ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Road games in 2016 with Rutgers and 2018 with Wisconsin, along with a home-and-home series with Louisiana-Monroe of the Sun Belt Conference highlight the announcement of seven new games to future University of New Mexico football schedules. In all, UNM is announcing four home games and three road games over the course of the next five seasons.
Also being announced are home games against Mississippi Valley State (2015), Abilene Christian (2017) and Incarnate Word (2018). UNM’s two-game series with Louisiana-Monroe will start in Albuquerque in 2016, and not return to Monroe until the 2019 season. The Lobos had previously announced a home-and-home series with Tulsa starting in Albuquerque in 2015, and finishing in Tulsa in 2017.
New Mexico will receive $950,000 for playing at Rutgers in 2016 and $1,200,000 for playing in Madison against Wisconsin in 2018, with $100,000 of that having been received for this fiscal year. The Rutgers game replaces the originally scheduled game against USC, which was moved to 2020.
“We’ve worked hard to create a balance with our upcoming schedules, taking into account competitive balance, recruiting benefits, television exposure and financial elements,” said Chief Operating Officer Tim Cass. “We still have some work to do for 2018 and beyond, but we feel pretty good about where we sit for the next few seasons, and we are excited about having seven home games next year.”
New Mexico, with the addition of Mississippi Valley State next year, will play seven scheduled home games for the first time since the 2006, when UNM played seven regular season home games, and then had an eighth after playing in the inaugural New Mexico Bowl. Overall it will be the sixth time in school history with at least seven scheduled home games, but just the fourth time in the last 68 years. (1938, 1946, 1995, 2003, and 2006)
UPCOMING NON CONFERENCE SCHEDULES (italics denotes new additions)
2015
Sept. 5 Mississippi Valley State
Sept. 12 Tulsa
Sept. 19 @Arizona State
Oct. 3 New Mexico State
MW Home: Air Force, Colorado State, Hawai’i, Utah State
MW Away: Boise State, Nevada, San Jose State, Wyoming
2016
Sept. 3 Sam Houston State
Sept. 10 @New Mexico State
Sept. 17 @Rutgers
Oct. 22 Louisiana-Monroe
MW Home: Boise State, Nevada, San Jose State, Wyoming
MW Away: Air Force, Colorado State, Hawai’i, Utah State
2017
Sept. 2 Abilene Christian
Sept. 9 New Mexico State
Sept. 23 @Tulsa
Nov. 11 @Texas A&M
2018
Sept. 1 Incarnate Word
Sept. 8 @Wisconsin
Sept. 15 @New Mexico State
(one more to schedule)
2019
Sept. 7 @ Louisiana-Monroe
Sept. 21 New Mexico State
(two more to schedule)
2020
Sept. 19 @ USC
(@New Mexico State, two more to schedule)