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.
That improvement started in the second half was apparent in week three as they again hit the road, traveling south to San Marcos for a tilt against Southwest Texas State, now just Texas State. Despite an abundance of turnovers, the Mavs got their first win of the year thanks to clutch plays from Bates.
Looking to move their record to 2-2, Wichita State was next up for the Mavericks. The teams had two back-to-back home-and-home series that would end this year. UTA was 2-1 versus the Shockers entering today's game.
Wichita State mirrors UTA to some degree in that they dropped their program one year after the Mavs did. One of the reasons cited was poor attendance and budget concerns, something Mav fans know to this day. Wichita State, like UTA was spending more than they were making.
There were other reasons given. Decision makers cited a deteriorating stadium, though Cessna Stadium is in use today. However, despite news accounts and the Shockers website talking about renovations that should have already occurred, it appears there's only a demo and maybe a rebuild of the east stands. Otherwise, the stadium is still in use as is, so hard for me to think that was a lot of truth to that.
The other reason cited for the discontinuance was supposed NCAA violations, but I don't know and don't have anything specific.
After winning the first game of the series in 1982, 30-13, the Shockers lost to the Mavs in Arlington 34-24 in 1983 and the Mavs got the Shockers in Wichita, Kansas in 1984, 17-15. Naturally, all games were in October, so course the Mavs outcome was more favorable.
I've discussed many times why September killed the UTA program. Maverick Stadium changed the formula, but in the 1970's, UTA played only five total September home games due to their poor stadium situation. October and November saw winning records totally, though obviously some seasons were better than others. But after a poor start, the crowds were already dissipating and/or looking to next year. They also played the conference favorites to open Southland Conference play and were out of the race as it started.
The marquee exception to the attendance pattern was in 1981, when they closed at Maverick Stadium for the conference title. The crowd was 29 percent higher than the season average, only the second time since 1969 the home finale was higher than the season average.
If I could go back in time and change one thing, it would be the poor early season scheduling. I think that would dramatically change the Mav football fortunes. I can't imagine how the excitement the last week of the season and on gameday in 1981 felt. It was something that just wasn't common. That helps to build a program's fortunes or the lack of it kills programs.
As it was, that was far from the minds of the 1985 Mavericks. On this day in UTA football history, the Mavericks host the Wichita State Shockers to open the 1985 October schedule.
Taken from the Fort Worth Star Telegram, October 6, 1985.
Chuck Curtis was a good coach, maybe even great. It's too bad he had his tenure cut short by the killing of the program. Now that conference realignments are squeezing the numbers of available back-fills, it is becoming increasingly likely that UTA will have its pick of conference when/if we resurrect football. Because we have so many former rivals scattered about, there will be no lack of potential home and home matchups available. We just need to do it. As always, a great story, Branden.
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