COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — With the May announcement that the Mountain West would no longer use a divisional format starting in the 2023 season, the league has announced a new scheduling rotation for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 seasons for each teams’ eight-game conference slate.
The Lobos (and all Mountain West teams) will play nine teams twice in a three-year span, once home and once away, and each team will play a team three times, with a team hosting one of those twice and traveling once, and vice-versa. For the Lobos, UNM will face Boise State in each of the next three seasons, twice on the road, and San José State three times, hosting the Spartans twice.
The Lobos will now host Utah State, Hawai’i, San José State and UNLV in 2023 and travel to Boise State, Wyoming, Fresno State and Nevada. In 2024, UNM will host Air Force, Boise State, Fresno State and San Diego State while traveling to Colorado State, Utah State, Hawai’i and San José State. In 2025, UNM hosts Colorado State, Wyoming, Nevada and San José State while traveling to Air Force, Boise State, San Diego State and UNLV.
The new schedule rotation, which will allow MW institutions to play each other more often, enhances the opportunity of matching the two best teams in the MW Football Championship Game annually, providing access to the New Year’s 6/College Football Playoff more frequently.
The rotation was created based on work of a subcommittee of MW athletics directors and was formally approved by the entire group of athletics directors. The top two teams with the highest Conference winning percentage will compete in the MW Football Championship Game on Dec. 2, 2023.
The Lobos will miss the following opponents over the next three-year cycle:
2023: Air Force, Colorado State, San Diego State
2024: Wyoming, UNLV, Nevada
2025: Utah State, Hawai’i, Fresno State