Albuquerque, N.M. — Mountain West officials have released New Mexico’s 2015 football schedule, and the slate features seven home games, including at least two at Branch Field at University Stadium in every month.
The schedule features six teams that went to Bowl Games last season, including four winners. UNM will take on five teams that won double-digit games in 2014, including each of UNM’s final four opponents. Three of those will be at Branch Field at University Stadium.
New Mexico will be playing seven scheduled home games for the first time since the 2006 season, 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).
UNM will open the season with a pair of non-conference home games, starting with Mississippi Valley State on September 5 and Tulsa on September 12. The Lobos then head out on the road for two, starting with Arizona State, which finished 10-3 last year and won the Hyundia Sun Bowl 36-31 over Duke. That game will be on Friday night in Tempe, Arizona at 8 p.m. Mountain Time. UNM then opens conference play against the team they ended it with in 2014, the Wyoming Cowboys. That game is the first of two to open Mountain West play on the road.
UNM returns home for the annual Rio Grande Rivalry showdown with New Mexico State on October 3 before heading back out on the road to play at Nevada on October 10. That will be UNM’s first meeting at Nevada since 2011. UNM then hosts Hawai’i on the 17th in the Rainbows’ first visit to Albuquerque since October 14, 1995 when UNM won 24-10. The Lobos have won five straight against the Rainbows.
October 24th in the final divisional crossover game as UNM takes on San José State in California. Back in 2011, the two teams signed a home-and-home agreement to play in 2013 in San Jose and 2015 in Albuquerque, but had to be put aside when the Spartans joined the Mountain West.
November brings with it three home games, but the toughest stretch of the season, as all four teams won at least 10 games, and three of four won Bowl games. It starts Nov. 7 with Utah State at Branch Field. The Aggies went 10-4 last year, winning the Gildan New Mexico Bowl over UTEP 21-6. UNM then has its last road trip, heading to the home of the 2014 VIZIO Fiesta Bowl champions the Boise State Broncos. BSU went 12-2, beating Arizona 38-30 in the VIZIO Fiesta Bowl.
UNM then plays its final two games at home, on November 21 against Colorado State and November 28 against Air Force. The Rams, who have a new head coach in Mike Bobo, went 10-3 and lost in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl to Utah 45-10, while Air Force also went 10-3 but won its Bowl game, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl 38-24 over Western Michigan. The last time UNM ended the regular season hosting Air Force was 2005.
Of UNM’s four November opponents, Boise State finished the year ranked 16th, while Utah State, Colorado State and Air Force all were receiving votes in the polls.
While currently all games are slated for Saturday with the exception of the game at Arizona State, that could change. Mountain West national television partners CBS Sports Network and ESPN will now initiate a selection procedure which will include the shifting of particular 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 ROOT SPORTS and the Mountain West Network powered by Campus Insiders.
NOTES: UNM faces six teams with winning records from 2014, and six with losing records … UNM’s opponents were 76-76 in 2014 … UNM has just three road games the final two months of the season … this is the second straight season UNM opens and closes the season at home. Before that, it last happened in 2006 … UNM’s last two bowl opponents are both on the schedule as conference games in San José State (2006 New Mexico Bowl) and Nevada (2007 New Mexico Bowl).