Football 1976

[Turbine]

9-2

Coach Auggie matches Russ Faulinberry's regular season win total of 9, but later has to forfiet the first two wins of the season.

[littlebum2002]

I was trying to find out why we had to forfeit the last tow games, and found this article from "The Paris News" in Paris, TX.

http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Site...?img=110827611

right next to an article about O.J. Simpson in a bit of a slump, and Muhammad Ali retiring from boxing. Must have been a Brett Favre-type retirement, though.

"LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) Use of an ineligible player has cost the University of Southwestern Louisiana the forfeit of its two football victories and barred the Ragin' Cajuns from competing for the Southland Conference championship.

A USL spokesman said Thursday the school unintentionally misinterpreted student transfer rules in allowing punter Ken Mathews to play.

Mathews transferred from Tampa, which dropped football, to Valencia (Fla.) Junior College, which has no football program. He then transferred to USL.

National Collegiate Athletic Association rules say a student athlete transferring from a four-year college to a junior college and then to another four year college must be a junior college graduate in order to be eligible for football. Mathews did not graduate from Valencia.

The penalty was imposed by the conference executive committee.

"Our reading of the rule was different from the conference office," said Coach Angle Tammariello.

Tammaneo said he told the team about the ruling and "the initial reaction was basically good. We will know for sure Saturday night against Louisiana Tech."

Forfeits were ordered in games where USL thumped Fresno State 41-14 and edged Cincinnati 7-3. Mathews had a punting average of 42.8 yards.

Other Southland Conference members are McNeese State, Louisiana Tech, Arkansas State, Texas-Arlington and Lamar.

[Turbine]

Thanks for the story.

There is no way UL should not claim those wins.

It is so obvious that the intention of the NCAA was that if a player went to a Junior College to play football they didn't want him jumping schools on a whim or after one season.

The simple fact that Valencia had no football program makes the whole rule non applicable.

[Boomer]

Spirit and intent of a law would certainly in a court of law have been judged to act in favor of UL----NCAA and UL ----Oil and Water!!!!!

[Bankruptcyman]

To further add light . . . it was the CONFERENCE committee that decided to make U(S)L forfeit not the NCAA. Both Fresno State and Cincinnati were notified of the CONFERENCE committee findings and each school refused to accept the forfeit. I believe the Fresno coach said something to the effect that U(S)L had beaten his team on the field and he was not going to accept some local interpertation of the rule (probably because most schools intrepreted the rule as U(S)L had). The Independence Bowl had just been formed and McNeese and La. Tech in particular had a vested interest in requiring the forfeit. In addition, Tammerilleo had been very aggressive in signing JC players. Within 4 years U(S)L had gone from 0-10 to undefeated. This upset McNeese and La. Tech specifically. The Southland Conference ruling in this case was a sham (remember Slam Dunked?) When Tammerilleo told us about the ruling we were extremely upset but used it as motivation. Tammerilleo also told us Fresno and Cincinnati had refused to get involved in what was obvioulsy a local political fight and accept the forfeits. I have respected Fresno and Cincinnati ever since.

[Bankruptcyman]

The following was reported as the results of the 1976 Cincinnati Bearcat football team. The team was coached by Tony Mason and defeated Arizona State and Vanderbilt. The Bearcats were voted #20 in the AP poll on October 25, 1976 but lost the next week to Georgia. This was considered one the the best Cincinnati teams of this era.

1976 schedule




at Tulane

21 - 14 W Sep 11, 1976



at Louisiana

3 - 7 L Sep 18, 1976



vs Miami (OH)

17 - 0 W Sep 25, 1976



at Southern Mississippi

28 - 21 W Oct 2, 1976



at Arizona State

14 - 0 W Oct 9, 1976



vs Tulsa

16 - 7 W Oct 16, 1976



at Georgia

17 - 31 L Oct 30, 1976



at Maryland

0 - 21 L Nov 6, 1976



vs Ohio

35 - 0 W Nov 13, 1976



vs Vanderbilt

33 - 7 W Nov 20, 1976



vs Louisville

20 - 6 W Nov 27, 1976

[Bankruptcyman]

This what is reported as the Fresno State 1976 football record. Fresno State finished 5-6. Interestingly Dennis Erickson was a young offensive coordinator for Fresno State that year on the new staff of Jim Sweeney. In 1977 Fresno State would go 9-2 including a win over U(S)L.

1976 schedule

at Louisiana

14 - 41 L Sep 11, 1976

at San Diego State

3 - 7 L Sep 18, 1976

vs Montana State

24 - 10 W Sep 25, 1976

Cal State Fullerton

31 - 12 W Oct 2, 1976

at Wichita State

24 - 30 L Oct 9, 1976

vs Cal Poly

15 - 17 L Oct 16, 1976

at San Jose State

7 - 21 L Oct 23, 1976

Pacific

35 - 7 W Oct 30, 1976

California State-Long Beach

23 - 0 W Nov 6, 1976

vs New Mexico State

44 - 0 W Nov 13, 1976

at Santa Clara

17 - 20 L Nov 20, 1976

[CockyCajun]

Spirit and intent of a law would certainly in a court of law have been judged to act in favor of UL----NCAA and UL ----Oil and Water!!!!!

From what I read it was UL vs SoCo not UL vs NCAA.

[BeauCajun]

From what I read it was UL vs SoCo not UL vs NCAA.

Or you can say UL vs Mickey Mouse, with apologies to the mouse.

[Turbine]

40th Anniversary, this year.

[McNeese72]

The Independence Bowl had just been formed and McNeese and La. Tech in particular had a vested interest in requiring the forfeit.

Wasn't there a tie-in to the Indy Bowl where the conference champs would go? So, what difference would it make to McNeese or La. Tech whether you forfeited two out of conference games or not???

Doc