Not Officially in Last Place

Sports can be a crazy thing. Outside of middle school and even some high school settings, the old adage of anyone can be beaten on any given day rings true. Just when you think you have a team figured out, something wacky comes along and throws a wrench in the machine.

Coming into Saturday's volleyball matches the Western Athletic Conference had exactly one of its seven teams in the top 100 of the RPI in the NCAA. That was 5-0, 14-3 overall Utah Tech. Sitting in the mid-200's (out of 348 Division I programs) UT Arlington was headed south, losing four in a row and eight of the last nine. UT, on the other hand, was heading in the other direction, having won six in a row and nine of its last ten.

The only thing that appeared in the Mavericks favor, at least from a superficial standpoint, was the match was scheduled at home in College Park Center. However, UTA was 2-2 in CPC going into the match while the Trailblazers were an impressive 5-1 in true road matches to that point. It had the ingredients for a 3-0 loss in the recipe book.

Only it didn't happen that way.

UTA FB History: Vol. 9 Gm. 6 - Common Rivals

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.

Officially in Last

Two more matches resulted in two more losses for the UT Arlington volleyball squad this past weekend as the losing streak was extended to four in a row, all matches within the Western Athletic Conference. UTA needs one match to reach the halfway point of WAC play and UTA is tied for sixth, which is essentially last place at this point.

The Mavericks started the week against the preseason favorites. The Utah Valley road match, or maybe neutral match as their gym was unavailable, was going to be a tough test. BYU lent their gym and while UTA made spurts, it was clear the Wolverines were the better team. Watching the match, it was clear that UVU controlled the net. They were able to effect UTA's offensive game and rack up points on the defensive side of the net. The Wolverines logged 15 blocks. UTA recorded one.

As the set scores were 16-25, 24-26, 21-25, those 15 blocks were huge. Now, UVU is one of the best blockers in the country from a pure numbers standpoint. The digs disparity I mentioned last week was still present. UVU notched 52 to the Mavericks 47. This was a great example about how important a piece Paige Reagor was to the Mavericks the last couple of years.

UTA FB History: Vol. 9 Gm. 6 - No Better Example

Most every year of This Day in UTA Football History contains 12 games. As today is the halfway point, it seems odd that one year of only a three-season rotation hasn't been introduced. That was done by design. I've pointed out dozens of times over the years how poorly run the UTA football program was in the 1970's.

While there were ancillary, outside factors that also played a part, such as the Rebel to Maverick mascot controversy, changing demographics of the campus to a more commuter campus and suppressed interest from the outside community, the UT Arlington Athletic Department surely did as much or more to shoot themselves in the foot. 

I contend that interest still would have been higher had the team stayed at Memorial Stadium, currently on the site of the Maverick Activities Center. The site is visible to the entirety of campus, unlike Maverick Stadium today, and was easily accessible via Cooper Street, also unlike Maverick Stadium which is tucked off Mitchell Street.

In 1965, UTA averaged 85 percent capacity of 10,022-seat Memorial Stadium. In 1966, it was 87 percent, '67 rose to 92 percent, same in '68 and a small drop to 84 percent in its final year hosting a UTA football team.

But even on pure numbers, no season in Turnpike, later Arlington Stadium, reached the same highs. 

The Slide Continues

I didn't post about the UT Arlington volleyball team last week because they played only one match against the worst team in the Western Athletic Conference. They swept Southern Utah, which I said in the most recent volleyball post that UTS needed to sweep SUU for the Mavericks to be in contention for a second WAC title. However, sets two and three were too close for a WAC contender. UTA held the Thunderbirds to 13 in the first set, but 20 and then 21 in the last two. 

Looking at the box score, offensively, UTA did very well. The top three UTA kill leaders would have led SUU. Same with assists, which is understandable as they go hand-in-hand with kills. Blocks were about even. UTA continued to excel in aces against their opponent. What stood out to me was digs. Junior libero Samantha Glenn has been doing well all season and recorded 21 in three sets. After her though, the team only grabbed 23. Glenn had almost as many as the rest of the team combined. Two Mavericks logged six digs, one kept four balls alive and no other Mav grabbed more than two.

That may be the biggest difference from last year. UTA could count on three to five ladies to keep the ball alive at any given time.

After the SUU win, the Mavs were 1-0 in conference play and had the two remaining Texas WAC schools left. And the bottom dropped out.

UTA FB History: Vol. 9 Gm. 5 - Returning Home

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.

UTA FB History: Vol. 9 Gm. 4 - Home Sweet Home?

As September comes to a close, this day in UTA football history looks at the 1969 team for the first time, sort of. Last week's entry was a link to the 2014 counterpart that opened the season, a 17-3 win. Back in the 1960's, the football season often started after the halfway mark of this month. 

I'll let last week's version set the stage for the year, but I do want to add some refreshers. The 1960's were the most successful decade in UTA football history, and it isn't close. In this decade, the Mavericks were 57-42-1, a winning percentage of .575. And that's with one win in 1963 and three wins in '64.

To compare, in the 1970's, UTA had a winning percentage of .370 while the shortened decade of the 1980's was .432. No doubt that number would have been better after 1986, as we'll discuss in a moment.