Back to the 1980 season for today's edition of This Day in UTA Football History. Two weeks ago, we saw the Mavericks had lost to Drake 30-20 in the second game in Maverick Stadium's history. Last week, 45 years ago, long time non-conference opponent West Texas State, now West Texas A&M, came to the Mav and the Buffaloes topped the UT Arlington Mavericks, 38-26.
As discussed in the link, UTA really should have been better than 0-5. They could have easily been 2-2 entering the WTS game. The Mavericks were driving in the fourth quarter. With the ball on the Buffs 15-yard line, UTA's quarterback was hit on a secondary blitz, causing a fumble. The West Texas drove 2/3rds down the field and scored, giving a more lopsided score.
Instead of a record just above or just below .500, the Mavs were winless in the debut of their new home. I don't know what would have happened in the scenario of a near-.500 team, but attendance should have been higher at this point in the season. One or two wins out of three total games in the new place would have encouraged fans to come later in the season. As the 2015 edition chronicled, when the team had something to play for later in the season, attendance did increase.
As for today's opponent, it was a familiar one. I've referenced this point up many times over the years so I won't do it too much here. After the Mavs played WTS last week, this week's opponent was New Mexico State. Those two teams are the two teams UTA had played the most while never sharing a conference home. WTS was an opponent 19 times, NMSU met the Mavs on 18 occasions. Only Arkansas State and Lamar met the Mavs more at 22 each as all three schools were founding members of the Southland Conference. McNeese State joined the SLC later and UTA only played them 19 times, though the first six games in the series were as non-conference rivals.
Put it another way, in 27 four-year seasons, both teams appeared on the same schedule 16 times. Just New Mexico State appeared twice while just West Texas State appeared three times. Only five times did neither school appear.
On this day in UTA football history, the Mavs played for the fourth time in Maverick Stadium against a familiar foe.
Taken from the Dallas Morning News, October 19, 1980.
Speaking of Lamar, the 1986 UTA squad would have started conference play on this date. If the team did indeed have the returning talent that I documented to start this season, they likely were 4-1 at this point at the season in the worst case scenario. Today's opponent may well have been the easiest of the season, the Cardinals of Lamar.
UTA had a heck of a streak going against LU dating back to 1975's win. 11 in row went in favor of UTA after Lamar won six of the first 11. When UTA was bad, like the record in 1980, at least one win was always Lamar from '75 onward. UTA has double-digit wins against two teams: 11 against McNeese and 16 vs. Lamar. Knocking on the door was nine against West Texas State, who the Mavs likely would have beaten two weeks prior. Arkansas State, the preseason favorite and eventual 1986 SLC champion sits in fourth with eight.
Lamar had a new coach in UTA's first non-football season. Ray Alborn took the reins and shared similar outcome as his predecessors, going 12-30 in four years. However, his last was a 5-5 outing before Lamar dropped their program.
In a weird twist, the 1989 Lamar season mirrored the 1985 Maverick season. UTA started the year with a loss to Angelo State, just as Lamar did in '89. UTA had a promising season that could have been better, losing the Southland title by a combined seven points, Lamar lost three of five games in '89 by single digits.
Like UTA's head man in Chuck Curtis, Alborn never coached in college again, but did have another stint in the high school ranks. His Cardinal teams became more competitive as his tenure progressed, Nine losses in year one, 3-8 in year two. They had the same record in year three but had two losses by a point and another two games by two points. They clearly were becoming more competitive. Who knows, maybe 1990 would have been Lamar's equivalent to 1986 for UTA.
Lamar played Southwest Texas State on this date instead. With UTA dropping the sport, the SLC lost a conference game and did not add any members. All SLC schools needed to add a game to play a full 11-game schedule. I'm not sure if this was a regularly scheduled game that was moved to this date instead or if it was added after UTA's bombshell news. Either way, the Cardinals won the first of two for 1986 playing the Bobcats in Beaumont, 17-3.
The Cardinals finished 1986 with a 2-9 record and were 0-5 in SLC play. Given the Mavs dominance and the Cardinals record, I have no doubt they would be 1-0 in the SLC had this game been played on this day in UTA football history.
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