2019 Lobo Football Schedule Released
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Five bowl teams, including a College Football Playoff semifinalist in Notre Dame highlight the 2019 Lobo Football schedule, as Mountain West officials released the complete slate of games for all 12 teams.
Today’s release represents the first phase in the 2019 football schedule process. Mountain West national television partners CBS Sports Network and ESPN will now initiate a selection procedure which will include the shifting of certain games to Thursdays and Fridays. That will be followed by the identification of network outlets and kick times, along with the picks for regional partner AT&T SportsNet, Stadium and Spectrum Sports (Hawai’i).
The Lobos will once again play six games and home and six on the road, and in 2019 UNM will both open the season at home, and close it as well. The schedule shapes up as a good one, as along with five bowl teams are three others that were .500 or better on the year. UNM will face off with five bowl eligible teams on the road in 2019.
UNM’s home non-conference games are the season opener against FCS opponent Sam Houston State, and a September 21 rivalry game with New Mexico State. UNM’s road contests will be a pair of tough games.
First, UNM will face off in the second game of the season, and after the first of two byes this season, with Notre Dame in a game that marks the return to Sound Bend for current UNM head coach Bob Davie. Davie was Notre Dame’s head coach from 1997-2001, and prior to that he spent three seasons as the defensive coordinator under Lou Holtz.
In Notre Dame, UNM will face one of the grandest programs in college football. The Fighting Irish are second all-time with 11 national championships, and fourth all-time with a .726 winning percentage. Notre Dame’s 897 wins against just 325 losses and 42 ties is the sixth-most wins in FBS history. Additionally, the Fighting Irish have had more consensus All-Americans (102) and Heisman Trophy winners (7) than any other team, and they are second in NFL Draft Picks (499) and fourth with 799 weeks in the AP Poll.
UNM’s other road game is in the Eastern Time Zone, one of four that the Lobos will play in for 2019 as UNM will look to avenge a 52-43 loss to the Liberty Flames. The Flames will have a new head coach after going 6-6 in their first full FBS season as Hugh Freeze takes over for the retired Turner Gill.
In league play, UNM’s crossover schedule looks different as UNM flips to host Hawai’i while traveling to San Jose State and Nevada. It’s San Jose State on October 5 that opens the first of eight Mountain West games, with all eight alternating between road and home. October 12 will see UNM host Colorado State before the Lobos head back on the road on the 19th to travel to Laramie to play at Wyoming. October 26th will see UNM host Hawai’i before the Lobos play their final West Division foe in the Nevada Wolf Pack.
Those two games are two of four 2018 bowl teams that UNM will face over the final five games. The lone non-bowl team is Air Force, which UNM hosts on November 12 and which just missed a bowl game last year. The Falcons and Lobos have played many epic and tight games over the years, and UNM has won three straight over Air Force at Dreamstyle Stadium.
After Air Force, UNM heads out for its final road game of the season, and it comes in a tough environment as UNM faces Boise State on November 16. Following that contest, UNM gets its second bye of the season before hosting Utah State on senior day on November 30.