I rail on the 1970's a lot here on the Maverick Rambler. And it certainly is earned. So many avoidable errors led to the demise of the football program. But 1975 has a soft spot in my heart. It was the second time since 1972 that the fans felt like the team could compete at the highest level.
The points scored differential was within 70, with only the 1972 season able to say that to that point in the decade. Two of the seven losses were within a touchdown. Another two were within two touchdowns. Every win but one was by ten or more points. There was only one blowout, a 54-7 loss to undefeated Arkansas State. There was a borderline blowout in a 37-8 loss to Louisiana Tech that was on the edge, but the combined score of 121-29 in the previous three games against the Bulldogs showed the gap was narrowing to one of the Southland Conference's best programs.
Halfway through the decade and it was only the second time in the frame that UT Arlington fans felt maybe next year actually meant something.
When this year's edition of This Day in UTA Football History last peaked in on the '75 Mavericks, the Mavs had just got a .500 record for the second time in the decade, but turnovers, penalties erasing touchdowns, special teams' miscues, etc. were costly in a 28-24 loss.
Southern Mississippi came to town the following week and the Mavs showed they were still building to something in a 34-7 loss.
To close out October, UTA traveled to a familiar foe in New Mexico State and were shutout, 16-0. The defense did its job as a whole, giving up one touchdown and three field goals, though there was a 142-yard ground gainer for the Aggies. The offense had six turnovers and 70 yards in penalties to be charitable for the NMSU homecoming crowd.
The loss dropped UTA's record to 2-5 and a looming date with Southwestern Louisiana on the horizon. It would be the third SLC game of the year and UTA had lost the prior two.
I had always hoped the featured team today would have appeared on the schedule of a resurrected UTA football team. The now Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns are a member of the Sun Belt and are much better than when they were in the SLC. Today it isn't uncommon for the Ragin' Cajuns to play for a Conference title, but they never won an outright Southland crown.
As it was, the Mavericks are 9-6 all time against then-known Southwestern Louisiana, one of the better marks against any SLC team. Though, like other SLC teams, there were games in a non-conference capacity. In those games, UTA is 3-1, including a 1982 one-point win when USL stayed in Division I-A and UTA was relegated to I-AA.
Needing a win, the road-weary Mavericks went to their neighboring-state rivals looking for their forst conference win of the year.
On this date in UTA football, UTA played in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1975.
Taken from the Fort Worth Star Telegram, November 2, 1975.
The 1986 team would have found things very stiff today. In what I believe would have been a 6-1 Maverick win-loss record in the worst-case scenario, and a 2-0 Southland mark, coming in, this team was primed for a potential championship game today.
Arkansas State, the 1986 SLC champion and defending champs from '85, were set to come to Maverick Stadium. Their head coach, Larry Lacewell, straight up said he would have chosen UTA to be the favorites this year. Now the rules say you can't pick your own team, so it may be just a technicality, but he certainly believed UTA was competitive. There's little doubt in most minds, both from that time and historians like me today, that this very well could have decided the SLC championship.
Before I get into the ASU team, I want to get this tidbit out first. Today was an open date for the Indians. I imagine that was how the SLC handled that gap. No new conference team was added and they didn't adjust schedules then. I'm not sure who ASU picked up in non-conference to play a full schedule and truly replace the UTA game.
Arkansas State ran a wishbone back them similar to what UTA ran in the last half of the 1970's. Quarterback Dwane Brown was similar to Roy Dewalt in that he ran it very well. Fullback Rickey Jemison was similar to UTA's Derrick Jensen in that he ripped off a lot of yards. Both would get over 1,000 yards - Jemison in rushing and Brown in total yards.
Lacewell would get the '86 SLC Coach of the Year while Brown would grab the Offensive Player of the Year. 12 total players would land on the all-SLC first team, including UTA's 1985 kicker, Scott Roper.
Guard Randy Barnhill would earn first team All-America honors while cornerback Michael Adams, defensive tackle Fred Barnes, safety Vincentt Barnett, QB Brown, nose tackle Charlie Fredrick, FB Jemison, cornerback Greg Lee, defensive end Marvin Neloms, K Roper, tackle John Suskie and center Jim Wiseman were named to the honorable mention list. Yes, that is 12 names, or half of a possible 24 starting positions, on some kind of All-American list.
The then-Indians would play all the way to the 1-AA title game, losing to the Georgia Southern Eagles, 48-21. In total, they were 12-2-1 on the year. The lone regular season loss, 24-9, was to a ranked Mississippi State team out of the Southeastern Conference. Their lone tie was to Mississippi, also of the SEC.
The thing that gives me hope about this game is that ASU blew people out, except when they didn't. Eight of the 12 wins were by two touchdowns or more. Seven were by more than three. However, they beat Louisiana Tech by a field goal on the road and Northeast Louisiana, now Louisiana-Monroe by five at home to clinch the title. NLU was 3-1 going into the game while stAte was 4-0. An Indian (now Warhawk) win would have given the title to NLU. So both teams had something to play for.
I lean towards this being a Maverick loss. However, with this being a home game, one that meant something, I think that is a wild card that can't be ignored. UTA fans proved in the past that they show up in greater numbers to November games that have meaning. I believe this schedule was favorable and the team would have had good crowds as a whole. I really believe this would have drawn more than 10,000 and a decent chance of being north of 12,000. That kind of crowd can't be ignored in an all-in game.
One final outcome comes into play for this game. In 1985, the Mavs and Indians played in Jonesboro. UTA lost 13-12 to the champs. Roper hit four field goals. Roper missed a 29-yard field goal with five seconds left. Holder Jay Fitch, coach Curtis and a couple other players swear the kick was actually good. Coach Lacewell didn't deny the call being bad, but rather said it was the first game-on-the-line field goal missed by an Indian opponent in his memory.
UTA's quarterback David Bates was nursing a minor injury in his right hand that likely had a factor in five interceptions thrown, three in Roper's range. The UTA defense played a heck of a game to minimize the errors. The held stAte's wishbone to negative yards passing, 250 yards rushing and notched three turnovers of their own. Every player on both teams circled this 1986 game after the conclusion of the '85 matchup.
Regardless of the outcome, it would have been a memorable contest. Best case scenario for me, it would have been on par with the 1968 game between the same two teams to decide the conference, both in terms of game excitement and atmosphere.
Today may have been the greatest memory of the 1986 team. What could have been.
Alas, it was not meant to be played on this date in UTA football history.
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