UNM Adds Mississippi St., UMass to Future Schedules

Mississippi State Game Contract | UMass Game Contract

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico will travel to Starkville, Mississippi to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs on September 5, 2020, one of three future games announced by the program.  The game against Mississippi State will give UNM 13 games in the 2020 season, and it will be the first of back-to-back Power 5 opponents, as the Lobos will play at USC in Los Angeles the following week.
 
In order to make room for the game, the Lobos have moved the season opener with Idaho State from September 5 to Week Zero, which will be Aug. 29.  In seasons in which a team has 13 regular season games due to playing at Hawai’i, in order to have the same competitive advantage as other programs who have two bye weeks during the season, the NCAA allows for those teams to play in what is now called Week Zero, a week prior to the traditional opening weekend.
 
Most teams have two byes among the 14 weeks of a season, with the second bye scheduled during the final week of the season to allow for conference championship games.
 
Along with Mississippi State, the Lobos have also announced a two-game contract with Massachusetts.  The Lobos will host the UMass Minutemen on October 3, 2020, with return the trip to UMass on September 23, 2023.  The Lobos have a two-game series with UTEP in-between those two games.
 
Mississippi State has played in nine straight bowl games, going 6-3 in those games.  The Bulldogs are coached by Joe Moorhead, who went 8-5 in his first season in Starkville.  The game will be played in Wade Davis Stadium, which holds 61,337.  Originally constructed in 1914, it is the second-oldest FBS stadium in the nation.
 
UMass enters a new era in 2019 with new head coach Walt Bell, who served most recently as the offensive coordinator for Florida State.  UMass currently plays as an FBS Independent.
 
NOTES:  The contract guarantee for the game with Mississippi State is $1 million, and UNM will also be allotted 3,000 tickets to sell to the game … there are no financial guarantees for the two-game series with UMass, but the visiting team will receive 300 complimentary tickets for each game … the games in 2020 will be the first meetings between UNM and Mississippi State, and UNM and UMass.
 
2019
8/31      Sam Houston State
9/14      at Notre Dame
9/21      New Mexico State
9/28      at Liberty
 
2020     
8/29      Idaho State
9/5        at Mississippi State
9/12      at USC
9/19      at New Mexico State
10/3      UMass
 
2021
9/4        Houston Baptist
9/11      New Mexico State
9/18      at Texas A&M
9/25      at UTEP
 
2022
9/10      at LSU
9/17      at New Mexico State
 
2023
9/2        at Texas A&M
9/23      at UMASS
 
2025
9/13      at UCLA