I flip through dozens of games on Saturday afternoon nights during the college football season. I don't remember which broadcaster, but one last week or one prior said they couldn't believe how fast the season had progressed. I echo that as today is the final entry of the 2025 This Day in UTA Football History.
The Maverick Rambler ends with the 1980 season. It's been well established that '80 was a season of promise that came up very short. Maverick Stadium opened and UTA got its first win in their new home last week, a 36-14 win over Arkansas State. With that win, UTA was 1-5 at home for the 1980 season.
Certainly a mark that low was not on anyone's hopes or dreams to start the year. Losses of 17, ten, 12, 20 and 17 didn't give UTA fans much excitement either. The Mavs beat themselves, just as much as the opponent did.
Weirdly enough, UTA was better on the road. They went 2-3 away from Arlington and one loss was by seven and another by two touchdowns. Either would have been better outcomes than three home games.
The formula for this season was eerily similar to the disaster of the 1970's. Despite a new place, UTA had one home game in September. That was still better than the average of half a game played at their home stadium for the entire previous decade.
I have no idea how hard the Athletic Department or Head Coach Harold "Bud" Elliot worked to shuffle the schedule to accommodate another September game, if at all. Football schedules are made years in advance and this just could have been a hangover of that carryover. I do know, based on the media guides from 1976 that UTA was supposed to play North Texas in Denton in 1980. There's a real chance that the Mean Green did the Mavs a solid and switched the annual series. That '76 guide showed schedules out to 1982, by the way.
The other same 'ole feeling from the 1970's was the uncompetitiveness of the games. Coach Elliott started his tenure with a score differential of 112 scored to 332 given up. It was 213-286 in his second year. In upping their overall record to 5-6 in years three through five, UTA was on the plus side, 250-239, 187-185 and 240-210. Then in the dominant 9-2 year of 1979, they went 9-2 and 342-162. 1976 was the first time all decade that could be said.
But 1980 was an early 1970's output of a 3-8 record and score differential of 248 to 341. The only real variance was UTA scored in 1980. Only two seasons in the 1970's scored more. However, none gave up more points. Coach Elliott had four offensive player of the years in ten years. He had zero on the defensive side. There were some very good defenders in his tenure, just never the cream of the crop.
It did set a stage for the following season, however. The 1980 team was young, and many of the players who took their licks this year would help the team to its final conference championship in 1981. There were 14 players on this team who would suit up for a National Football League team at some point, though only five were drafted. That included UTA's best performance in the NFL draft. Tight end Gary Lewis was taken in the second round, 35th overall, of the 1981 spring draft. As mentioned, the offense wasn't the issue and Lewis was a big reason why. Despite playing as a tight end, he holds the UTA record for yards per reception. He was an outstanding kick blocker in the NFL, prompting a rule change by the League. Sadly, his NFL career was shortened by injury. Had he been able to keep playing, there's a real chance his name would be widely known.
On this day in UTA football history, the 1980 season ends in Beaumont, Texas as UTA closes out the season against the Lamar Cardinals.
Taken from the Dallas Morning News, November 23, 1980.
This day in 1986 may have been long remembered. Today was a rivalry game. The rivalry game for UTA. They don't like to admit, but it was to today's opponent too.
Since the Mavericks moved up to the University Division/Division I, UTA had played in front of 10,000 plus in Dallas/Fort Worth 18 times. Seven were on TCU's campus while two were against SMU at Texas Stadium. The remaining nine were to North Texas State. Games topped that mark at Texas Stadium (five), Fouts Field (two), Maverick Stadium (one) and the Cotton Bowl (one).
The 1982 season, where UTA was 3-8 and NTSU was 2-9, saw just over 500 shy of 10,000. The only real attendance number that was off that trajectory came in 1984. To quote Steve Tracey in the game write-up, "...as heavy rain pelted the field the entire game, turning it into a shallow lake." An official attendance of 4,779, of which 2,500 or so showed, doesn't seem so bad in those conditions.
In 1986, UNT had a 6-4 record. In the Southland, it was 3-2. As near as I can tell, they did not schedule an opponent to replace UTA. As members of Division I-AA, they had a really good showing. Two of their losses were to Division I-A schools Texas A&M, 48-28, and to UNLV, 27-26. As is customary, those games were on the road. A third loss, predictably if you have read this series this year, was to Arkansas State in Denton, 43-21. The fourth loss was to Louisiana Tech at their place, 17-10. There was a 24-20 win at TCU that would be considered an upset. A 7-0 road win at Southwest Texas State gives me reason to believe that UTA would have gotten over this team.
Further proof this was a heated rivalry; there were a lot of former players that transferred to a fellow-Southland school. I've found reference of two players that enrolled to UNT. One player doesn't show on the UTA roster in the 1985 media guide. The other doesn't show in the letterman list of the North Texas media guide. Coaches were picking over the UTA roster like vultures over roadkill. Yet a maximum of two and none that I can prove made it 30ish miles north?
The following is the total attendance numbers for the 12 games these two played against each other: 19,131, 14,798, 14,800, 17,300, 16,821, 14,297, 18,033, 15,797, 9,487, 11,400, 4,779 and 6,200. The bolded numbers represent games at Maverick Stadium. I have no doubt UTA would have come into this one with a maximum of three losses. If everything else stays the same, big question mark I know, North Texas would have been 6-4. A combined 13-7 record would have been tremendous for the gate.
There's also the very real probability that playoff berths and/or seedings would have been on the line. There's also a possibility of a conference championship.
The next real question then, based on the 1984 result, is what would the weather have been? The last four games in the series, also the only four times these teams ended the regular season against each other, the games kicked off at 1:30 or 2 pm. Assuming a 2 pm kick, the temp would have been 69 degrees with 12 mile an hour wind. It doesn't get much better than that.
Because this would have been a rivalry game, with two successful teams, playoff positioning on the line, maybe a title and great weather, there's no doubt in my mind this would have been a very highly attended game. I'd wager in the ballpark of 16,000 or more. It would have been the second and maybe third game that eclipsed five figures on the year. Mav fans showed they went to games in higher numbers with something to play for. North Texas would have showed too, as they usually did when their team was winning.
I know I'm going to get asked this, so where would I peg the 1986 Maverick's record? I'd peg the floor at 8-3 and not rule out an undefeated regular season, though that seems like a long shot knowing Maverick history. As tough as this team would have been in all three phases, the gauntlet of Nicholls State, Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech and North Texas, would have seen at least one Maverick win. I have a hard time thinking it doesn't go higher than that. All things considered, I think a 9-2 regular season mark, 5-1 in the Southland Conference and a playoff berth is where the 1986 Mavericks would have ended up.
But, unlike the first 27 years of University football, we won't know how today's scheduled UTA North Texas State football would have ended on this date in UTA football history.
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