COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — We always knew the opponents … now we have the dates. The University of New Mexico’s 12-game football schedule has been announced, and it features six home dates starting with the season opener on September 3 against South Dakota.
While the current schedule lists all games as Saturday, the Mountain West is currently in negotiations with both ESPN and CBS Sports Network to select and potentially move various games to either Friday or Saturday.
New Mexico’s other non-conference games are at New Mexico State (September 10) and at Rutgers (September 17) and ULM (October 22).
UNM’s conference schedule will open a pair of home games in October, as San José State comes to UNM for its first visit since the 2006 New Mexico Bowl. The last regular season meeting between San José State and New Mexico was a 36-30 Lobo win on October 9, 1976.
Following the Spartans will be the Boise State Broncos on October 8 before UNM heads to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas for a neutral site conference game with Air Force that will be a part of the Texas State Fair. After the non-conference game on October 22 against ULM, the Lobos will take its longest time (3,224 miles) to Honolulu to take on the Hawai’I Rainbow Warriors.
UNM’s November slate will feature three bowl teams in a row, starting with a November 5 home game with Nevada. UNM will then hit the road for its final two road contests, at Utah State on November 12 and at Colorado State on November 19. That game is slated as the final game at CSU’s Hughes Stadium. UNM will then end the season after Thanksgiving with a home game against Wyoming. It marks the fifth time in the last seven years that the Cowboys and Lobos will play in November. UNM won its season finale in 2014 in Wyoming’s last visit in a memorable contest 36-30.
Overall, the Lobos will face off against six 2015 bowl teams in Air Force, Utah State, Boise State, Colorado State, Nevada and San José State.
2016 Lobo Football New Season Tickets are now available. Contact the Lobo Ticket Office at 505-925-LOBO, click here to purchase tickets online. Current season ticket holders can wait until the renewal period, which will begin around April 1.
NOTE: An original version of this story transposed the dates of the New Mexico State and Rutgers games. That has now been corrected.