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.
Much of that has to do with his receivers. Jimmy Smith, much like his QB, is statistically the best all-time receiver with career records in receiving yards and touchdowns, has single-season TD's (technically he met that mark twice), along with yards and owns single-game marks for yards. He is second in receptions as the speedster would catch the ball in the open field and make people miss to get long gains. Keith Arbon was Bates' beneficiary in 1985, and likely would own some of these career marks if an '86 season occurred, but certainly not all. In my mind, there is better UTA receiver than Smith
The other main pass catcher was Dick Hill, who was more of the ball control receiver. He has one career record, receptions and one single-game, TD's.
Mike Buchanan was a competent wingback and Keith Luft was the same at tailback. But fullback Danny Griffin was one of the best UTA backs ever. Derrick Jensen and Scotty Caldwell were excellent runners, but Griffin is still third in career yards and carries. Two of the three best single-game yardage marks are his.
So they could pass, catch, run and block. Can's ask for much more of anything else in an offense.
Defense was a little shakier. Depending on how you qualify a starter as returning, the then-Rebels had four 11-game starters back, one nine-game starter, one six-game starter, two five-game starters and a four-game starter. Gone was David Miller, the defensive end was second in tackles in 1967, and safety Robert Willbanks, who was the team's interception leader. Those two were big shoes that just weren't quite filled. Two linebackers would be missed in Fred Doer and Ronnie Tufts, who combined for 104 tackles at their LB positions. Stats weren't kept on sacks, forced fumbles or tackles for losses back then, but articles mention the guys from the front seven on this list doing just that.
That's not to say there wasn't some good production back. Weldon Grisham was one of the 11-game starters. The defensive tackle led UTA with 103 tackles in '67 and would be a two-time SLC selection. Jimmy Stoehr was the other defensive tackle who was an 11-game starter. He was third on the team in tackles. The middle of the line was set.
Mike Stamps (11) and Billy Mitchell (9) were the only other two starters with a large amount of starts in the previous year. Both were second on the team with four interceptions each.
Then there's the kicker. Skipper Butler was about as good as it gets. He's the career leader in field goals made, attempted, extra points attempted and total punts. The three longest field goals of 60, 54, 53 in UTA are his. He also played in the NFL, this one for seven seasons, where he was 71 of 127 for field goals and 127 of 133 for PAT's.
The schedule would be bit harder for the Rebels in 1968 than in '67, a trend that would continue until UTA moved up to the highest Division. UTA opened the season against San Diego State on the road. The Rebs had the defending College Division champs on the rope but lost the lead with under two minutes in the fourth quarter for a 23-18 loss.
Next up was today's opponent. Now known as University of Louisiana-Monroe, Northeast Louisiana was a pretty good foe. Known then as the Indians, they completed the prior year with a 7-3. Unlike today's ULM, that is constrained by state law on how and where the money comes from, Northeast Louisiana was good in football year in and out. Today's home opener would be a test.
On this day in UTA football history, the UT Arlington Rebels host the Northeast Louisiana Indians in 1968.
Taken from the Dallas Morning News, September 22, 1968.
I was there, a student in 1968. Don Morrison was in my English class, taught by Melba Hammack, whose son was another lineman who played in the NFL after ASC/UTA. This was when Dr. Saxe was a relatively new history prof, and the most famous guy on campus was Chena Gilstrap.
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