Football
Arkansas State first fielded a football team in 1911. Since then, the team has compiled six conference championships, and one small college (now Division II) football championship. The team was briefly discontinued during the First and Second World Wars. In 1953, the Indians moved from the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), where they competed at the small college level. In 1975, they were promoted to NCAA Division I, and Arkansas State briefly played at the I-A level, from 1978 to 1981. From 1982 to 1991, the Indians competed at the Division I-AA level, before again being promoted to I-A, which is now known as Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
In 1970, as a member of the Southland Conference, Arkansas State was crowned the NCAA small college football national champion after they defeated Central Missouri State University to complete an 11–0 season. It was the Indians third consecutive bowl appearance. In 1975, the team's first year at the Division I level, Arkansas State recorded an 11–0 season, as one of only two undefeated teams. As a member of the Southland Conference, Arkansas State did not receive an automatic bowl game bid, and was not selected for post-season play. The Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana was created as a direct result of the snub. In the 1980s, Arkansas State made four appearances in the Division I-AA (now Division I FCS), including a loss in the 1986 championship final.
During the 2005 football season, Arkansas State finished the regular season as Sun Belt Conference champions with a 6–5 record and played in the New Orleans Bowl, which they lost to Southern Mississippi. In 2011, the Red Wolves again finished as Sun Belt Conference champions with a 10–2 record and played in the GoDaddy.com Bowl, losing to Northern Illinois. In 2012, the Red Wolves finished as Sun Belt Conference champions for the 2nd year in a row with a 9-3 record and played in the GoDaddy.com Bowl against #25 Kent State, winning the game 17-13.
Read more about this topic: Arkansas State Red Wolves
Famous quotes containing the word football:
“You can’t be a Real Country unless you have A BEER and an airline—it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.”
—Frank Zappa (1940–1993)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)
“In this dream that dogs me I am part
Of a silent crowd walking under a wall,
Leaving a football match, perhaps, or a pit,
All moving the same way.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)