The last time we checked into the 1980 UT Arlington football team, they started the season 0-2 after a loss to Northwestern State with a date looming against national powerhouse Southern Methodist University.
Resetting the stage. 1980 was the first year Maverick Stadium opened. The year prior, the Mavs were 9-2 and one point away from an Independence Bowl bid and a Southland Conference title. Momentum was high and if the cards were played right, this really could have set the program up for long-term success.
Instead, after a thumping to debut the stadium, they went on the road for two games and had a bye week, mirroring the problems with how the program was run in the 1970's. A month into the season and UTA was 0-3 with only one home game, a loss at that.
I'll reveal a little more than I normally would and say today's home game drew 6,328. The opponent was the Drake Bulldogs, who really wouldn't draw for the local crowd on name alone. However, the momentum I mentioned should have been enough, but that 0-3 first month was a disaster for the gate. Of six home games in the debut year, this was the third lowest. That is bad using any metric for the second game of the season.
There's no way to verify this belief, but I'd bet if this game were the second game of the season against Drake, or the Northwestern State game played in Natchitoches was put it in Arlington the second week of the year, the crowd would have been larger. I don't know if it would have been five digits large, but 8,000 plus or over 9,000 doesn't seem far-fetched to me.
Instead, they gave fans and supporters the same feelings and circumstances as the previous decades of futility. "There's always next year," to start October is a poor way to generate excitement or even build a foundation of excitement.
Low energy and all, on this day in UTA football history, the Mavericks host the Drake Bulldogs in 1980.
Taken from the Dallas Morning News, October 5th, 1980.
As for the fantasy 1986 season, today's opponent was scheduled to be ... no one. UTA was slated for a bye week with a probable 3-1 record or better. However, it did not happen on this date in UTA football history.
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