. The 1980's were a bit better but still far below where they really needed to be. They had the same number of wins in near half the games with fewer losses. 7-13 is an improvement, but certainly needed to be better.  

Speaking of the 1980's, Head Coach Harold "Bud" Elliott was a terrible 3-11 in September from 1980 to 1983. Today's Head Coach, Chuck Curtis fared much better in 1984. At 3-1, it was the best start since 1979, also 3-1. As an aside, hard to imagine three of the seven September wins in the 1970's came in one season.

1985 was a different story for Coach Curtis. After the opening season loss to Angelo State, they went on the road to Huntsville. Sam Houston State was one of the better teams in the Gulf Star Conference, as they'd win two of the three football titles awarded by the now defunct conference. One of those years was in 1985 and though the Mavs played much better than how they started the season, the Bearkats came out on top, 38-23. After a rough start to the season, and a rough start to the game, UTA found out who they were in the second half. They trailed 24-0 at one point. Quarterback David Bates had a breakout half, was 14 of 27 for 180 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for more than 80 yards. 

If Not Now?

If you have a high-level whiplash injury or extreme fatigue from the constant conference reshuffling dubbed conference realignment, you are not alone. I miss the days were college sports were about competition and money wasn't so prominent. Unless it directly touches the UT Arlington Mavericks, I tend to avoid it here on the Maverick Rambler. 

With that setup, guess what is around the corner?

Recently, the remaining two schools of the old Pac-12 (Pac-2?) invited and received acceptance from Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State. Coupled with Oregon State and Washington State, that gave the Pac-2 seven schools (Pac-7?). The five schools departed the Mountain West, who also were left with seven members. Since the NCAA requires eight full-time members in a conference to play at the Football Bowl Subdivision, obviously, each conference needs at least one more FBS school. Meaning more moves are on the horizon.

So what does this all mean for the Maverick Rambler?

Almost a Letdown

 There will not be as many matches to talk about for the UT Arlington volleyball team now that conference play has started. At most there will be two matches a week, and occasionally, thanks to the odd number of Western Athletic Conference teams, one match to talk about.

But what a week it was. Conference play started with the conference preseason one and two going at it. The experienced Mavs, forecasted second to Grand Canyon's preseason prognostication of first, were playing their supposed betters. On top of that, UTA was on the road at their place. And, after winning the first two matches of the series, UTA had lost three straight entering Thursday.

There clearly was a chip on the Mavericks shoulder. It had to be some combo of underdog, away team and losing streak. The first set deceptively started as a slugfest the match was thought to be, as UTA led 1-0, tied 1-1, then another Mav lead at 3-1. 3-2. then 5-3. While still close at 8-5, the Mavs used runs of 5-0. 3-0. and 7-0, the latter ended the set, for an unpredicted 25-8 win. Graduate Student Brianna Ford scored two aces in that clinching run to go with three kills in the set, below her kill per set average. With such a dominating performance, and only three from the offensive engine, speaks to the depth this offense possesses.

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 4 - Good Ole Days

With today's look into the 1963 season, the qualifying seasons for this year's edition of This Day in UTA Football History is complete. It is also one of the harder seasons for me personally to cover. I have one media guide prior to 1967 (and they were bare bones guides back in that time frame) and the media coverage from that era was really sparse compared to later years.

What I can relay is just how different the attitudes surrounding the Arlington State Rebels football program were compared to later years. There was a greater pride, participation and anticipation with ASC football than there would be just a decade later. I've documented the almost overnight decline in campus pride from 1969 to 1970 before and will spare any discussion today.

But, believe it or not, the Rebs were a national powerhouse in the 1950's as a junior college. At 4-6, 1962 was the first losing season in Arlington since 1951's 3-4-1 record. From 1952 to 1961, a span of ten seasons, the worst record was 1959's 4-3 mark, the year ASC first played University schools. They were a combined 79-18-2. For those non-mathematicians, that's a winning percentage of .808. There were two Junior Rose Bowl victories in that mix, which was the mythical JuCo national title.

The Wait is Over

As is par for the UT Arlington men's basketball team, it seems they are one of the last in the NCAA to release a schedule. But on Tuesday, the 2024/25 schedule came out and there's some noticeable talking points. 

In August, playing schedule detective, we knew of a home game against Louisiana Tech, a road game at Missouri State, an in-season home and home with Louisiana-Monroe sandwiched around a buy game at Arkansas State, a road game at Liberty to complete the WAC/CUSA scheduling initiative and a home game against Evansville. Later, I learned the team would play in the Jacksonville Classic, but did not know the matchups, as well as a schedule release from the University of Southern California that had the Mavs on it.  

Now, with the schedule release, we can fill in the blanks. 

Small Speed Bump

The UT Arlington volleyball team finished the fourth weekend of the current season and there's nothing I saw that changed the outlook for the season. UTA finished the previous three weekends of three-game tournaments with wins in all matches. That didn't happen this time around and no one but the most homer of homer fans would have expected something similar.

This week's tournament took place in Fort Worth for the Horned Frog Invitational. In a change of pace, the first match was Tuesday. I was surprised to see there were no midweek matches this year. No Tuesday affair against North Texas, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State or other geographically close University. While technically not a true mid-week match, it did have that feel

For the first time I can remember, TCU was ranked in the top 25 at the start of the match. In a testament to how well volleyball is doing in Dallas/Fort Worth, SMU, who does not appear on the schedule, is also ranked. At this point in time, all three schools are a combined 25-7. North Texas has played a tough schedule en route to 3-8 record, but 0-5 versus Power 5 teams. 

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 3 - Talent Galore

 If you remember or look back at Volume One of This Day in UTA Football History, you'll recall that 1968 is one of my favorite years in the UTA football program. They were fresh off a 10-1 record, best in four-year history and a bowl win, the lone bowl as a four-year program. 

Most of the offensive players were back, and indeed, the 1968 offense was more prolific than the one from the best season in history. Eight offensive starters would return. Tackle Don Morrison, who was not a 1967 starter, would go on and play nine years and 123 games in the NFL. Center Billy Kornegay was also not a '67 starter but, like Morrison, he would earn all-conference honors at the end of this season. Every skill position was back. In short, the offense was a beast.

I'll start with quarterback Mike Baylor, who is number one on the UTA charts for: career total yards, passing attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns, single game attempts and touchdowns. David Bates took most of Baylor's single season records in 1985. Had Bates completed an '86 season, Baylor might not have those records now, but as is, he was the greatest all-time QB on the stat sheet.

Streak Unbroken

The UT Arlington volleyball squad completed the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational in Springfield, Missouri yesterday and like the previous two tournaments, they took the tourney title, winning all three matches. Like the previous tournament in Arlington, UTA won two by sweeps and a thrilling third match in five sets.

The weekend tournament started on Thursday with the host in Missouri State. In the three-game sweep, the Mavericks won the first two sets by identical 25-19 scores. The third set was tighter and tested UTA, but again, the Mavs came out on top 25-23. 

Brianna Ford, the Graduate Senior Outside Hitter led the Mavericks in kills with 13, digs with 16, Graduate Student Setter Mollie Blank had an efficient 38 assists and Paige Reagor, another Graduate Student at Middle Blocker had three blocks. Impressively to me, the team had a 40.6 hitting percentage in the first set. It fell to a more median .279 for the match, but that was a great way to start the weekend.

On Friday, Saint Louis was on tap for the middle match. At 3-3 entering the day, SLU was kind of an unknown. UTA still handled business in the sweep, the seventh of the year. The match certainly was competitive to start. After UTA built a 17-13 lead, Saint Louis went on a 6-2 and an 8-3 run to take a one-point lead. The Billikens had set point at 24-23, but the Mavs reeled off three straight points for a 26-24 win. After that, UTA left no doubt winning the last two sets by identical 25-12 scores. 

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 2 - Man vs. Amphibian

 Venturing into the second week of this year's edition of This Day in UTA Football History, we take a peek at the 1974 season. In 2013, The Maverick Rambler covered their season opener, a 33-6 loss on the road to Western Michigan.

The first half of the 1970's were the darkest days of the Arlington State College / UT Arlington football program. Three of the four lowest single season winning percentages occurred between 1970 and 1974. The other two years saw competitive teams, but no season ended with more wins than losses. 

There were three coaches in that time span. Burley Bearden ended his tenure after an 0-10 mark in 1970. He would retire as the last coach with a winning record until Chuck Curtis a decade and a half later. 

Winning Streak Continues

 After a great start to season Lafayette, Louisiana, the UT Arlington Volleyball squad hosted its own tournament this past weekend. The streak of sweeps ended in the first match, but the winning streak is still going strong after a good showing. Like last week, the opponents may not have been at the top of the NCAA, but again, UTA took care of its business in a convincing manner.

That first match was a 3-2 win against Santa Clara. The first set was super tight early until UTA built a 16-11 lead. The Broncos chipped away, though the Mavs still led 22-19. SC scored the last three points though for the 26-24 win. In the second set, UTA cruised 25-15, before losing by a similar score in the third. A comfy 25-19 fourth set win forced a deciding fifth.

The Mavs jumped to an early 4-0 lead. After a timeout, Santa Clara claimed momentum, climbing to an 11-10 lead. Kudos to this experienced bunch of Mavs, they completed a 5-2 run to close out the match and move to 4-0. 

UTA FB History: Vol. 8 Gm. 1 - The Start of the End

 Today marks the resumption of one of my favorite series I do on this blog. Starting near the turn of the century an institution that has had many names, with the longest and most current being the University of Texas Arlington, sported a football team. While websites like Wikipedia site 1919 as the starting date, I have found articles from games before that. Even Wikipedia has a team picture from the aughts.

What's not in dispute, and there is little lost to history, is the final year. 1985. As usual, there will be four seasons in this year's edition, 1963, 1968, 1974 and, of course, 1985. 

This series has certainly evolved since the first year I published it in 2013. That year covered the same seasons as this year's version. For what happened on this day in 1974, click here.

For today, we dip into the season opener for 1985. Today's opponent was Angelo State. While this was the first game of the series with both members being a part of the NCAA as four-year Universities, they played a minimum of 14 times between 1940 and 1958. The final record was 6-8. The then Arlington State Rebels won the last three in the series when they were Junior College National champions in the mid-to-late 1950's. And were likely one of the worst opponents to open this season this year.

Fantastic Start

 The UT Arlington volleyball team opened it's season this past weekend and while the teams were not the upper echelon of the NCAA, Maverick fans could not have asked for a better result.

The Mavs traveled to Lafayette, Louisiana as a participant in the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic. The Mavs opened the four-team round-robin tournament against the Missouri Valley Conference's Murray State. In a theme for the weekend, the Mavs swept the Racers 3-0. The first set was tight, as UTA came out on top 26-24. The second set was also tight, 25-22 while the third was a more comfortable 25-19.

Graduate Senior Outside Hitter Brianna Ford did Brianna Ford things to get 18 kills in the three-set win. Sophomore Outsider Hitter Samantha Glenn led the team with 10 digs. Mollie Blank, the preseason Setter of the Year as a Graduate Senior, logged 34 assists. Impressively, Sophomore Outside Hitter Evyn Snook notched four aces.

The following day, the Southwestern Athletic Conference's Jackson State sat opposite the net. The end result was the same, a 3-0 Maverick win. UTA dominated the first and third sets, 25-14 and 25-18 respectively. The second set was a little closer than it maybe should have at 25-22, but the Mavs still came out on top. 

2024 Volleyball Season is Nigh

 The UT Arlington Athletic Department kicks off the 2024/25 athletic season later this week as the Volleyball team travels to their first match of the season. As is customary, the Western Athletic Conference released its preseason poll and as I alluded to a couple of blog entries ago, the Mavs have garnered respect in the conference.

To refresh, in the UTA hosting championship post, I mentioned the volleyball team is returning a lot of talent. In conjunction, the WAC lost two of its top four programs in Stephen F. Austin and UT Rio Grande Valley. Looking at who is returning, last year's results and recent historical performance, this year's preseason volleyball poll was about as easy as it gets, even in the transfer portal era. 

As we head into the season, here's what the prognosticator's think the final standings will look like, with first place votes in parenthesis:

2024 Schedule Detective

 We are on the eve of the upcoming athletic season, which means the summer dropoff in athletic competition is nearing its end. To fill the void until late, late August, let's dip into this year's edition of schedule detective.

For the new-comers, much of my information comes from Rocco Miller on X. He's a great follow for college basketball. While not all the information comes from him, he gets a lot of scoops and information in regards to the non-conference scheduling contract. Instead of having to look through his thousands of tweets, I'll compile it here, though some games do come from other sources.

Going in this season, we knew there'd be a return game from last season in Oral Roberts. There's a high chance, but not a guaranteed one, in North Texas and Texas State reappearing on the schedule. There's usually a guarantee game, or usually many, as a (usual) Power 5 school pays a non-P5 school for a one-off game, a non-DI, or many, and a multi-team event, or MTE, on the final schedule release. Additionally, the Western Athletic Conference has released the conference schedule, so more than three quarters of this coming season is known. 

Here's what I can report so far:

UTA Hosting some Championships

This week, the Western Athletic Conference announced the championship sites for the upcoming athletic year. While many are still the same, basketball will be in Vegas, baseball in Arizona, for example, there's a good slate of new sites throughout the year.

For the first time since the UT Arlington Athletic Department rejoined the WAC, Arlington (which has been the home city for the conference for over a year) will host multiple sports postseason dreams.

The last two years, the tennis tournament champions were crowned in Arlington. UTA's men's tennis team has taken advantage of the home-town hosting and made their way to the NCAA's. But tennis has been it. Until this upcoming year.

Here's the list of the of champion sites:

2024 Volleyball Schedule

No need to dance around this one with a fancy introduction. As the title indicates, the UT Arlington volleyball squad recently released their schedule for the upcoming season. Aside from a couple of spotlights here and there, nothing particularly stands out to me.

For the non-conference portion, I will highlight the four tournaments, the participants and their conference. I will also briefly look at the teams finish in the prior year.

The Mavericks open the season at the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic in Lafayette, Louisiana. There, they will play the Missouri Valley's Murray State Racers, the Southwestern Athletic Conference's Jackson State Tigers and twice former conference rival Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns from the Sun Belt Conference.

MSU was a game under .500 overall in 2023, 13-14, with a 7-11 MVC mark, placing 9th out of 12. JSU finished 17-13 and 10-6 in conference, good for 5th in the 12-team SWAC. Louisiana, arguably the best non-P5 team in the state, was 19-13, 9-7 SBC last year. The Sun Belt used divisional play to divide the 14 teams, but based on an unbalanced record, they'd have been 7th. 

Transfer Portal Activity

 In my last post, I did a first and solicited comments to initiate a post topic. In the early years, I wouldn't have, as this was an outlet for me and not a platform to garner attention. I have noticed an increased interaction in the comments section and decided to ask the community to break a topic block that uncharacteristically exists for me during the summer.

And Duck came to the plate first.

As I mentioned elsewhere, according to the UTA website, Coach Turner has signed eleven new players, two of whom appear to be freshmen. Those two plus the nine transfers include two centers, three forwards, four guards, and two unknowns. It appears there will not be room left on the court or the bench for many others, so I wonder who, if any of last year's players will be back. Does anybody know?

Wasn't expecting transfer portal activity to be the first topic, but it is certainly a welcomed one, though not for the "right" reasons.

Follower Feedback

 Happy Fourth of July to everyone!

What's painfully obvious is that today's holiday is in the middle of summer. We have the slowest part of the sports calendar during this month (coupled with the end of last month and the beginning of the next), but more so in college athletics. The only news happening right now is which schools left their old homes and joined a new conference.

That's where the summer chats series, formally named last year but has been my practice almost from the beginning of this blog, comes in. However, outside of schedule detective, which will make an appearance later this season, I'm at a loss for non-specific topics this year, having felt most of what is on my mind has thoroughly been discussed. I've posted about facilities, sports additions, top moments in UT Arlington history, conference realignment and football and more. I've been working on something but haven't made as much headway as I'd hoped. Outside of that, I have nothing new to add.

So this year, I'm gonna try something new.

SFA is Out

Stephen F. Austin State University announced a couple of weeks ago that they intended to depart the Western Athletic Conference and rejoin the Southland Conference, effective in one month. That ended weeks of speculation regarding their intentions to move.

SFA officials trumped up the move, of course. Citing benefits that were generally esoteric in nature, save for the student athletes (an increasingly archaic term) decreasing their time out of the classroom with reduced travel time, a cost savings and ability for fans to see the team on the road. 

For the WAC, it does several things and I'll give my take on both entities.

Diamond Addendum

The transition between the outline of the last post and the written word left off a very important point that applies to both the baseball and soft squads at UT Arlington. I initially thought I'd add the info into its own comment below the post, but there's a lot to it and its deserving of its own blog entry.

With the struggles the two teams have experienced the last few years, especially since they downgraded conferences from an RPI perspective, there has been a very notable metric that suffered this year, reversing a decade climb.

In 2024, the baseball team averaged 378 fans, the third straight decline in attendance, discounting the COVID year where every game drew 314 in the box score. It was the lowest since 2014's 352. Their time in the Sun Belt was generally positive for fans in the seats, nearly doubling the totals the team saw while in the Southland Conference. The highest year was 618 spectators per game in 2017. 2019 saw 591 and 2020 drew 606 fans before COVID cancelled the remainder of the schedule. 

Diamond Disappointments

 Between the conference tournament drop off in men's basketball and the situation surrounding the passing of my dad, I'm not going to post much regarding the spring sports this year. Congrats to the men's tennis team on the defense of their Western Athletic Conference title. They will be the only sport to bring a title and play in the postseason this year. The track teams performed well in their outdoor meets as well. Both golf teams were top of the bottom half with some marked performances that give cause for hope.

But the baseball and softball teams had less than stellar seasons in 2024. Despite the hype I heard regarding the baseball team heading into the year, they earned 22 wins versus 34 losses. I didn't hear much about the softball team in the preseason either way. They earned one more win than their baseball counterparts against the same amount of losses.

There's quite a bit to break down with the baseball results. First, UTA performed poorly in mid-week games. Once conference play started in the second weekend in March, they went 2-10 in non-conference play. Factoring out Houston, which was a weekend series due to the WAC having an odd number of teams, they were 1-8 in mid-week games during that stretch. I don't know what has happened to UTA baseball, but that's the second time in three years with that bad a non-conference stretch. Last year's wasn't much better either, just not this bad.

But the losses weren't blowouts. There were six total one-run losses, eight losses by two runs, two losses by three runs and six losses by four runs. That's 22 of 34 losses by a grand slam or less.

Don't let the Door Hit Ya

Big news broke out of the constant reshuffling of the conference realignment game this week. Just a couple weeks after my previous post about the problems Grand Canyon University brings to the Western Athletic Conference, they, along with Seattle University, accepted an invitations to the West Coast Conference, made notable by Gonzaga's domination the last couple of decades. There's a lot to unpack here and with everything else in conference realignment, the end result depends on other factors outside the WAC's and UT Arlington's control.

My first reaction was ecstatic, but it left me a little confused. I'm a firm believer that GCU is a cancer within the conference. As I detailed in the last post, their funding model cannot be replicated and they shovel a lot of money to athletics from online degrees. They outspend everyone overall but California Baptist in the WAC. Similar to an inflation adjuster, CBU spends more just by being in California and would spend dollar for dollar less than GCU were they in Arizona, or get more bang for their buck if spending was the same. However, in men's basketball, GCU almost doubles second-place CBU and is nearly 500 percent higher than last place MBB budget. 

Now I've taken flack on social media because I'm told the real reason I dislike GCU is because UTA just can't compete. The reality is that their funding mechanism creates a competitive unbalance where UTA's only shot is to win is via an upset (made even harder by the perceived officiating issues). I said it last post and I'll say it again, I don't believe GCU was the better team last year. When UTA couldn't get past Georgia State while in the Sun Belt Conference, I never despised the Panthers like I do GCU.

 But that's all the WCC's issue after next athletic year, even if I don't understand why they were selected over CBU. 

Men's Basketball Wrap

The nice thing about having a fan blog that is purely a hobby is the lack of a hard deadline or need to post something to meet a monetary goal. After the UT Arlington Mavericks played in a travesty of a Western Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament championship game, I was defeated. I've never been so embarrassed to be a part of a conference before, and I'll bring some receipts in a bit. Also, not long after, my Dad had a stroke, there's been some work milestones that needed to be met and the kids are in full on spring sports season.

I don't like posting about officials, particularly in basketball as that is a game where officials have a big impact and get a lot of attention. I usually feel they do their best and like any other job, there are those good at what they do and those that are not. I usually feel UTA plays against the other team and win or lose based on those merits. Sure a call in a close game draws attention, but was every shot made before that, every assignment kept or no blown defensive adjustments?

But after this year's basketball season, I've never been so disgusted before. It is also not related to the outcome, as when I watched California Baptist beat the women counterparts, I left feeling the ladies had a good season and went up to a team that was just better. They gave it their best shot but came up short and a better team won. After watching the Grand Canyon game in Arlington in person and the conference final on TV, I don't feel Grand Canyon was markedly better and I don't feel the Mavericks will have a fair shot in the WAC.

Conference Tournament Finals tidbits

 I initially put this on Twitter while I was at a work event earlier today, so those that follow both accounts will find this post redundant. However, those that don't will likely find value in this post as it is certainly deserving of its own entry.

UTA defeated Tarleton State in the 2024 WAC Tournament semifinals earlier this morning in an instant classic, earning a spot in the Conference Finals against Grand Canyon University.

Here are some random UT Arlington men's basketball conference tournament fun facts:

Hoops Accolades

 The Western Athletic Conference announced the postseason awards for both the men and women's basketball teams and for the first time in a long time, I didn't feel a UT Arlington Maverick was slighted. The team also made history as I'll mention in a bit.

The Mavericks scored two -of-the-Year awards with Phillip Russell scoring the Sixth-Man-of-the-Year and Makaih Williams landing UTA's second consecutive Freshman-of-the-Year in the WAC.

DaJuan Gordon was the first Mav to get a first-team all conference award in the WAC. David Azore in 2020/21 was the last conference first-teamer. Shemar Wilson landed on the Second-Team-All WAC. Both Gordon and Wilson landed on the all-defensive team.

Down and Up

 I want to be very careful with this post. After the contest between the UT Arlington Mavericks and Grand Canyon 'Lopes in Arlington, I was ready to write a post blasting the officials in the game. The stir on social media has been very critical of the Western Athletic Conference officials. While UTA committed 25 turnovers (GCU had 19), they won most every other stat category: FG's (19-16), FG percentage (36.5% to 29.6%), 3's (5 to 4), but the free throws were way out of whack. GCU went 31-36 from the charity stripe while UTA was 18-20. The refs determined UTA committed a foul 27 times, the 'Lopes? only 19.

I was ready to write a post about it, similar to what I did after the Lady Mavs lost to Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament. But in the end, I don't want this blog to be a source of negativity or complaints. 

So I brooded a bit after the 67-61 loss and just sat back and enjoyed the ride. After the loss, UTA fell to 9-11 on the year. As of this post, they are now 16-13, having gone 7-2 in that stretch. The two losses were by a combined three points.

Going into the final week, UTA has locked a top-four seed for the conference tournament, securing themselves a first-round bye while the top two get a second-round bye. Seeds five through eight beat each other up in the first round, then three and four get the match-up. UTA would need an upset to get to the Championship game, but unlike years past, there's no team I fear.

Heckuva Turnaround

The UT Arlington women's basketball team was an enigma coming into the season. In addition to the numerous seniors and graduate students, the mysterious departure of Staar Jacobs to Arkansas Pine-Bluff was a plot twist that came out of left field. It was made all the more shocking that it was a Southwestern Athletic Conference school, usually one of the lowest-rated NCAA Division I conferences. They've done decent this year, but that is a historical anomaly. As an aside, unlike other multiple-time transfers, she hasn't logged a minute for the new team after the rule was lifted about sitting out a year.

I heard on the most recent broadcast that the team lost 94 percent of its scoring from last year. Sure enough, when I looked at the stat sheet, only sophomore Nya Threatt scored a point for the Mavericks last year. That's incredible. I knew there was turnover, but not as bad as it was in actuality. In all my years of following college sports, I've never heard that save for a scandal involving a coach. Alas, such seems to be the new reality in a post-transfer-portal and NIL era.

That begged the question, how would this year's version fair? I'm not a big fan of intra-conference transfers, but there were a few of them in the WAC this year. UTA had two in Avery Brittingham and Taliyah Clark from Stephen F. Austin and Seattle U respectively. I heard rumors UTA as a team was looking strong from those in the know prior to the start of the season. 

CPC better than Moody Center?

 I'm about to wade into a topic I don't normally get into, as at the base of it I think it is understood. Any UT Arlington fan will quickly say what a jewel College Park Center is. I know that I do get traffic outside of UTA circles who may not know, but this blog is not intended for them. When someone like WACHoopsNation visits UTA's home, they quickly see CPC for what it is, one of the best NCAA arenas.

While I don't see away games as often as I'd like, I go to a few here and there. I've seen several places when I was a student broadcaster traveling with the various teams. I seen more as an adult traveling to places as well. I rarely find the desire to write a post about opponent's venues, like Tarleton's Wisdom Gym is so far below CPC. I've made lists ranking arenas, like this one for current WAC venues, but that's the extent of it. 

The last time I made a post like this was early in CPC's infancy when I visited Rupp Arena in Kentucky. While CPC's capacity would likely mean it wouldn't be a good fit for the Wildcats, I was thinking the whole time about how CPC was cleaner, had better amenities or how cavernous it was. It was a pride point for me as a Maverick fan that our arena competed with the bluebloods.