The Mountain West Conference released its revamped fall football schedule on Oct. 1, with 8 games to be played in the span of a month and a half.
For the University of New Mexico, the first game of the regular season will be played on Oct. 24, and the final regular season game will be played on Dec. 12.
The Lobos’ season consists of four away and home games apiece, with the season starting on the road at Colorado State.
UNM’s first home game will be on Halloween against San José State.
As for its remaining games, the Lobos will hit the road to play Hawaii, Air Force and Utah State, then face off against Nevada, Wyoming and Fresno State at home.
UNM athletic director Eddie Nuñez said in a press release that UNM “will continue to work with our local and state officials to ensure the safety of all and that proper protocols and procedures are in place.”
The only team that was originally on the Lobos’ schedule that is no longer there is Boise State. That game has been replaced with the Fresno State game.
As for the changes fans will see with conference play, the MWC will forgo its usual two-division format this year replaced by a single, 10-team division.
MWC commissioner Craig Thompson said in a statement, “The shift away from a two-division format was necessary to optimize the schedule and allow for maximum flexibility given the various constraints which had to be considered.”
The Mountain West championship game will be played on Dec. 19. The game will be a matchup of the two conference teams that finish with the highest conference winning percentage. Home field advantage will be decided by which of the two teams has the highest overall conference winning percentage.
The caveat of conference games was due to Air Force playing Navy on
Oct. 3, which ended with a crushing 40-7 performance by the Falcons.
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Thompson, on the Mountain West’s official website, said that “We are excited to get our student-athletes back on the football field this fall.”
At the bottom of the announcement, it states that dates and times are subject to change and that all games are subject to state, county and local approvals.
It should be noted that Thompson didn’t rule out games being cancelled due to COVID-19, stating that “the possibility exists additional games may be lost to COVID-19 challenges.”
The schedule can also be altered by the Mountain West’s broadcast partners CBS Sports and FOX Sports, which are in the process of placing some games on Thursdays or Fridays.
Spencer Butler is a beat reporter at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @SpencerButler48
